October 23, 2008

 

Lots of rain and black outs for dry season

 

Dear Dad,

 

Dear Dad,

 

We are still having record amounts of rain fall.  The news is that it is the most rain Costa Rica has seen for the last 108 years.

Before satellites that give a world view of the planet to warn us that hurricanes or tropical storms were in the Pacific or Atlantic, we would have a few days of rain that the locals and the news media here called ¨temporals¨.  I remember, when we first arrived, that every rainy season if the rain was heavy or lasted more than a day of two it was called a  ¨temporal´¨. Now we realize that there must have been hurricanes forming or tropical storms and depressions in the oceans having effect on our weather here.

Since the amount of rain has been tremendous, there has been flooding, worsening of the already bad roads, houses sliding down hills or just newly developed ¨lakes¨ in the low areas that form because the already saturated land cannot absorb more water.

Even at Punta Coral, after all the ¨disaguas¨ they are called or open drains that have been built to carry the water from the forest behind the casona/big house to the ocean without flooding the house.

Years ago, when we had a big rain, the water would flood the inside of the house and make a mess with a thick layer of mud that had to be shoveled out. This was almost always a problem in the month of October, the month when we have the most rain.

There has been built open canals about 12 inches wide and just as deep along the inside of the valley surround the flat area  that have been working perfectly until once again, too much rain overflowed the canals and caused a wave of mud to fill the inside of the casona.

Luckily for me, I was visiting you in California when this last occurred.  David was at Punta Coral with Bill and Ana and they had to deal with the mess of cleaning up the mud.

Now, at the back of the casona there has been built a little stone wall about 10 inches tall using the rock found in front of the property to redirect any water that comes through the area from the forest.

One of the problems was that Misael built a structure of rock that was supposed to support the sea wall and keep the ocean from undermining it, was built right in front of an exit for the rivers of water that form when it is raining hard.

Of course we didn’t realize it until we had our first experience with a big rainfall. Another problem was the collection of leaves and debris that collected on the exit area that lead to the ocean.  All of this has been repaired.

This large amount of rain is also the reason my car has been in the ¨taller¨ or mechanic shop for two months. After a big rain, maybe 10 inches or more fell in a short time causing deep puddles to form all over.  I have since learned that when going through a deep puddle, if it is not possible to go around, you MUST drive slowly or a wave will be created and the water can go into the air vents and stop the car.  This is exactly what happened to my car.

Rivers here have flooded their banks, causing lots of people to evacuate their homes and the houses filling with mud ruining everything.  This usually happens to the poor people and makes their lives miserable.  With the flooding comes the sewage problem – an overflow of the black water entering into the flooded areas.  We are lucky there has not been a breakout of cholera.

The rivers are also carrying huge amounts of fallen trees and garbage to the Gulf of Nicoya and this washes up on the coastal areas.  We collect rice sacks full of garbage both at Tortuga Island and Punta Coral. 

Garbage collection is very poor and people still throw garbage into the rivers in areas where there is no garbage pick up. I cannot imagine what it would be like if no-one cleaned up the plastic and garbage.

Recycling is new here and we are trying to improve the way we throw things away by separating the garbage.  There are only a few people who collect the separated garbage and most of the population cannot be bothered. 

Sitting on the sides of the road there can be bags and bags of garbage waiting to be picked up and this is taken to an already full landfill.  Forget about finding a place for an old mattress or stove, there isn’t any place to throw it and sometimes people just toss it on the side of a back road.  It is a big mess.

All of this rain and the increase of building all over the country is causing an overload on the hydro electric system.  This news this morning is that there is going to be roving blackouts all summer season to compensate for the lack of water to run the giant turbines.

This happened last year and it was scary when the whole country went dark one night.

Costa Rica has tried to put into practice ¨daylight saving¨ to save power but most of the population could not make the adjustment and the plan failed twice after two weeks of chaos.  No one could figure what time it was – the new time or old time – is what was asked over and over.  ¨when do we milk the cows, or go to school, or eat lunch etc?  Even after resetting watches and clocks the local population could not grasp the hour change.

What eventually happened was that every other day we would be without power for 12 hours.  Since the sun rises and sets at almost the same time every day, with a difference of only maybe 15 minutes throughout the year, most people are used to living according to the sun.

It is impossible to run a business when computers or phones don’t work due to lack of electricity.  At the Calypso offices, we sit and twiddle our thumbs and redirect calls to the cell phones during the roving black outs.  Now the population has increased again and the ICT - our electric company - promises that this summer the lack of energy to power the electric plants is going to be worse. Get out those candles.

At Punta Coral we have solar power and are not connected to any electric power system and we are fine.  Here in San Jose, when the lights go out, there are no street lights, or signal lights and everything is as dark as it would be if you were inside of a cave.  It is scary because there is no warning and if you are in line for a bus or in a store downtown and it suddenly goes black and you are with out a flash light…………..well you can imagine the mess.

 

Tomorrow Cindy is arriving from Miami to help celebrate the 60th birthday of a good friend.  We are planning a day at the spa for a day of pampering and probably we will go to the movies and see Mama Mia¨ also fine dining is in the plan too.

Yesterday I scheduled eye surgery for removal of a cataract in my left eye.  I have already done the tests and the doctor ( a different one with 30 years experience) assured me that this time there should not be a problem like the last. Since he knows about what happened before he will be ready for any surprises, but assured me that this time the cataract is soft material and has not crystallized like the last one. 

The surgery will be done on Wednesday with only a local anesthetic and I will be awake. It should take only about 30 minutes prep and about 30 minutes surgery.  Am I scared?  A little, but the doctor promised me that when done I will never have to wear glasses to read or see far away. Since I have an artificial lens in the right eye to see far – like an eagle- he will insert an artificial lens in the left eye that will make it no longer necessary to wear reading glasses.  Now the vision in my left eye is foggy and I cannot put on my eye makeup because I cannot see out of it very well when I close my right eye.  The best part, I will no longer have to search for my glasses when I need to read or do anything else that requires a closer look. I will once again be able to thread a needle and sew.

 

Along with the United States and the rest of the world we have been watching all that is going on in America.  This upcoming presidential election will be watched by everyone.  Who knows what will happen with the new president elect?  There is no doubt about it, the world is watching and waiting with real interest.

 

I was promised that my car would be finished this week.  I called the taller and the mechanic in charge has left for the weekend and no-one knows anything. Gerrrrrrrrr

 

I just hung up the phone after talking to Louie.  We had a wonderful conversation and then he sent me the latest photos of the twins and Sydney and Justin.  Everyone is so cute.

My, how the twins have grown.

 

It is time to go home.  The rains have stopped.

 

I miss you lots and love you very much.  Louie is supposed to give you a hug and a kiss that I sent to him with this e-mail to give to you

 

Besos,  Cecs