Running Away from Irma
On September 8th we set off into the unknown, fleeing Hurricane Irma. We began by securing every corner of our house - "Villa Serendipity" - from the 6th of that eventful month.
Once our home was secured, Siomi and I decided to spend the hurricane in La Quinta Hotel which was close to our house in Sunrise, but the next morning, September 8th, we considered running with the whole family to any place where the hurricane would not reach us. María Carolina (41), Santi (12), Miranda (7), my brother Ricardo (69), his wife Ágata (61), their daughter María Antonella (27), Siomi (63) and I (67), and crazy "Baloo", took off.
8101 Peters Rd, Plantation
13600 NW 2nd St, Sunrise
The idea was to get away from South Florida where Irma was supposed to pass. The worst was expected. Hundreds of thousands of Floridians moved north, looking for a safe place. Almost all the hotels were full, and many did not allow pets.
As we left our territory, we passed Home Depot and saw hundreds of people trying to buy wood for shutters: impressive! We went to buy drinking water at Publix supermarket: and there was not a single bottle!
When we passed the Fort Lauderdale marina, near our home, we saw that there were still hundreds of yachts exposed to the fury of Irma.
Daytona Beach, Fl
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After driving 249 miles north arriving at Daytona Beach, we thought we had had enough to avoid the hurricane, but once we arrived at the hotel where Baloo was finally accepted, we received a report on Irma's estimated path by cell phone and saw that we were in its path. We would have to continue traveling further north.
Rick Scott, the governor, had suspended all tolls on the Florida highways, as we could read on the illuminated signs that also announced that there would be a lot of traffic on the roads.
We had brought all kinds of luggage, food... and even a Miranda's stuffed pet. Every few miles we had to stop so the girls could go to the bathroom and so could Baloo. It would be a tremendously interesting trip.
Our daughter went crazy and took chicken, beef and pork: all raw! Hard-boiled eggs, cookies, bananas... everything! She claimed that if the power went out in Miami, everything would rot, so she decided to empty the refrigerator and freezer in her house. The main thing, however: was the water!
And so, we arrived at Daytona Beach where we were supposed to ride out the hurricane. However: bad news! We were right in its path. We had to keep traveling along the Florida roads until we reached a safe place. The day was beautiful. It didn't seem like we were about to suffer the fury of a huge hurricane category 5.
Fortunately, crazy Baloo was behaving very well. It seemed like he sensed that something bad was coming. They say that dogs, cats and animals in general can sense the danger of a hurricane or even an earthquake!
Of course, everything we had in the two cars we had to take to the room the hotel for fear of being robbed. There was no more food or water in the supermarkets... or so they said. The situation was becoming extremely worrying. We were hoping to find breakfast at a Waffle House near the hotel.
When the hurricane was still wreaking havoc in Cuba, my sister-in-law told us that she heard the sound of the winds early in the morning: she was hallucinating!
The girls became the meteorologists of the group and kept checking their cell phones to see if the National Hurricane Center had sent a new general warning message. It seemed like the best option was to go to Pensacola, in the northwest of Florida, on the border with the state of Alabama.
Georgia
According to the messages that the National Hurricane Center was sending to all cell phones registered in the state, it was not a good idea to go to Pensacola, because now they were saying that Irma would change course after devastating Miami and would head - precisely - towards Pensacola. Every time we received a message, the situation worsened, and the scenario changed dramatically. We had no other option but to head to the state of Georgia, north of Florida.
Every time we drove to Atlanta, Georgia, we stopped at Magnolia Plantation (35 Omega-Eldorado Rd, Tifton, GA) to get gas and buy junk, which was the junk capital of the world. Here, the kids would be crazier than a crazy goat.
We first visited this place on our second honeymoon in 2015. We couldn't miss it because it was advertised every mile for several miles before reaching the "Junk Capital of The World".
Gas was $2.79 a gallon and it was already a bit cold compared to the scorching heat of Miami. In the superstore they sold jams of all kinds, with onions, with garlic... spicy jalapeño jam. Miranda, who loves junk so much, didn't know which junk to choose.
It seemed like our luck was changing. The media was also exaggerating a lot when they said that there was no more food or places to eat. We went into another Waffle House in Georgia and had a wonderful breakfast. Even "Lucy", Miranda's stuffed pet, managed to eat waffles.
