The world has turned absolutely beautiful since Hurricane Jimena dissipated into a remnant low over the Sea of Cortez. The nine inches of rain it left behind here brought the ecology to life. The red-brown cliffs and rocks are now flush with thrilling bright green verdure, the hot breeze blooming fragrant like Paradise. The animals are fat, the water teeming with infant fish, birds singing in the brush. The weather is still very hot but there are signs of cooling with the approach of Fall.

Life here is largely back to normal since the hurricane, though some supplies are still in short supply. This is not the case everywhere, though. Here's what we've heard lately.

- Lopez Mateos, a small town on the Pacific near where the storm made landfall, suffered terrible damage. Over 150 homes were destroyed, and 90% of the structures were badly damaged. As of yesterday morning, no relief had arrived at the town's airstrip since the storm.
- I previously reported that a prison in nearby Ciudad Constitucion was blown over, killing more than 70 prisoners. In fact, the prisoners were saved and no lives were lost. A similar collapse occurred near Guaymas, where a prison fell down with no loss of life. In both cases guards are credited with saving the lives of many prisoners.
- Between 14 and 18 boats were sunk or driven ashore in San Carlos harbor on the mainland, and numerous boats were blown off their stands in dry storage there.
- Here in Puerto Escondido, the Perry ketch "Waverly" and the ferrocement ketch "Spirit" were both--amazingly--recovered from the mangroves by Singlar staff and the gentlemen from the sportfisher "Bad Company" who had already acquitted themselves so well rescuing Jaime during the hurricane. The Albin Vega "Wanderlust" remains in the mangroves, its rigging dangling forlornly.

Tropical Storm 16-E is presently stalled off the Pacific coast after a very faltering development over the past several days. All the models predict it will dissipate harmlessly in the next day or two, and we are all relieved. Only a month left of the season!