“It’s Raining, It’s…Flooding? Uh-oh.”
For those of you who have been reading my blog, you’ll remember how I’ve said that it rains down here. A lot. It’s not too atypical- the period from roughly June through early December is considered the rainy season down here. However, recently, it’s been a lot worse that what it normally is. The rains have been more intense than normal, and that’s led to a LOT of flooding and landslides, which combined have killed at least 24 people, destroyed lots of houses, knocked out and collapsed at least 16 major roadways, and left around 100,000 people without water or with contaminated water. A lady at the church my family attends lost 11 cousins. There just aren’t words for that.
The flooding has affected several of us within our program as well. We were all supposed to be leaving yesterday for our “internships” for the next three weeks, where we all go and live with a family and work in a more rural setting within Costa Rica. Seven of us were unable to leave for our destinations, and a few of us- myself included- were relocated to other parts of the country.
I actually was supposed to catch a bus at 5:45 this morning. I showed up at the location I was given at 5:30 and stayed there til about 6:05 and never did see a bus at that location or anywhere within a few blocks of the location. Finally, after asking about 5 people who didn’t know where the stop was, I found someone who did. No big right? Wrong. I actually have to make a bus switch, and the other bus I have to catch only runs at 7 and Noon. So now I’m chilling in a Burger King, taking advantage of the free wi-fi and while I wait for just a bit longer to catch a bus to Cartago, before heading on another to my ultimate destination of San Cristóbal- where I will be living with a new family and working in an elementary school for the next 3 weeks. I’m pretty pumped to see what it’s gonna be like, and it will kinda be nice to have a change of pace.
Don’t know if I’ll have internet access during these three weeks, so for those of you who DO indeed keep up with me on here or Facebook, don’t be surprised to see no posts from me. If I do have net, I’ll let people know. Hope everyone’s doing well! Just over a month left in my time down here, and I’m gonna try to live up every moment!
