Dust in the wind

When the winds pick up in December and January, it’s cause for celebration: rainy season is on its way out and the sunny, beautiful dry season has arrived. (I blogged about this last year, mentioning how noisy and dusty life is during windy weather.)

Eventually the gusts subside and the valley is left with the gorgeous weather people dream about. Normally. This year, however, it's been much cloudier than last season and the wind isn’t letting up. It's been blowing like mad for weeks, making it hard to sleep some nights and frustrating on those bright, clear days when we want to play and swim outdoors but get blasted by blowing dirt and dust. I’d love to spend dinner out on our patio, enjoying the optimal temperatures and a beautiful sunset, but it would be futile. Too darn windy!

Not long ago a new billboard went up along the highway not far from my house—a big one on a fat, steel post. Enter the crazy winds, and after only a week the billboard had crashed. I got a few photos of it (evidence, you know) the morning after it happened.


Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this wind is that we can’t keep our windows wide open, which is something we normally love about living here. There is so much pollution in the air—dust, dirt, pollen, ash (lots of controlled and uncontrolled fires during dry season) and who knows what else blowing around—and it comes right into the house. I can dust the furniture, open the windows, and a couple of hours later run my hand over the table only to find brown dirt and grit on my palm. I’m serious about this—no taking literary license here. We can look out our back window and see stuff whirling in the air—and then I think about us breathing all that in. It’s disheartening.

The other day the DJ at a local radio station played Dust in the Wind by Kansas. I think he was having a poke at this crazy Costa Rican weather.

Rockin' and rollin'

I woke up shortly after midnight today to quite a shaking, as did a lot of my friends; there was a 6.2 earthquake near the Costa Rica-Panama border, about 135 miles southest of San Jose, that was felt nationwide. Whew, that's a big one, and according to the news it lasted a minute or so—a long time when things are rolling. A few people I've talked with said stuff fell off their walls and shelves, but thankfully we didn't have any problems.

At first I wasn't sure if it was quaking because I was so tired. The rain was pouring and the wind blowing so hard that doors were banging around in their frames, water was blowing in under shut windows in the sills, and air was howling through the cracks. (It is still howling—we must be nearing December!)

Just another day in paradise!

She's acclimated

It was 75 degrees in our house when I walked through the family room and saw Lauren wearing her knit cap and snuggled under a Mickey Mouse sleeping bag.

"It's kinda cold, Mom."

Bet she's really gonna like that first chilly day we get in Ohio next year!

Here comes the rain again

A couple of weeks ago the rains began, and we knew the green season had arrived. Now? It's been raining for days, literally. We've had at least 72 hours of rain—steady rain, not just drizzle—without a breather thanks to a bunch of weather factors (including Tropical Storm Alma) that came together to keep us soaked here in Santa Ana. I haven't seen the mountains for days, and while I know our beautiful valley is surrounded by them, they're hidden by heavy, gray, water-laden clouds.



Dan's coworker is trapped in her home in Escazú and sent this photo, showing the water rushing down the gutter and standing on the road.

On the good side, everything is green and growing, and the temperature is in the mid-60s today, which is so comfortable. Last night we all fell asleep early, listening to the rain outside our open windows and resting in the cool air.

Like a Tico Groundhog Day

Who needs meteorologists when one can rely on las pintas for the yearly forecast? Las pintas (pintar = to paint) refer to the first 12 days of the year in Costa Rica. Each day is said to predict the weather for its corresponding month; for example, yesterday—January 12—was warm and sunny, meaning that December (the twelfth month of the year) will be warm and sunny.

With this newfound knowledge, I—great soothsayer of weather—foresee that 2008 will be sunny, rainy, cloudy, cloudless, calm, and absolutely windy! But the best news? We should be experiencing ideal temperatures for the next twelve months.

A beautiful promise

I have set my bow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:13

Everyone knows it’s windy

Give a cheer! The rainy season has ended, and Costa Rica summer (the long-awaited dry season) has officially begun. The onset of more consistently beautiful blue and sun-filled skies also ushers in the windy season—aptly named, because we're experiencing some fierce currents in the valley.

So what’s happening here? The air blowing westward by trade winds loses its moisture as it crosses the mountains, bringing gusts that blow into the valley and dry everything out. We’ve been told that these winds are especially strong in December and January, and sure enough we’ve seen 30mph-plus gales daily since our return to Santa Ana.

