A Los Angeles journalist stuck in Puerto Vallarta at the onset of Hurricane Patrica was back safely in the U.S. Sunday.
Rosy Cordero was one of several travelers stranded in her Marriott Puerto Vallarta hotel as the storm advanced Friday. The freelance journalist was on her first travel review trip to the resort town, about 500 miles west of Mexico City.
"All of the sudden it was like we have an evacuation plan in place and we got to get out of here," Cordero said.
Cordero, a native of Miami, is no stranger to hurricanes.
"I lived through Andrew," Cordero said. "You see these big storms and then it's like this is going to be bigger than any of those. I had just walked around the downtown area the night before where everything is so close to the sea."
Cordero, along with a handful of colleagues, was evacuated to safety in Guadalajara ahead of the storm. The trip, which usually takes three to four hours, took nine hours.
Once at the airport, the travelers waited out the storm, and the potential damage it could bring.
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Hurricane Patricia, coined the largest storm in modern day history, did less damage than originally projected across Mexico as it made landfall.
The storm didn't break Cordero's love for the city by the sea.
"I want to go back, but not during hurricane season," she said.
