Un día en mi barrio

The day began like any other with blue skies, white clouds, and warm air. By all appearances, this morning seemed to promise a beautiful day. However, I must mention, we in Costa Rica are in la época de la lluvia. (the rainy season) and that means that appearances aren't all that they seem to be. Costa Rica has two seasons: verano (summer) and la época de la lluvia. It is said here that if it is hot in the morning, there will certainly be lluvia (rain) in the afternoon. It almost like clockwork: sun in the morning, rain in the afternoon, day in and day out. I suppose at this point you can guess what is coming next in my story...

La lluvia.

Yes, it began to rain. And rain. And rain. And rain. It rained as it had never before rained. Before the rain started, I was eating lunch at a restaurant with some friends and from where we sat we could see gigantic, almost black clouds rolling in. Of course we expected the rain, but what followed was abnormal and unexpected. Within five minutes there was rain flooding the streets, wind blowing water onto the restaurant's covered porch, and people running for cover. Within about ten minutes, there were two rivers on each side of the road from rain, as water poured down from farther up the mountain and down to the town below.

This strange weather was all over the news during the evening because there was also hail and a tornado that affected neighboring towns. It was an amazing sight to see safely above the water, but it was devastating for some farther down the mountain. Although this town has deep trenches in the sides of the road to deal with the rain, there was too much water to be contained.

However, in an hour, it stopped raining and all the water had drained out from my neighborhood. I returned home without having gotten wet and amazed at having seen such a site, and of course, I didn't yet know what had happened below the mountain.

Then in my dry, comfortable home I enjoyed a hot cafecito after a full day.

By the evening all was well in the neighborhood.