Friday, November 5, 2010

Newsflash: Beware of Landslides

It's been an almost nonstop downpour since Wednesday night.  I was hanging out with my host family when the electricity went out.  We told stories in the dark while Mile (host mom) went to look for flashlights.  I got a phone call that night that were are in stage one of Peace Corps Emergency Action Plan (EAP).  This means stay alert, watch the news, and continue daily plans as usual.  The next morning we were still without electricity and continued to be without for the majority of the day. Classes were canceled. We heard that there were landslides all around the country.  Many of which were blocking roads and had destroyed houses.  

Behind my house lives my cousin, Paula.  There was a landslide in front of her house that covered her driveway and poured onto the street.  The family spent the day shoveling the land off the road.  Later we found out that many people were without water, the phones weren't working in much of the country, and the flooding was getting so bad in some places that the roads had literally turned into muddy and dangerous rivers that wash away anything and everything in its way.  The Cruz Roja (Red Cross) has found 20 people dead and they are still looking for four more.  The rain continues to pour but we hope the worst is over.  The rain should be stopping after today.

Later that day (yesterday) I got news from another trainee in my community that class was canceled for Friday as there is no way for our Spanish teachers to get from San Jose to our communities.  The roads are still blocked.  We are also now in Stage Two of the EAP.  This means that we can't leave our communities and should pack a bag incase we have two move to Stage 3.  Stage 3 is when we would be evacuated from our sites and move to a "consolidation point" with all the volunteers in our region.  Classes have already been canceled for Monday as well so we have quite a bit of free time on our hands.  

Other than the landslides things here have been good.  We our Peace Corp Volunteer (PCV) visit last weekend which basically is a time to visit a volunteer who is already serving and see what his or her life is life.  At one point on the seven hour bus ride the bus began to get really full with people jammed through out the aisle.  A women with an around six month old baby said something to me which I didn't fully understand.  I assumed she wanted my seat to hold her baby.  But as I went to stand up she motioned for me to sit down and instead just handed me her baby.  So here I am in some unknown part of the country carrying some woman's baby.  Oh how I wish I had a picture of that.

I went to the north western part of the country to a place called Guatuso.  It was incredibly hot and humid.  Due to the change in temperature my feet and hands started to swell.  They were so swollen that an older male friend of the girl I stayed with commented on them which was actually pretty embarrassing.  Also, her apartment didn't have any windows and therefor no natural sunlight or breeze.  By the end of the four days, I was ready to get back to my training site (to say the least).  To add insult to injury, the bus I took from San Jose to my house broke down.  So we had to wait for an hour for another bus to come and pick us up.  It was quite the adventure.

A funny cultural difference here: when you're walking down the street people say "Adios" as they pass someone.  It's funny to say bye to greet someone but I've grown accustomed to it. 

All and all I have no complaints.  I have a great family to live with, good food, internet, and hot water.  It's also been great to have four other volunteers living in my training community.  Dinner's ready so I need to wrap this up for now.  Pura Vida.