After Hurricane Wilma, it is the only destination.

"We are out of tickets," said Elpidio Valencia, head of sales for Autobuses of the Orient.

"The eight runs that we have on the hour until 8:00 pm are sold out," he said.

Valencia's buses and Mayab Oriental are the only lines in operation, and with only one destination: Merida, whose airport is open for international tourist flights or within Mexico.

Merida, calling itself "the capital of the world and heaven's branch office," became even more special when Wilma closed Cancun's international airport.

It is 320 kilometers (200 miles) away, but the only way out of the tourist spot Cancun, which has no water, electricity or food, and few phone lines, while its shopping centers have been looted. At least 10 people were killed in Mexico when Wilma slammed the Yucatan peninsula before heading to Florida.

Each bus carries 42 passengers out of Cancun, but the lines do not seem any shorter.

Vanhdat Zehtab, 23, from Goteborg, Sweden, is traveling with a group. Despite Wilma, most will soldier on.

"We are traveling for a couple of months and we are going to Belize or Guatemala to continue our trip in Latin America. We are nine people, and six of us are going to Merida, the other ones, I don't know," she said.

Byron James, 20, originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is not headed to Merida, however.

"I don't even know where Merida is," he said.

"I came from Playa del Carmen. It's destroyed. My wife lives there and I'm trying to get back home and I have no idea" what to do, he said.

"I have nothing to do but wait until I get a plane."

Another big problem is gasoline. Few stations can pump it, so long as they have electric generators.

Taxi drivers who manage to fill their tanks drive to the bus station in search of passengers. There, they dicker with tourists over fares to Merida.

"I will charge you 4,000 pesos to Valladolid, that is half way to Merida. That is as far as I will go, because the highway is flooded," said a driver named Rafael.

Valencia's bus line said more than half of the passengers it carries are Mexican.

Among them is Rodolfo Cancheui, 48, who had been earning 1,500 pesos (140 dollars) a week as a self-employed bricklayer.

"What can I do? I do not have work," he said. "My little room is destroyed. I am going to my town, with my family. I will return when Cancun is back to normal or if they need people to rebuild, well, here I am."

related report
Wilma Could Cost Us Insurers As Much As Ten Billion Dollars: Estimates
Washington (AFP) Oct 24 -- Hurricane Wilma, which leveled buildings and downed powerlines as it crossed southern Florida Monday, could add as much as ten billion dollars to US insurance companies' already-hefty hurricane bill, insurance estimators said.

According to AIR Worldwide in Oakland, California, the insured damages from Wilma could run six billion to nine billion dollars, while Risk Management Solutions in Newark, California put the high-end estimate at ten billion dollars.

Boston-based insurance risk modeler Eqecat, however, set the damages at four billion to eight billion dollars.

Eqecat's lower estimate did not include damage to marine assets such as boats and offshore platforms, or private and commercial vehicles. Nor did it include commercial flooding.

Wilma swept through hurricane-weary southern Florida Monday, blasting 200 kilometer (125 mile) per hour winds and causing widespread flooding.

The damage costs from Wilma will be much less than those from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which devastated the US Gulf of Mexico coast in August and September, said an AIR Worldwide official.

"The building code in south Florida is the most stringent in the US and far more rigorous than in parts of the Gulf coast affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," said Jayanta Guin, AIR's vice president for research and modeling.

AIR estimated damages from Katrina at 44 billion dollars, though the number was uncertain due to questions over how much flood-related damage was covered by insurance.

Florida also benefited from Wilma's forward speed as it crossed Florida much faster than the earlier storms, AIR Worldwide said.

On Friday and Saturday Wilma virtually stalled as it passed over Cancun and other famous Mexican Yucatan peninsula resorts, dumping more than one meter (three feet) of rain in some areas.

German reinsurance giant Munich Re has estimated that hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cost the global insurance industry up to 40 billion dollars (33 billion euros).

Eqecat put damages in the Yucatan area at between one billion and three billion dollars. Related Links
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