Forty hours at JFK

Passengers waiting on word on Tuesday night.

We were mostly strangers, checked in at different hours with a common aim; to get on the next flight out of New York to Guyana scheduled by Caribbean Airlines. The rush of bodies at JFK airport in the wake of tropical storm Irene was initially among our concerns. Would any of us get on a flight?

Chaos feebly describes the airport situation. Thousands of people from every corner of the globe it would seem were fighting to get home and every few minutes a fiery verbal battle would erupt. From Spanish ‘cuss-downs’ to spicy Ukrainian exchanges, tempers flared and frustration was everywhere.

Interestingly, there seemed to be a