Homes here are not built for wintery weather, so we don’t have insulation and storm windows to help shield us during the blustery days. If we keep the windows open, dust settles quickly in the house and things get blown around (yesterday one of our large paintings was tilted precariously on the wall after a particularly strong wind). Yet if we choose to keep the windows closed, we endure lusty whistling and wailing as air blasts through every crack in the house. It’s like living in a haunted house replete with ghostly howling and creaking doors.

Good thing it’s not raining—I’d be scared to open an umbrella out there. Mary Poppins would take off like an F-14!

A rainfall record

Remember my blog entries where I fussed about the weather? I feel so validated—I wasn't imagining the severity of our first (and hopefully worst) wet season in Costa Rica. According to the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional—the national weather service—October 2007 was the rainiest month on record in Costa Rica's history.

I'm actually relieved, because I have hope for a tamer wet season next year.

It’s raining, it’s pouring…this weather's getting boring.

All right, I don’t mean to complain, but well, I’ve just gotta be honest here about the weather we’ve been experiencing recently. We are at the height of the green season and awash in precipitation. Want to know why I’m not blogging about fabulous trips to exotic locales in Costa Rica? I’ll tell you why—we’re waiting for this weather to subside. There’s no sense in driving to a volcano if you can’t see the darn thing, right?

I’ve lived in a climate (hellooooo Seattle!) where the skies were cloudy all day, but I seem to recall the rain more as drizzly there. This is something else—I’m telling you, it’s a lot of rain!

So far, for the most part, I’ve enjoyed the green season. The mornings have been lovely and sunny, the afternoons wet, and the evenings clear and starry. I usually like rainstorms, and this pattern of sun, rain, and nighttime was nice and comforting.

We were warned that October was one of the rainiest months, and now we know that was no joke; everything is ultra-soggy. Rain during the day, rain during the night—mucha lluvia everywhere we go. The kids had school inside waterlogged clouds this last week, and our dehumidifier makes the rounds from room to room, filling up in fast time. A couple of nights ago Erin’s comforter was so damp I had to throw it in the clothes dryer for a few minutes. Hey, the temps have been fantastic, in the 60s and 70s. Trust me, amigos, it’s truly not the heat—it absolutely is the humidity.

A Tico friend of ours called on Wednesday to ask how we’re doing with the constant showers. He assured me that we are getting a lot more rain than normal this year (surprise!) and that oddly enough, in January and February we’ll be aching for a rainstorm—but mercifully, he added that by December the weather should be spectacular here in the valley.

I miss swimming in our pretty pool, admiring the verdant scenery, and enjoying the gorgeous Costa Rica mountains. And it's worrying hearing about all the people affected by devastating mudslides, floods, and washouts.

Sunny months ahead? Bring ‘em on!

When it rains, it pours

During the wet season, rain in the central valley of Costa Rica is nearly a daily event. We wake to gorgeous, sunny mornings with birds serenading us just outside our windows and palm trees reaching to bright blue skies. Then around lunchtime from our home in Santa Ana we can see the clouds start rolling in and down the mountains, knowing it's just a short time until the rains reach us here. Sometimes the rain is soft (como pelo de gato—like a cat's fur), but lately it has been pounding, accompanied by large bolts of lightning and booming thunder that shakes the valley.

Even some Ticos have told us that this year's downpours are more intense than usual. Last week it rained so hard that I had to pull over from driving down the mountain because visibility was nearly zero. Once the rain let up enough to resume driving, I made it home (nearly jumping out of my seat once at a huge clap of thunder and driving through some big puddles, nothing too deep). It was truly a gullywasher.

When I finally got home from my white-knuckled ride, I told Dan (with plenty of drama, to be sure) how bad roads were. Shortly after, he drove to the gate to watch for the girls' bus to bring them back from their second day of school. What he found was an SUV caught in the underpass with water nearly up to the top. The driver escaped through his sun roof while others (including the kids on the bus) were stranded, watching.

Some people worked to unclog a large sewer drain and eventually to pull the SUV out of the area. Dan said when they opened the SUV door it was like a movie, with water gushing from the vehicle. Apparently all that was missing to complete the drama were a few fish to flop out of the car as well.

I love listening to the rain at night. I love seeing the lush green mountains in the morning. I just don't want to find myself stranded in my car with a few fish swimming around for company.