Carlos Alfredo Torres Fletcher - CAT - RIP
Carlos Alfredo Torres Fletcher - CAT - RIP
The thing was that the news from Georgia said that the hurricane was heading straight for Atlanta, the state capital, just a few miles from Marietta where we were planning to stay at the home of Carlos Alfredo Torres Fletcher, who would pass away a few years later and who was also thinking of heading north.
Driving around Marietta in 2015
Driving around Marietta in 2015
Memphis, Tn
And we arrived in Memphis, Tennessee in the early morning. The Comfort Inn Suites, despite being quite expensive ($ 185 per night), had two rooms available and they accepted dogs. After calling any number of hotels and motels, we had to choose this one.
Once again: we unload everything from the car! We looked like gypsies hoping that Irma wouldn't reach us. We were 1,067 miles from "Serendipity Village", our home, and that day, September 9, we had traveled 781 miles driving 12 hours from Daytona Beach to the hotel in Memphis.
We were totally tired. We hoped that Irma wouldn't think of going up to Memphis, but she insisted on following us. The hurricane would reach Tennessee in three days. We took the opportunity to visit Memphis, a city we visited on our second honeymoon in 2015, the capital of the blues, where Elvis Presley, one of our favorite singers, lived and died.
Memphis Pyramid
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On September 10, after recharging our batteries for a long day, we took the group to see the Memphis Pyramid, which we had visited on our second honeymoon trip in 2015, shortly after it opened as the largest Bass Pro Shop in the world.
Everyone was impressed. We saw a diver feeding the fish in a huge saltwater fish tank. Of course, Miranda and Santi went crazy. We wanted to move to the pyramid hotel - The Big Cypress Lodge - but there were no rooms available.
We enjoyed the fabulous chocolates that are made there. I think María Carolina didn't enjoy it very much because she spent the whole time browsing on her cell phone. Anyway, she accompanied us to the extraordinary viewpoint from where you could see all of Memphis, including the Mississippi River and the Memphis-Arkansas Memorial Bridge that divides Tennessee from Arkansas.
Those who didn't accompany us to the viewpoint, due to vertigo issues, were Ágata and María Antonella. The latter was not very excited and the former thought that she should have stayed at the hotel.
Siomi explained to Santi that Memphis was the birthplace of blues and soul, which is why it is also known as "The City of Soul", although there is a city in North Carolina that officially bears the name "Soul City". At the end, when we were leaving, Santi began to explore the surroundings of the pyramid and was attacked by a small group of Africanized bees.
Beale Stret
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On September 10th we visited Memphis' famous Beale Street, birthplace of the blues where BB King became famous accompanied by his eternal guitar called "Lucille".
BB King singing "Lucille"
BB King singing "Lucille"
It is a place for those who think that they are not old enough, because in order to be served an alcohol drink, you must first show your ID, a law that extends throughout the state of Tennessee. The famous African-American lawyer named Benjamin Franklin Booth was also from Memphis.
After walking along BB King Boulevard, we ended up having BBQ, where Miranda, already exhausted, fell asleep leaning on one of the restaurant's tables.
Incidentally, Memphis is home to the annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest held every May on the banks of the Mississippi River. We attended the 2015 championships during our second honeymoon.
The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (WCBCC) is a barbecue competition held in Memphis, Tennessee that's considered one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world.
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Graceland
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While in Memphis we couldn't miss visiting Graceland, although we didn't have time to go into the mansion where Elvis lived and died. Siomi and I visited it on our second honeymoon in 2015. Because of my severe scoliosis, I had to get around on a scooter.
At the Heart Brake Hotel where we stayed, right next to Graceland, we met a man with a very serious personality problem. He was a German who believed he was possessed by Elvis. He dressed like Elvis, talked like him, and even looked like him when he was dressed up as Elvis. But the interesting thing about the character, as explained to me by the lady in the video above, a good friend of the crazy German, is that even in Germany he dresses up like Elvis and does not allow anyone to call him by any other name. Only his wife can call him by his real German name. The mentally ill man visits Graceland every year.
About 90 minutes from Graceland is the town of Tupelo in the state of Mississippi, where Elvis was born. We were going to visit that town but once again we were told that the hurricane wanted to visit Memphis, so we decided to go down to New Orleans in the hope that Irma would not decide to return south from where she had been coming up.
