Hurrican Dean - Fingers crossed that the worst can be avoided

I've been watching the progress of Hurricane Dean on the internet and like many worry about the catastrophic affect it may have on that part of the world. I know Jamaica is in imminent and clear danger, but from a personal point of view this touches me because only last year, on our honeymoon, we went to Mexico.

The evidence of Hurricane's Wilma and Katrina could still be seen around Cancun airport a year after the previous hurricanes. Trees lay on their side, some buildings were still damaged and hotels were still closed due to repairs. Indeed, one restaurant at the hotel we stayed at only re-opened whilst we were there. however, it is not the structural things that worries me. It is the people and their lives.

I've never met such warm and friendly people as the Mayans who live in that part of Mexico. They could not do enough to help, always seemed happy and all for an average pay of around $10 a day. We spoke to one guy who brought us drinks to our sun lounger about Katrina and Wilma. He told us his house was completely destroyed, how he, his wife and his three children sleep in a wooden shack whilst he tries to rebuild his house himself. he had one day off a week, and only one week of holiday a year. Did he complain ? No, not one word of it. He smiled, he told us he had his health, he was very lucky to still have a job as some hotels had laid off all their staff, and he had the strength to rebuild his house. I'd like to have seen any British people in such circumstance be so positive.

So of course, I wish the best for Jamaica and The Caymen Islands, but I will be keeping my fingers crossed that Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula can be spared the worst of it too. The extraordinary people who live there have had to put up with enough over the last two years and I wish them all the luck in the world.