Shake It up, Baby!

January 8, 2009

Shake It up, Baby! Yeah! Twist and Shout - What a way to start off the new year!
We had a doozie of an earthquake today - 6.1, and only about 20 miles away; 1:21 pm CST.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009bpba.php

We are fairly used to earthquakes (California gets plenty), but this one was a little different. First, we are in an apartment on the first floor of a concrete building. Fundamentally, I know reinforced concrete is a reasonable material, but deep down, I just *know* that brick (and therefore all brick-like material) is not good for earthquake country. Our place weathered it well tho - no cracks, no falling pieces... Second, the earthquake wasn't sharp - it sort of rolled and sloshed. And it lasted a while!

When it was over, we were in the doorways (conflicting "wisdom" abounds - go for the doorway, or go for a triangle space) - as were our neighbors. We did the usual "wow, some earthquake, huh?" and guessing game as to how big it was. I guessed waaay low (4.5).

The electricity was on for about 15 minutes afterwards (long enough to get the details online), then - off!

Wait! no INTERNET!?!

Oh, what a fragile thing it is - I just now got a connection. I've been out of touch a lot lately...

Rain = 1, Electricity = 0

Talk about deja vu!

Last night, we got our first rain of the season in California. Finally! I know, friends in Costa Rica are sick of rain, and there is still Rainiest-month-October to get through.

So, we're just getting ready for bed, the rain has started, and BLINK! The electricity goes out! It's out for *hours!* Where are we again? *Not* Costa Rica?!?

November 27, 2007 - Expedition

CRASH! What a way to wake up! Yesterday we got a mirror, and used it for all of half a day - this morning, a high wind sprang up and blew it right off the wall. Since *we* didn't break it, I am maintaining that we *don't* get 7 years of bad luck...

We had planned to meet friends for coffee, go on to Volcán Poás, then have lunch at Chubasco's - a highly-recommended restaurant. Even with the high winds, we decided that you can never tell whether you can see anything until you get there.

Well, we walk to the restaurant, and hear the now-familiar refrain "no hay luz" - central Alajuela has no electricity :(. So we go to another soda, have breakfast, and call our friends - no problem, they meet us at the new place for coffee!

And we're off! We hit the mountain road - BAM! The water hose jumps off the radiator and steam pours out of the hood! We all get out, check the damage, and a taxi driver offers help. We re-connect the hose, fill the radiator, limp to his house, and he adds more water. It becomes obvious that the water pump is not working, so he fiddles some more, pours more water... Ultimately, he fixes the water problem AND a problem with the horn - then smiles and waves as we thank him and drive off :). (no more problems - with the car...)

At the final turn-off for Poás, it becomes obvious that we will see nothing but clouds at the top. So, we blow off the mountain, and turn towards La Paz gardens to see butterflies. We are thinking that we would spend perhaps half an hour or a bit more there, but when we get there, we find that the main trail takes 2 1/2 hours (too long) and they don't have a partial-tour price. So we would be spending a *lot* for our little stroll ($29 for non-residents and $15 for residents). Guess what we did - yep, went to the gift shop instead :).

On the way back, we stopped at Chubasco's - they are *closed*!!! (not shut down, but *closed*!) We head back to another restaurant we passed, and had a *great* buffet lunch instead.

Then we decide to see if the Christmas tree farm will sell us a living tree (dug up, not cut down). No luck.

So by now, we're asking ourselves "was this a completely failed trip?" Believe it or not, the answer is NO. We had a very nice visit through it all, we drove through gorgeous countryside, had an unexpectedly nice lunch, and met even more wonderful Ticos!

(Again, *we* *didn't* break the mirror!)

June 24, 2007

The electricity went out again today :( - from 7am till 1:30pm. We passed the ICE guys working on it on our walk to lunch, and about half way through our pizza, we got to see the TV come on - USA vs Mexico in the Gold Cup!
Fortunately, our hotel has a gas stove, so we still got a nice breakfast; just no shower (yuck) until the afternoon.
Most cities with a park and bandstand have live music on Sundays at 10:00, right after church. Certainly Heredia and Alajuela do. So, we head to Grecia´s park - no music. Oh well, we still enjoyed the park.

May 13, 2007 - Hot Shower!

Talk about your HOT showers!

I finished my usual luke-warm shower, turned off the water, and looked up. Yikes! A big chunk of plastic had melted, and was hanging by strings of plastic from the shower line (like cheese on a pizza).