On our second honeymoon we visited Elvis Presley's birthplace in Tupelo, a visit that I now want to remember on this website.
On September 11th we took a short trip through Arkansas near the Tennessee border. On our way back to Memphis we visited the "Tennessee Welcome Center" with some very interesting information.
At the Tennessee Welcome Center there are two huge bronze statues of the two greats of Memphis music: Elvis Presley and BB King. We discovered a lot of information about Tennessee's participation in the American Civil War. Two of the bloodiest battles of that atrocious fratricidal war took place in Tennessee, the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Stone's River.
We read how W. C. Handy and BB King created the Memphis blues sound from Beale Street. On the other hand, Elvis Presley, Carl Lee Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis internationalized Rock 'n Roll, influencing singers in all corners of the world.
His last concert in 1977
Here Miranda was inspired by the southern accent and gave us a great demonstration of his artistic side.
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Brunching
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As expected, we woke up late on September 10th after a 12-hour road trip almost non-stop, so we had to have brunch at Ruby Tuesday. Of course, "Lucy" was a must. By the way, we still don't know what "Lucy" was, whether she was a cat, a bear, or something else.
They had an excellent salad bar, and the media told us there was no food. Of course, Irma hadn't visited Memphis yet, but she was looking forward to it. At one point I asked Miranda what she liked more, beer or apple juice and her answer was that she liked apple juice better, because she had never tried beer.
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Trip to Arkansas
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On September 11th we decided to take a very short trip to Arkansas, on the border with Tennessee. We didn't go very far. Arkansas is perhaps the least attractive state in the Union. There Maria Antonella wasted her time "studying" and didn't even learn to say "good morning" in English. At least we were able to cross the "Memphis-Arkansas Bridge" and on the way back we were able to see downtown and the Memphis Pyramid.
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Forrest Park
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On September 11, we visited Forrest Park, where Nathan Bedford Forrest (the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869) and his wife were buried. American leftists requested that the statue of General Forrest, as well as the bodies of him and his wife, be removed from the park, a proposal that did not prosper... yet!
The video shows the two Toyotas in which we traveled fleeing Irma, Maria Carolina's and ours. In addition, Santi discovered the cicadas, which in Venezuela we call "chicharras."
The crazy cicadas
The crazy cicadas
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IHOP
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The second day in Memphis we had breakfast at an IHOP, which in our time was known as the "International House of Pancake." We seniors had a special price. No one can have a bad breakfast at IHOP.
Santi showed that he was very hungry... something unusual about him. The waitress made us speak English when she was Mexican. We didn't know where we were going. We thought about going back to Florida, but New Orleans was on the way, so we decided to do some sightseeing in one of our three favorite cities in the United States, along with Naples and St. Augustine.
New Orleans, La
From Memphis to New Orleans
On September 12th we traveled to New Orleans in the state of Louisiana crossing the Bonnet Carre Spillway. I first visited it in 1970 when I was taking the 1969 Toronado to the ports of Miami to be shipped to Venezuela.
In 1982 we returned to New Orleans from Miami where we were living then, with our Mustang Cobra SVT, the same one that served as the pace card in the Indianapolis 500 race 1979 and 1994.
Then in 1989 we returned with my brother Ricardo, his wife Ágata (pregnant with María Antonella), his stepdaughter Maria Emilia, María Carolina and Carlos Alberto.
And now we were returning to this adorable city thanks to an "Act of God": Hurricane Irma!
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St. Louis Cathedral
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Being a devout Catholic, Siomi first asked me to go to St. Louis Cathedral (the same one that was visited TWICE by Saint John Paul II), across from Jackson Square, (named after Andrew Jackson) to thank God... and so we did!
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Court of the Two Sisters
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When my uncle Armando and my aunt Maíta got married in 1950, they visited New Orleans and had dinner at The Court of the Two Sisters. When Siomi and I got married, my uncle recommended the restaurant to me and especially the Coquille de St. Jacques, a French dish typically served as a first course, a combination of scallops, wine and cream, and often times mushrooms.
When my brother and I returned to New Orleans in 1989, we ate there. But then, in 2017, everything had changed. It was no longer the restaurant it once was, and we were unable to eat a Coquille de St. Jacques because it was not in the menu. The dinner was not bad, but it was not what I expected.
