Day 50: Costa Rica's National Emergency

This road is actually perfectly paved...not a dirt road.
The mud is from the mountain to the left after a landslide.

This was a massive hole between the highway and a home.
The red wall is built on the edge of their driveway.

The bridge collapsed here, causing them to rip up the road and rebuild.
They've been working on this for several days.
There's no way around it - that line of tractor trailers has been there for days as well.

Our river and newly fallen trees.

The rain won't let up. Won't even hint at it. Since we have the rental car until tomorrow, we decided to take Matt to San Isidro, the second largest city we drove through on the way to the airport. It looked like it had some cool cafes, funky shops and satsifying restaurants. It would have something to in the rain.

We drove about 10 minutes before our first stop. Mike parked and checked it out. A landslide had either pushed a pickup truck into a hole where he was stuck or he poorly tried to navigate himself through the  muddy waters. It would be a long time before anyone could pass so we turned around. Yet again, another place Matt will have to wait and see. We might have to start keeping a list.

The only other options were to drive the same route as yesterday or explore the opposite direction. Seeing as the roads were barely driveable 24 hours ago and the rain hadn't let up, we were certain that wasn't an option anymore. We headed in the only direction we could go. Twenty minutes later, we were at a dead end, blocked by bulldozers and no road.

We headed for the only place we could go - home - and were welcomed by a power outage. We decided to go into town for some food and internet. We noticed that the businesses with TVs were all tuned into the same thing; live footage of destroyed homes, cracked pavement, massive holes, gushing water and devasted people. I immediately googled Costa Rica and found headlines of this nature:

Escazu Landslide Leaves 20 dead; 10 missing

While Escazu isn't very close to us, the affects are hitting close to home. You cannot drive more than 10 minutes without evidence of falling land. Costa Rica is supposed to be declaring a State of Emergency within the next few hours.

While watching the news reports, our old town of Parrita shared the spotlight with the landslide. The tressel next to the bridge we drove over yesterday had collapsed and the cemetery's graves were no longer visible. After seeing the conditions of the road yesterday, only a quarter mile from our old house, and the news reports of the severe flooding today, there's no way our first home isn't flooded right now. It's amazing, sad and scary.

So, we're trapped. Each direction out of our town is blocked by flooded rivers, undriveable roads, fallen trees or immobile vehicles. We've received 18 inches of rainfall in 48 hours and it's expected to continue until tomorrow. Fortunately, our town has some great restaurants, bars and cafes that still function and we're spending our time in them. Guess Matt had some good timing...