I truly never thought this would happen. But it has: I am SICK of this rain. Up till now, I’ve loved it. Very dramatic, soothing, love the sound. Plus, up till now, it’s been sunny in the morning, raining in the afternoon, clear at night. I mean, I knew the worst was yet to come, that October and November are the rainiest months by far. What I didn’t know was that not only does it rain more – and I didn’t think there could be a "more" when it comes to this rain – the past few days, it rains all day and all night. Come ON. Alright already. "Green season" my ass. It couldn’t possibly be raining anywhere else in the world: it’s all HERE.
I think I mentioned about how our house was built: a cement box on top of a cement box filled with dirt. Which is now also filled with water. Cement, as you may or may not know, is like a sponge. It soaks up water. Plenty around for that. How cement holds its structural integrity is beyond me. Magic, I guess.
By the way, the house is uphill from the septic so despite all my drama on the subject, we are safe from that. Turns out, gravity works everywhere. I was worried it was spending all its energy on my body.
Despite all the rain, somehow our house is not mildew-y or smelly. That’s gotta be magic. Along with our high ceilings and tons o’ windows, lots of sunlight. When there IS sunlight… ahem. The closets get smelly when the doors are shut. So, duh, I took the doors off. And the inside of the cabinets can be smelly, too. We have tons of beautiful built-in wood cabinets in our bedrooms. Haven’t the heart to take the doors off there yet, but if the mildew smell gets any stronger, I’ll at least prop them open.
During our first rainy season, before we had TV and read a lot, Hal found a list of idioms referring to all the different "types" of rainfall here. We can’t find that list, but Jorge, our Spanish teacher, was just here. I grilled him and here’s what he remembers off the top of his head:
- Pelo de gato [PAY-low, hair; day, of; GAH-toe, cat: a light misting rain. How they got from cat hair to light rain is another mystery.]
- Aguacero [ah-gwa-SER-oh, very heavy rain]
- Lluvia torencial [JEW-vee-ah, rain and toe-rinse-ee-AL, torrential]
- Mojazón [mow-ha-ZHONE*, everything is wet]
- Goterones [go-tear-OWN-ace, a few big drops, getting ready to really rain: Jorge held out his hand as if feeling a few drops and looked skyward]
- Cayeron sapos y culebras [kah-JAIR-own, they fall; SAH-poce, frogs; eee, and; koo-LAY-bras, snakes: falling frogs and snakes or raining frogs and snakes, like our raining cats and dogs]
- Están moviendo los muebles [eh-STAHN, they are; mow-vee-IN-doe, moving; lowce, the; MWAY-blace, furniture: when there is lots of thunder, they say that St Peter is moving the furniture]
Yeah, it’s a little late to come up with all these cute names for something I am sick to death of. Good thing we’re all cozy in our house, ’cause you want to nap all the time. A little sunshine would be nice. Gosh, only two more months to wait… I may have to go to Jen’s house and torture her until she gives me the name of that beach she’s all braggin’ about. I could do with a day at the beach. Only two hours away. Isn’t that handy? Ok, I’ll live with rain if that’s what it takes to live in Costa Rica.
Is it my imagination, or did it just start raining harder?
*Zs are pronounced more or less like Ss. Not quite teeth together sissy S, but not a hard buzzing Z either. More S than Z. Muy elegante…
You said it! I’m so sick of the damn rain. My toes are so cold, I think they’ll fall off. I’ve gained 40 pounds in the last 3 days, just from the hot cocoa and coffees alone (why oh why do ticos not think they need home heaters?!). My one cat who goes outside is driving me CRAZY because he’s cooped up all day. I can hardly get any work done because, despite my 10 hours of sleep per night, all I want to do is sleep all day. I am fed up. Done. Harta! (“Fed up”)
Good news is that November isn’t as bad as October. I’m waiting for that.
Sally,
I learned this years ago, back when I was still riding motorcycles:
You only get so wet and the rest runs off…
…although I am not so sure about your ‘box’ of a back yard. Sounds like it’s time to figure out why all those drains but one around the perimeter are not working.
In all the 30-ipico years I’ve been visiting CR I never saw rain like I saw in August/September this year, nor the lightning storms, either! I just as well could’ve stayed home in Tampa for that.
Don’t sweat the rain. It could be chilly to cold and raining there. It isn’t. It could NOT be raining and the countryside in drought mode. We are still doing that here in Florida, still. Send us some of that rain. We could use more of it here.
Also, all that rain will make for a nicer dry season there. Perhaps it won’t get quite so dusty so soon this year.
Now all you have to do is find a way to utilize all that mildew. Maybe it could be harnessed into making a marvellous new type of tico queso. (Lemonade from lemons, and all that rot…)
Well, one good thing has come out of your complaining: Erin wrote that she made hot cocoa -and that sounds like a first-rate idea right about now: Hot cocoa and Jay Leno’s monologue!
Cheers!
Paul M.
==
LOL…………I absolutely LOVE your blog! hahhaha…. I am coming to Cr again in Nov. I hope the rain lets up a bit!…. Will land in san jose on the 2nd…..
muahahahahahahahaha! well, you asked for rain…….we still have the rest of October minimum.