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The Fakir
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A so-called "fakir" from New Orleans chose Miranda for his sword-swallowing show,
to the amazement of her mother and grandmother.
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Fortune Teller
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So, they took Miranda to a fortune teller to tell her about her future life; whether she would be happy, unhappy or what she would be like. Something similar to the famous song "Qué será: ¡será!" (Whatever would be: would be!)
Whatever Will be, Will be - By Doris Day 1956
Whatever Will be, Will be - By Doris Day 1956
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Shopping
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Of course, in New Orleans we couldn't miss the junk shopping frenzy: we even bought junk for our dog Baloo! We bought junk at Aunt Sally's where they serve the best beignets in New Orleans. Our grandchildren were so exhausted from buying junk that they threw themselves into a bathtub, dead tired. They even made us try soaps as if they were chocolates. The soap girl must have thought that the Venezuelan oil tankers had fallen from the sky. With what we spent on shopping we could have financed the trip to Alaska to visit my great friend Dan Tegler, my roommate while we both studied at Kinman University in Spokane, Washington State...!
Daniel Tegler and I in Spokane, Washington
Daniel Tegler and I in Spokane, Washington
And them we had breakfast in world-famouse Café du Monde!
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Café du Monde
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In 1974, on our first honeymoon (and we had two), my uncle and godfather, Armando Alonso, told me that if we were planning to go to New Orleans, we should definitely have breakfast at the Café du Monde. He also, of course, recommended "The Court of the Two Sisters." Both were good recommendations. Forty-three years later, the "Café du Monde" still held its status, but - unfortunately - "The Court of the Two Sisters" did not!
With my newlywed Siomi in Cafe du Monde in 1974
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Hotel Monteleone
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When I organized our honeymoon with the Venezuelan travel agency, I asked the agent to find me the best hotel in New Orleans to spend the first night of our honeymoon and he recommended the Hotel Monteleone.
She was 19 and I was 24, but I wanted us both to remember that spectacular night. We never imagined that 43 years later we would return to the same hotel with our grandchildren.
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Jackson Square
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In Jackson Square you can find everything...!
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Miranda's Birds
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Miranda with the Moluccan Electus of the French Quarter.
The Moluccan eclectus (Eclectus roratus) is a parrot native to the Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is unusual in the parrot family for its extreme sexual dimorphism of the colors of the plumage; the male having a mostly bright emerald-green plumage and the female a mostly bright red and purple/blue plumage. Joseph Forshaw, in his book Parrots of the World, noted that the first European ornithologists to see eclectus parrots thought they were of two distinct species. Large populations of this parrot remain, and they are sometimes considered pests for eating fruit off trees. Some populations restricted to relatively small islands are comparably rare. Their bright feathers are also used by native tribespeople in New Guinea as decorations.
In front of the Hotel Monteleone in the heart of the French Quarter, there was a man with two of these exotic birds and Miranda, a lover of all animals, wanted to be photographed with them. In this case, the birds came from Indonesia.
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Horse Carriage
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And then we got into a horse carriage that took us all around the French Quarter.
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Curiosities
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Curiosities in the French Quarter.
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Anything goes...!
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You can expect anything at the New Orleans French Quarter...!
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Happy Birthday...!
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It was September 13th, the day María Carolina turned 41 and we celebrated it at St. Roch Market in New Orleans by singing her the Venezuelan Happy Birthday.
Birth of Maria Carolina
Birth of Maria Carolina
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Antique Shop
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We went into an antique shop that was dedicated to American Civil War objects, a subject that Santi is passionate about and he asked me for my camera to take a few photos of what he wanted to buy. In that shop I bought a Winchester rifle (Model 1894) and a Confederate officers' sabre.
30-30 caliber Winchester rifle and Confederate officers' saber.
30-30 caliber Winchester rifle and Confederate officers' saber.
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Last Breakfast
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And then we got to September 14th, the day we left New Orleans.
We said goodbye with a delicious breakfast.
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Speeding Ticket
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The New Orleans police gave me a ticket for
going 60 miles on a bridge with a speed limit of 50 mph.
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One more visit...!
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Before leaving New Orleans on September 14, we decided to visit,
once again, the French Market.
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Walking Baloo
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Santi fulfilling his task of taking Baloo for a walk.