You can´t visit (or even read about) Costa Rica without hearing a shower story. Usually it involves sparks or shocks. Showers are usually called ¨suicide showers,¨ and sometimes electric pumps. Either way, they are electric, and warm the water in the shower head instead of depending on a central hot water heater. The electricity turns on when there is enough water running through the shower. I´d say we were pretty careful (remember, just because you´re paranoid, doesn´t mean everyone´s not out to get you). We check to make sure showers are grounded; we don´t switch from hot to warm while the shower is running; if the shower sprays to the side, we get it fixed...

So, we show the pizza cheese to the landlady right away, and she calls an electrician. He comes by to fix it later that same day (whew!). He explains to Rick what he did, and what happened. The heavy plastic item that melted was a fuse - so it sorta did what it was supposed to do (sorta). The shower had a circuit-breaker in line, but the amount of electricity required to trip it was too high - the fuse melted before the the breaker tripped. So, he took it out of the circuit (and just left it there on the shower wall, clipped wires and all), and wired the shower into the house circuit breakers. He checked it out and reconnected the ground. Our shower now has several wires spliced (pretty ugly), but it is safer. And warmer! He also showed us how it had been wired backwards - so the ¨hot¨ setting is really only warm, and the ¨warm¨ setting is really hot.

We tried it - it works; we´re not dead...

May 01, 2007 - Labor Day, Costa Rica

Today is Labor Day in Costa Rica, and in much of the rest of the world as well. So strange that it is not celebrated today in the USA, since the event that marks it *happened* in the USA. At any rate, it is a big day off for folks here. The local swimming pool is the busiest I have seen yet - cars are parked even on the side street a block away.

On Saturday afternoon, we were surprised to hear the local cannon/fireworks go off several times, accompanied by a parade of *huge* trucks around town. They drove and honked for almost an hour. They passed our corner, and we walked to the main street to see how far it extended - at least 4 blocks down and back, bumper-to-bumper trucks. There were rock haulers, cement trucks, semis (yes! in Costa Rica!), and bulldozers. We decided they were celebrating Labor Day early. Later, we asked someone about it, and he suggested that it was the owner of the stone quarry showing off - he and the owner of a similar concern seem to be embroiled in a pissing contest. Either way, it was pretty interesting, and attracted quite a crowd.

We had planned to have our homestay "parents" over for cafecito this afternoon, but they called to say they couldn't make it. We have been thinking about how to reciprocate some of the visits we have had with others - usually over a meal of some kind. Our kitchen is *very* limited, with just enough plates, silverware, and coffee cups for us, and no good way to cook rice and beans (you *have* to have rice and beans if you invite someone for a meal). Finally, we decided to buy a couple more coffee mugs, purchase a selection of pastries, and have cafecito at the table outside. We'll see how that works.

Electricity and water report for Monday - Water was off in the morning till 8, and electricity went off at 9 (time enough to get a shower). Electricity back on at 11, back off from 3 - 5.

Weather: got a good downpour on Saturday; Sunday was beautiful - sunny and cool; clear most of Monday, with a few sprinkles in the late afternoon.

Tags: laborday, pool, cannon, celebration, fireworks, drive, friendly, cafecito, visit, electricity, water

April 28, 2007 - electricity and water

We´ve been getting a lot of electrical outages (and water outages at least elsewhere), and finally got some rain. The entire country is facing a water shortage (it is near the end of the dry season), and because 50% of the electricity is hydroelectric, electricity is also a problem. So, we are getting rolling blackouts (shades of California a few years ago, but lasting a bit longer). Yesterday we had no electricity from 9am - 1:30, and again from 3 - 7pm. Our fridge was warm this morning, so we are cooking all our meals today instead of going into Cartago. Everyone expects the electrical and water outages to continue for weeks, if not months.

We saw a picture of the local reservoir in the paper - it is *very* low. Even with a lot of rain soon, it will take quite a while to refill.

April 20, 2007 - lights out!

Last night, just as Teresita was getting dinner started, the electricity went out. I grabbed our flashlights, and others found candles. We went out to the street to see how bad it was, and the entire town was dark (except the bank - it had a generator). The street reminded me of times at work when the electricity would go out - people gathered under the emergency lighting and visited. There were a *lot* of people visiting in the street - was a kind of party :). It lasted less than an hour, but we had several more episodes in the evening - the lights dimmed a few times, and they went out once more. The party was over by 9:30, and the electricity stayed on through the night - very fortunate for me, since I can't sleep without my CPAP machine, and it can't work without electricity ;(.

We found out more details - the entire country lost electricity! ICE was managing the water by moving some around - Guanacaste is very dry now, and has a water shortage. When they move the water around, the hydroelectric system can't handle it, and we get brown-outs (and black-outs). I know Costa Rica supplies power to Panama and Nicaragua, but I haven't heard whether these countries also lost power.

The news said they will be doing this some more tonight, so we expect more of the same.