Red Alert, Boa Constrictors, and Wet Clothes

Some of the volunteers wanted to go toward the Pacific Coast this weekend to the beaches in Guanacaste. Well, that whole town is covered in water right now. So some of us decided to go the other way toward the Carribbean Coast. We had all the plans set and knew where we would stay and how we would get there. But we woke up today to find it gushing rain for the 5th straight day in a row. We wached the news and found out that the whole country has been put on red alert and there are landslides happing all around. So there is no way we can catch a bus to get out of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. They even closed the Pan-American highway because the roads are just too dangerous. But I guess it´s better safe than sorry. We wouldn´t want to try to get somewhere and get stuck on a bus on a flooded highway eating crackers and drinking rainwater for 3 days! So, we are either stuck in this teeny town or we may try to catch a bus to Alajuela, 30 minutes away, so we can go to the mall and see a movie (or 2 movies since they only cost 3 dollars!) It´s not like I came to Central America to go to the mall and movies, but what can you do when it´s hurricane season?

I also found out something very interesting yesterday. One of the other volunteers was walking and saw a real live boa constrictor curled up in one of the drains. Now, remember, this whole town (and really, whole country) has 2 foot wide and 2 foot deep drains around every single curb. You have to jump when you are crossing the street. And everyone carries their children around here because it´s impossible to push a stroller on these awful streets (I haven´t seen a single stroller in 3 weeks!). So, the drains are very large, and there was a boat constrictor in one. The girl asked her host family about it and apparently it´s not that uncommon. During awful rainstorms like this, the boa constrictors come down from the mountains because they need to dry their skin out a little in order to survive. It´s not that much more dry here, but I guess the mountains are ever wetter. So anyway, I walked around today with my eyes on the drains to try to spot a boa constrictor, but I think maybe it´s better if I just don´t look!

Last but not least, the rain is also affecting my sense of fashion. To put it plainly, I have no clothes to wear! My host mom took a bag of my laundry on Monday and by Tuesday it was hanging on the line... outside! Remember now, it has been raining for 5 days straight. She must have hung it up when there was 30 minutes of no rain. But it is all still there. There is no other way to dry it here besides hanging it up (this town doesn´t have a laundrymat that I can go to either if I want to just pay to have it done again!). So now I have had allllll my clothes hanging in the rain for 3 days. Not only is it not going to dry (ever!) but it is also going to smell to high heavens! Even my towel is out there! Luckily my host mom gave me my underwear to hang dry in my room- so at least I have clean underwear until the hurricane passes!

PS. You know thats not really a picture of my laundry, right?