Fanmail from some Flounder

As I write this I am watching an Atletico game, and Atleti is winning. Peace Corps has placed us on alert, and my town has been sealed off by landslides. A few hours ago we got electricity for the first time since last night, and the water is still only coming in fits and bursts, and is not potable. Its started raining heavily again, so its probably only a matter of time until we lose electricity again. All in all though, this has been a very good week.
I stayed with my mentor over the weekend until Tuesday, and I had a blast. He is living in a rural community about 7km from Panama, and about an hour and a half from the nearest semi-urban area. Time based distances are the norm here in Costa Rica, because the type and condition of the roads, is far more important than the actual distance traveled. For example traveling from our training communities to San Jose takes about an hour and fifteen minutes, whereas the same distance in another direction takes about half an hour.
[The team Atletico is playing has a player named Moldskred.] The trip was basically a two day job-shadow, but that was far more enjoyable than going to yet another week of training. The host family of my Mentor was incredibly sweet, and it was their daughter's birthday the day I arrived so we had cake and sang Happy Birthday. The next day we went to the botanical garden, where we wandered through a labeled wilderness, admiring plants and agoutis. Agoutis look like coconuts with a rodent head and miniature deer legs. They sit on their haunches and nibble on fruits and nuts that fall from the trees, and are adorable.
[Moldskred just took another (poorly called) free kick that went wide, and suddenly the picture flickered in and out, and came back with ghosts shadowing the players.] The next day we went to a coffee plantation and beneficio, and this time we walked through the indigenous encampment. Panamanian and Costa Rican Indigenous peoples inundate coffee based communities during picking times, which have three phases and last about three months. The coffee berry, I should add, is bright red, tastes like honey, and the pit inside smells nothing like coffee before it is roasted. The indigenous workers bring their entire families from the reservations and stay for the coffee season before going back. They dress far more nicely than the average Costa Rican, the men wear slacks and button up shirts all the time, and the women wear gorgeous traditional dresses, and are usually either pregnant or surrounded by very young children, or both. Their living conditions were cramped, with 200 people crushed into tiny rooms in four long buildings. The buildings were divided by canals dug into the dirt, full of trash and mud, and lined on either side with wood stoves creating more smoke than heat because all of the wood is soaked through. We talked to a large family, and everyone's eyes were red and watering because of the smoke roaring around every corner. The men were the only ones who talked, and they were, understandably, far more interested in telling us about their scars from fights the night before than talking about their livelihood or religion.
The bus ride from home was long and wet, and the day after I came through they closed road. So I was lucky the trip was scheduled when it was. This weather is causing landslides and floods all over the country, and it seems like there are many weakened bridges and landslides between us and our trainers, so events will be canceled or postponed. [Moldskred's teammates include Lustig, and Skjaelared, and they just tied the game.] This morning (Thursday) we walked up to the nearest landslide (15 minutes) and we were there while a young man decided to test whether electricity was flowing through the distended electrical cable to see if he could ride through on his motorcycle. Before we could get to the other landslides though, we received orders to stay put and wait the weather out, so now I am watching Atleti play, and rejoicing that we are safe and dry.

¡GOOOOLAZO DE ATLETICO DE MADRID!
Atleti just won the game in the 85th minute!