Dozens of Derrumbes

Our Costa Rican adventure took an interesting turn Thursday when Megon and I added two new words to our Spanish vocabulary: derrumbe and barranco. These are words most Ticos and Peace Corps folks would rather not hear.

In English, Derrumbe means landslide, which brings down natural stuff like trees, dirt, mud, coffee plants. Derrumbe are generally a nuisance because they close roads and put schedules on hold. Barrancos, on the other hand, are very different. Though it technically translates as gorge, according to our host dad’s brother, in Costa Rica a barranco when a landslide destroys anything that sits in its path: cars, buses, houses, people, dogs, cows, chickens.

Costa Rica experienced both types of landslides Thursday when a tropical depression arrived in the Central Valley area, which has caused our Peace Corps training to go temporarily on hold. Heavy rains that started Wednesday night and have continued into today have affected more than 50,000 Ticos by causing power and water outages across the region (including our house), landslides and major flooding near the coastlines. Our host dad, who is 35 and grew up in the La Fila area, said he has never experienced so much destruction from one rainstorm. The Costa Rican government has declared a national emergency and the Peace Corps has issued a “standfast” alert, which means every trainee needs to remain in their communities, emergency bags packed, ready for an evacuation at any time.

Remaining in our community is no problem because we can’t go anywhere. As of yesterday, landslides blocked every road out of La Fila. The closest is about a mile outside of town. A group of us walked there yesterday to check it out. Along the way we came across mini landslides, but nothing the size of what we encountered a mile up the road. The fallout was impressive. It reminded Megon and me of a typical avalanche you would find along the Seward Highway. This particular landslide brought down a telephone pole and its wires were close enough to touch.

It probably should have been said already, but Megon and I are completely safe. Our home is located in a very secure location, away from landslide or flooding dangers, and we have plenty of beans and rice to fill our bellies. We were without electricity for half the day yesterday, but were put back on the grid in the afternoon.

The most amusing part is being without water, which we get from the city’s system. Luckily, our neighbor has a spring on his property and it runs through our backyard. We’re using it for washing and flushing the toilet. We’re depending on stored water for drinking and rain water for bathing. But we’re not taking showers in the rain. This morning we collected rain in buckets, heated it with a big coffee percolator, poured it into a galvanized basin and washed ourselves with the help of a plastic Pilsen beer mug. We laughed the entire time!

We are spending today and this weekend relaxing here at home because class has been cancelled until at least Monday. Our language teachers, who usually come here by public bus, are currently unable to reach us because of landslides and, more importantly, a destroyed bridge that connects us to San José. We were supposed to attend an all-volunteer picnic Saturday, but it was cancelled too.

So meanwhile, we wait, gather rain, do homework, and enjoy some quality family time.