Alma's unwelcomed visit

"Nature is one mean mother." - Unknown

As it turns out, all of that rain wasn't just because I am living in the rainforest... we had a very unwelcomed visit from Tropical Storm Alma.

Most of the town of Parrita (where most of my Spanish professors live) flooded, and there was 6 feet of water in some of their homes. For people who already have very little, this sort of devastation is incredible. Imagine losing most of what you own, yet not having the money or insurance to replace it. And, to make matters worse, now that the flooding is gone, they are just left with mud everywhere, but water is not working in the town, so they aren't really able to clean it yet. I have offered to be on the "clean up" committee once they are able to start doing so. Right now, the 7 people who live in Mitzi's house are now staying at her brother-in-law's house, so they have about 15 people in one tiny little house. I offered for her family to come and stay with me, but it would be too difficult for them to be that far away from their home. These teachers missed work on Thursday and Friday, I can only hope that the owner of the school is still going to pay them. He seems like a good guy, so I am confident that he will. Also I ran into a couple of the students in town today, so I am trying to coordinate getting a group of students to go out and help with the clean up.

I have included some pictures below of the results of Alma. Not nearly as devastating as Katrina, but terrible all the same.

This is the Parrita bridge just before the water came up and over the bridge. When my parents were driving across the bridge on their way to the aiport the water level was higher than this (luckily they made it safely, though got stuck in San Jose for a night before they could fly out). The water level is usually about 15 -20 feet below the bridge. All of the bridges were closed for almost 2 days.

The wind on the African Palms

People walking to their houses down some of the neighborhood streets in Parrita.

I am going to give some money to my teachers whose homes flooded. I know these are tight economic times, but if any of you have the ability and desire to donate even $5, I know they would be very touched and would greatly appreciate it. I will include everyone's name who donates on a card to them, along with any message you would like me to include.

I have a paypal account under the email address bexcr@yahoo.com. If you don't have paypal and would still like to make a donation, just email me and we will work something out. Even if you are not able to donate, please keep these families in your thoughts.

Luckily the storm left Costa Rica 2 days ago, and we are back to normal Costa Rican weather. Let's hope this storm season isn't as bad as they are predicting.