Orlando, Fl
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From New Orleans to Orlando
Irma's hurricane winds were already being felt in New Orleans, however, upon arriving in Orlando we were informed that there were TWO storms forming in the Atlantic on their way to Florida. Siomi asked me if we should stay in Orlando and take advantage of going to the parks.
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Dinner at Denny's
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On the evening of September 14th, we had dinner at a Denny's in Orlando. My brother, Agata and her daughter couldn't bear it and returned to Miami from New Orleans.
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Melao Bakery
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On September 15th, the day we were going home, we had breakfast at the Melao Bakery at 2001 Consulate Dr. in Orlando: what a mess! The ravages of Irma were still being felt in downtown Florida. It was a process to get a free table that could accommodate the five of us; by the time we finished buying food, there was not a single free table. There were many Puerto Rican dishes, because it was a Puerto Rican cafeteria. There are many Puerto Ricans in Orlando, almost like in New York. It is the Hispanic group with the largest presence in that city of large parks like Disney World, Universal Studios, Seaworld, etc.
We finished brunch around noon and Telemundo was waiting for us outside the cafeteria to interview us about "Mrs. Irma". I was the second victim.
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The Interview
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The journalist began by asking me how I would help the victims of Hurricane Irma. I answered that if I were the governor of the state of Florida, I would finance all Floridians the trip to Memphis, then to New Orleans to wait out the hurricane and then go back to their respective homes in Florida. Then he asked me to define Irma in one word and my answer was: WOMAN!
I answered that because Irma, as a woman, went there, didn't go there, came back, came back again... she said she was angry, but she didn't arrive angry. When he asked me if I had friends or girlfriends in Orlando, I answered that I had my wife: just like Irma! And my little granddaughter (Miranda), also resembles Irma: she comes and doesn't come... and when she tells you that her feet hurt, it's because her head hurts and when she tells you that her head hurts, it's her feet that hurt. Then, to finish, he asked me what Irma had left us and I told him nothing... that she had taken about $2,000 from us, which was what the trip had cost us. The journalist said that I would always carry Irma in my heart, and I answered that in my heart and in my pocket, because when I introduce my hand in my pocket: I can't find her!
The cameraman claimed that at least Irma had taken some money from me, and I answered affirmatively that she had taken money from me: just like a WOMAN!
On our way home!
From Orlando to our home
On the way home from Orlando we saw a convoy with 8 electrician trucks, which indicated to me that where we were going there was no electricity. Sure enough, that's what happened!
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Weston
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Arriving at the neighborhood in Weston where Maria Carolina and her children lived, we saw the mess caused by Irma, mostly in the trees. There were branches piled up everywhere. The neighbors had already piled them up waiting for the county to come and pick them up. Fortunately, their house was not damaged, although they were without electricity for several days.
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Villa Serendípity
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We were very afraid of returning to our little house and seeing everything destroyed. Fortunately, there was no major damage to "Villa Serendipity".
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Our Palm Tree
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The worst damage was suffered by a palm tree that we had in the garden next to a canvas roof. I thought that roof was going to blow away in the hurricane, but absolutely nothing happened to it. We had to remove the palm tree, and we had to prune some small trees that suffered from the wind.
Our Hurricanes
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Since 2004, when we arrived in exile in the United States, specifically in South Florida, we have been through three major hurricanes and one tropical storm: Katrina (2005), Irma (2017), Isaiah (2020), Nicole (2022), and the unnamed tropical storm in 2023. The only hurricane that warranted moving away from our home was Irma, however, they were all horrible. We didn't feel Irma because we fled from it, but in the other three we were tormented by the terrible noise of the wind, not knowing if at any moment it would take our home away.
Katrina 2005
We had experienced hurricanes before, because we used to visit Miami every year, precisely during the hurricane season that begins in June and ends in November.
Hurricanes are large-scale meteorological phenomena that are defined as tropical cyclonic systems characterized by sustained winds that rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. They are formed by warm ocean waters and follow a process that involves the interaction between warm and humid air, giving rise to a series of stages from tropical depressions to tropical storms and hurricanes of various categories. It is amazing that hours before a hurricane, the day is beautiful, without a cloud in the sky and when the storm passes the day returns to its ideal beauty, that is why it is said that after the storm: comes the calm!
A little over a year after we arrived in exile, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated a large part of the city of Miami. We lived in a residential complex where many vehicles suffered total losses due to the fall of many huge trees.
