“The hurricane took away 80 meters of beach. He took the palapas, the chairs, the deckchairs and carried away the sand. The tide has not gone out for a month, this has never happened to us,” they warn.

Acapulco, Guerrero, November 25, 2023. In Colonia Bonfil, the Otis Huracan left the beach and one I was sorry for the storm, and I was afraid to take care of the structures of the restaurants that hoped for the arrival of the tourists, to be able to activate the economy of this area that lives on. gastronomy.

The force of the cyclone, with winds of more than 300 km/h, destroyed the palapas of at least 30 businesses, where it practically ate their beach and this Friday the tide continues to hit the walls of the few establishments that remained standing. .

“The hurricane took away 80 meters of beach. He took the palapas, the chairs, the deckchairs and carried away the sand. The tide hasn’t gone out for a month, this has never happened to us. Then it rained a lot two days in a row and the water rose even more, even the fishermen don’t want to go fishing, the sea is murky,” said Isidro, 56, a store owner who was the victim of a looting.

“It was ugly, something like that had never happened before. I only saw how things were flying, it was a terrifying whirlwind. Here, all the restaurants found themselves without palapas, the sea ate them, until yesterday (Wednesday) they finished removing the trash. Here they supported us from the third day, but now we cannot bring down the sea,” the trader commented.

According to residents, it was raining in the area on Tuesday and Wednesday, where lightning and rain caused panic.

“It’s been bad for us, there’s no customers, no one wants to come. Since the hurricane, I have been lifting debris and earning 2 thousand pesos per fortnight. In good seasons, he earned 2,000 pesos a day from tips alone. Here it went badly for me, at work and at home, at home we lost everything, everything went away, the truth was bad for us,” said Luis Ángel, 24, server in the Los Hermanos company.

“They barely gave us the things, a mattress, a stove and a refrigerator, but with the rain yesterday, everything got wet again. I believe the government would have supported us first with the roofs, then with the things. “It was five hours of heavy rain,” says the young man, currently a gastronomy student at the private Leonardo Bravo University, with a laugh.

It has now been two weeks since the light has been on Bonfil beach. There is no cell signal and most restaurants are already operating. Only the most affected and those who found themselves without their palapa are waiting for support from the authorities to get them back on their feet.

“We can barely see that the sea is receding, here the hurricane has destroyed everything for my boss. We help him get back on his feet, because otherwise we will also be unemployed, at this moment we fought against him. It was devastating for everyone,” commented Anastasio Rizo Ramírez, chef of the Playa Bruja restaurant.

“We don’t earn the same, but the boss also gives us food. I earned 2,400 euros per week, now they give me 1,200, but everything is expensive. Transportation to get here has also increased, a taxi from Coloso to Puerto Marqués costs us 40 pesos, then from Puerto Marqués to Bonfil it’s another 40 pesos. In one day I spent 160 pesos, but the shopping at the Marina and the food at the Foundations really help us a lot,” he explained.

Anastasio Rizo also lost everything. On the night of October 25, he had to cover his wife and two daughters under a table that he held tightly with his hands so that the air would not carry them away. His roof exploded and he had to put up sheets to protect his modest home from the sun, because buying sheets in these times of crisis is a luxury.

María Guillermina Galeana is the owner of the Playa Dorada restaurant. The night Otis arrived, she took refuge in her house on Bonfil beach, where she protected herself as best she could with her husband, with whom she shared the three hours of terror that their caused the storm.

“The doors were screaming, it sounded like they were groaning, it sounded like someone was lifting the house and then putting it back down, we felt his presence, it was like he was looking at us and driving us crazy. It was like he was laughing at us, it was something scary,” the restaurateur revealed.

“We are already getting up, they have already come to take stock of us, but what we need is credit to build our premises. I’ve employed more than eight people here, a lot of foreign people come to my place, a lot of surfers. December is the season and if things stay the same they won’t happen, we also have to create businesses so that people have work, we all need it,” exclaims Guillermina, who has been running her restaurant for over 42 years old. years.

“On October 28, around thirty Canadians arrived (in Bonfil), but after the news, they no longer arrived. We are already up, we are ready to welcome the New Year with fireworks. Let’s hope that tourists start to come back, because it is everyone’s livelihood and we continue to wait for help from the authorities to be able to rebuild our palapas,” he concluded.

On Bonfil beach, the restaurants are ready after Hurricane Otis, the streets are cleared of trash and they are just waiting for nature and the sea to return to their beach so they can continue offering their services to tourists.

Text: Lenin Ocampo Torres/ Photo: Jessica Torres Barrera