Power Crisis

Folks,

The power crisis continues, and I think this will be the case until the rains replenish the reservoirs for generating hydro-electricity.

That said, it's lashing as I'm writing, so here's hoping.

The pic of the week is of the fruit truck trailer that came unstuck on the already very precarious Parrita bridge when I was going to Manuel Antonio, which delayed us, and all traffic south, for about an hour while they got a JCB to tow it back off.

Manuel Antonio
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I went to Manuel Antonio for the weekend. I hadn't intended to. I was going to go to the more North Westerly beaches in Nicoya or Guanacaste just to check out possible places for moving to the coast. But we went for a few drinks on Thursday after work. I was home at 12.30, but as there hadn't been any water earlier on in the day I had to wash up the breakfast and lunch dishes. And then I had to pack. So by the time I was going to bed it was 2.30. I was to be up at 5.30. Unfortunately that didn't work. I woke at 5.30, but then blinked and it was suddenly 9.30. So I had missed the early morning buses. So it was a nice and relaxed weekend in Manuel Antonio.

The place I usually stay is very basic and costs around €6 for the night. But they only had a double, and believe me, it's not really worth €12. So I went to the hotel down the road. It was much more luxurious, and I decided to splash out. The price was €55 per night, but I bargained him down to €37 (these amounts were in dollars, so the figures made more sense!). Then when I was going he only charged me one night in error. So I had €110 worth of hotel for €37.

Facebook
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I never really heard about Facebook until the Virginia Tech shootings. Then I read about lots of students updating their Facebook accounts about their experiences on the day. Well, since then, membership has rocketed, including in our very own English department. So one of the teachers sent me an invitation, and I've joined. I must say I love it. It's a way of people keeping in touch and sharing photographs. I have made contact again with former teachers now in Canada, Czech Republic and Spain, and a former colleague on my Celta course. It will be a great way of keeping in touch with the people I'm working with now. If anyone has it, you can search for me using this email address.

Heredia/Saprissa
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Last night was the match between local team Heredia and the league leaders, Saprissa. I only had two students for the final class. The police have to escort the Saprissa supporters through the city, and all the shops close their shutters as they go by. It was in the stadium just down the road and there were huge celebrations as Heredia, very much the underdogs, won 2-0. The singing and honking of car horns went well into the early hours of the morning.

American English
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I feel I've been working here too long when I find myself, as I did the other day, automatically spelling color. And when colour starts to look like it's pronounced col-OOR. Scary.
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So until next week.

Chao,

Éamon

Sunday's Headline in La Nación: Energy crisis causes water rationing