Irma 2017
We suffered nothing from Hurricane Irma other than running from one side of the southern United States to the other. We traveled 2,308 miles and crossed 6 states: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama at a cost of more than $2,000. Irma did not cause any major damage to our property. It was a Category 5 hurricane (the highest category) with winds of 180 miles per hour.
Isaías 2020
Hurricane Isaias appeared in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to meteorologists, Isaias would pass right over our house. Fortunately, the governor did not give the order to evacuate our region. It would have been the worst thing to have to go to a shelter in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, which by then we believed existed.
We were waiting for Isaias on August 1st starting at 3 in the morning, according to meteorologists. As always, hours before the day was beautiful. It was 100° F. We set about tying everything down. We lowered our flag. Siomi was our family meteorologist, and she was informing us "minute by minute" of the trajectory and speed of Isaias, whose speed was very slow, 16 mph, which complicates the scenario. At 4 in the afternoon on July 31st, we already knew that Isaias was near our coasts.
According to estimates, we could start to feel winds between 40 and 60 mph in our area. We had no shelter for our car. According to hurricane experts, there was no need to dismantle the ceiling fan in the front door. At 4 pm the day before, there was not a drop of wind. The sky was fairly clear and the sun was shining to its fullest extent.
We were very worried about our flowers, which we had planted a few days ago. Suddenly, at about 4:30, we started to feel some wind at a speed of 16 mph. Many neighbors had already put up their shutters to protect their windows and doors. Insurance companies insure homes against hurricanes, as long as the hurricane has not made landfall. In our case, insuring our home cost us $3,000. Our neighbor did not seem to be very worried about Isaiah.
At 7 a.m. on August 1, the wind had decreased, but we could see that the sky to the east was getting more complicated. To the west, the sky was absolutely clear: not a single cloud! At 7:34 a.m., the wind was blowing at 9 mph, which is to say: almost nothing!
At 7:57 a.m., it seemed that the excitement had begun. The rain came. Our ceiling fan in the porch was an indication of the magnitude of the wind. However, the best meteorologists are our birds. In our case, we have the wisdom of our bluejays. If we see them flying, it is an indication that there will be no hurricane. The atmospheric pressure alerts them. On this occasion, we saw that our bluejays visited us in search of the peanuts that we gave them every morning and afternoon. Dozens of blue jays visit us daily. For them, the day was normal. However, the wind came and went.
And that was it. Isaiah decided not to visit us. In the end we think that when a hurricane is announced, we should pay more attention to the birds than to the meteorologists. Isaias cruised across the eastern United States at a top speed of 90 mph, but did not cause any damage in our area.
Nicole 2022
On November 9, 2022, a new excitement began with the announcement of Category 1- Hurricane Nicole. At noon, the rain began. This time, we did not bother to tie down our furniture or evacuate our plants. Once again, our bluejays told us not to worry. The media warned us of the danger, but our birds contradicted the hurricane experts.
Towards evening on November 9, we began to think that the birds, this time, had been wrong. The wind and rain began to pick up. The temperature was in the 70s, which was reassuring... and that was it for Nicole.
Tropical Storm 2023
In April 2023, we became extremely concerned about a tropical storm that didn't even have a name because it arrived a month and a half before the official start of hurricane season. The meteorologists had informed us that we would suffer heavy rains, but they did not mentally prepare us for what arrived, a scenario quite similar to a category 1 hurricane. We thought that would be the end of us, even though the wind did not exceed 19 miles per hour. In the end, what we saw was severe flooding. Neighbors reported seeing alligators swimming calmly through the streets. The only material damage was suffered by our flag, which was completely torn to pieces.
Hurricane Andrews
The most devastating hurricane in recent decades in South Florida was Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, a Category 5 hurricane with winds of up to 175 mph. 65 people died, and property losses amounted to 27 billion dollars between The Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, Southeastern United States, and Mid-Atlantic states. Fortunately, we had not yet moved to the United States.
Villa Serendípity
Villa Serendipity has endured all of these “Acts of God” and has slowly prospered to where it is today... our home: sweet home!
Our Flowers & Plants
Click on the images to enlarge them
Adonia Merrillii - Black-Eyed Susan - Blurred Green Palm
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Wishbone Flower - Yellow Zinnia
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Herbs
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