more pictures of country living...

Just a few pictures of the recent rains. As I posted in the last post, we woke up Wednesday morning to about 1/8 inch of water throughout our kitchen and living room. It had rained all day Tuesday and stormed with heavy rains all night Tuesday. The rain was heavier than any we'd experienced here in Guanacaste. What we believe happened was the field behind our house, which sets a few feet above the land our home is on, became saturated and the ater began to run off into our yard, then saturated our yard and seeped into our house through the back door. How it filled our kitchen and living room we really do not know, but it did. It wasn't quite how we pictured the day starting but we made the best of it.

Then, as I went to start the washer to wash the towels we had used to sop up the water, I realized we had no water. As I we sat down to eat, the power went out! I then realized that there had been an announcement last week by a car that goes through the town with a megaphone, that the power would be out all day today but we had not heard it...

In the midst of figuring out what to so with the standing water we had in the yard, Dinora's dog got through our fence and into our yard and took off after our cat, which got Reina going after her. They both took off tearing around the house and Audrey took off after them, trying to save the cat. As she neared the corner of the house, she wiped out in a huge section of mud and fell flat on her bum. Of course, she was sore and crying...and covered in mud. I'm trying to console her and make sure she is ok (she went down hard), the dogs go chasing around the yard for the um-teenth time (although I think the cat had made it safely in the house by now but now a chicken had wondered in the yard and they were after it!). Ethan was running after them, Isabelle hollering at Reina, and into the yard comes Dinora after her dog, Nici (Nee-cee). Finally the dogs get settled, Nici back in her yard and tied up, chickens safe, cat safe and Audrey in the shower with a trickle of water trying to clean up. With the little bit of water left in the pipes, I got her clothes cleaned up, thankfully.


So, no water and no power all day today. Matt spent the day digging a trench half-way around our house to allow the water to run out of our yard and away from the house to the side road.


As I was talking to Dona Elvita this morning, I said "It is always something, isn't it?"

She said, "Always something new, huh?"

We chuckled together and I realized that it is not just us North Americans sometimes living here that laugh and wonder about the strange things that happen living here in Costa Rica. Even the nationals understand.