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Dodging Hurricanes: My Visit to Mexico in the Midst of Lidia, Norma, and Otis

My visit to Mexico was planned months in advance and was non-refundable. Was it poor judgment to visit anyway?

Libby Winkler
3 min readOct 25, 2023
Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

Mexico always seems to weather a strong hurricane with little drama.

Category four or five storms don’t even make the western coasts of Mexico blink.

Has their attitude brought me an unhealthy lack of respect for the storms?

I thought I’d have a relaxing few weeks at the beach, eating ceviche, tacos, and margaritas. But instead, my vacation turned into a giant waiting game as Norma approached the coast.

I was in the middle of three hurricanes: Lidia, Norma, and Otis. All three were competing for their place on the map. They made landfall almost consecutively, and I felt as if I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The locals seemed to take it all in stride, though. They weren’t worried and certainly didn’t share my level of concern. Perhaps I took their nonchalance as a sign of things to come and made the wrong decision.

In hindsight, I should have respected the power of Norma and taken steps to ensure my safety rather than just hoping for the best.

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Libby Winkler
Libby Winkler

Written by Libby Winkler

Freelance writer who loves exploring the messiness of humanity, while poking around in nooks of life and shining light on all the things that make us complex..

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