Try not to fly to CR at night during rainy season, the approach lights at the airport have been burned for about 2 years due (at least) to a fight between the owners of the land near to the airport and the goverment. There was never an official easement and the farmers complained that the goverment damaged their land when they came in to do repairs.
End result. I have ended up in Panama because the plane couldnt land. Mrs Wolfie once ended up in Panama, they refueled and came back……no go this time either so back to Panama and try the next day.
Mrs Wolfie is due back on Saturday and I have already noticed some planes diverted to Panama due to rain at the airport.
Your grass must be really green….I on the other hand have four dogs and the yard looks like a swamp in the parts where they come/go.
At the rate this is going I should buy stock in dehumidifier companies. I must have spent 50 dollars /month since May on ‘damp it’ products
You can add ‘baldazo’ to the list…..its like taking a bucket and drop it full of water over and over again……..”se esta viniendo un baldazo” is “we are getting buckets and buckets of water” probably ranks between raining frogs and raining furniture
It rained at the beach too! We prefer the beach when it rains, no one else goes. We’re desert rats who suffered years of drought so the rains aren’t getting to us yet. Still fascinated in San Ramon.
oops , we have big floods in south of Quepos and a landslide apparently burried at least one house in Atenas 🙁
Hey Saratica,
I heard from a couple of old hands who have lived in the islands for years, that a lightbulb burning in closets will keep the musty and mildew away. Of course, we would need a loan to do that on Dominica with our electric rate of US$.48 per kWh.
You are soooo funny! I just got here (to this country) and I am sick of it! Thank you for adding my little blog to yours. I love reading about you and your family.
Norita
Nah, trust me, you’re not getting all the rain – and I’m jealous, you’re getting sunny mornings and clear nights… we’ve had rain pretty much 24 hours a day for the last week…
Erin – I went right out and bought hot chocolate!!! Had to something “new” to make the rainy days and nights bearable. Thank you.
Paul: our first order of business is to get those drains working for next year. Can’t do it until the dry season (don’t understand that but everyone says so)… none of us can go in that front yard… it’s a swamp.
Well, bob, you are going to get to see these rains firsthand… if you can stand the rain, you will love Costa Rica!
Wolfie, yeah, what was I thinking asking for all this rain???? I go back and look at my pictures of the back yard in the dry season and it was dusty and brown, very sad. Well, the gardener has to come every other day practically now… The grass grows so high so fast. I’m out there planting new stuff now so it will take hold. Last year I planted in the dry season and of course everything died.. Thank you for the new rain palabras… hopefully we won’t need them in 30 more days!!!!
Jen, you are so happy!
Wolfie – I’m late replying to all these: it’s now Monday Oct 15 and yesterday I spent at a friend’s house. He works for Red Cross and they found 8 bodies on Friday, 4 on Saturday. What a job. Thank God for people like him. Very very sad – this happened in a neighborhood that is very poor, like La Carpio.
Hi Jen in Dominica – on our yahoo group, there have been lots of good suggestions for keeping the mold at bay. I’m compiling it all and will do a post on that. “Need to know info” here in the topics, eh? Our electric rate is slightly less but our electric bill is our biggest. After food for the giants…
Hi Norita – thanks! Back atcha, keep writing. It’s so wonderful to have a journal of our lives here.
Hey Dan – I didn’t even know it rained like that down there in BA! Only a few more days… a few more days… and nights…
Hi Sally,
Sure is good to see the sunny mornings again, isn’t it? Don’t know if you have been reading my blog lately, but I found the list of different types of rain, and posted it on my blog. You may want to check it out, it was from Forest Gump. Always get a good laugh reading your blog. I have your blog listed on mine now. Seems like we all are enjoying having the time to write a blog now. My friends think I have lost my mind…spending time writing about being here, but I find it is very therapeutic.
http://hopetoliveincr1day.blogspot.com/
Oh, Mae, I wondered where you were!!! If you hold your mouse over your blog name on the list, it says, “Mae, where are you?” So: you are HERE! Congrats, nice to have you on board. I love my blogging, writing is so therapeutic. My mom just went on a journey and I made her promise to write everyday so I’ll know exactly what she did. See you sometime!!!
Congratulations! The LA times, great outlet for you.
I will let you in on something I learned years ago dieting, from Dr. Perricone’s books. Be careful of the coffee, one or two in the morning is okay but none after that. Coffee produces cortisol which really makes you add and hold weight around the middle. Especially those of us in our 40’s on up. I followed this advice and like magic the weight started falling off. Every few years I forget and start having an afternoon or evening coffee on a regular basis and its back…fast. Also for a short fast drop in weight (say for a show) google the Cabbage Soup Diet. I saw an actress talk about it on a recent award show, tried it and it worked great…and a super diuretic. Good Luck!
P.S. what time is the show on Sat night? Cant wait!
Yeah, I LOVE coffee so of course it’s not good for me!!!! Thank you for the tip. I’ve heard of the cabbage soup diet and I will look it up… maybe I could at least drop a coupla pounds before the show which is at 8PM on Saturday night – come early and have dinner. The food is great! See you!