Mother nature can be a serious bitch.

This apartment building was built by cutting away at the 2-300ft hillside behind it, and at first, with all the earthquakes, I thought I liked this feature because it would be a good escape route from a tsunami. (just in case) Well, yesterday it began to rain and last night it began to rain even harder. Lighting was on top of us and the whole place was shaking. Nolan and I were both silently awake counting the seconds when we heard a really loud crash, like someone dropped all their pots and pans on the cement at the same time. We decided to just ignore it, and it was 1a.m. so we were just trying to bury our  heads and fall asleep. Next thing, our neighbor is yelling for us. We open the door and he is fully packed and ready to run. "The hill behind us is gonna go, and we need to get out of here!"
Okay.
So we decide not to mess around with a warning call and hustle to get out. I grab Stella and throw our rain coats on, but it is raining like I have never seen before, and the roads are like rivers. Nolan is hustling around, packing everything he can get his hands on, while Darby and I are staring at him ready to run out the door. Nolan grabs headlamps and two beach umbrellas. Then the power shuts off, and it's pitch black, and Darby starts to panic and hustles for the door trying to get his headlamp on. The Hallway is flooded and there are little geckos swimming in the water trying to get out. I am like second guessing weather I should stop and help them. Freaking out.
We hit the door at the end of the hallway and there is a tree branch on the stair case, and it has bent the whole steel railing in. We got a small glimpse of a tree that was laying next to the building that was not there before. When we get to the bottom of the stairs to the cement porch, there is 3 inches of mud and a small creek that has formed that we have to walk through to get to the street. There was not one light on in the whole town, but our headlamps. We slowly make it to the Hotel next door, to their sheltered kitchen area, and find candles and pads to sleep on and try to sleep until light. After three hours of getting annihilated by mosquitoes the faint light comes up and the rain dies down and we head back over.
It is still pretty dark to see the extent of the slide, but it was up against the building to the second story and the tree in the side yard that narrowly missed the building was massive. We mosey inside to try and get some sleep, but by this time Stella is wide awake, and in chime the howler monkeys. It's useless. Here are some photos of the damage.

We hear that some bridges are out and we may try and make a run for San Jose a day early so that we don't miss our flight. No more surfing after that storm. The water is brown and polluted with trash and debris. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that tonight will not be as bad as last night, and that we can get some sleep at some point.

Truck is gone. Journey is winding down. Stella isn't.

 I don't know if you can see in this small photo, but this guy took the cake for worst burn.

 This cool dog reminded me of Hazel. She was fishing in the tide pools with us. I wanted her to come home with us.

 Trying to dive to the bottom.

 Devil Tree.

 This vicious beast wouldn't stop biting us. Awe, look at the cute puppy.. Run for your life Stella!

 Stella the Karate Kid

 Bumskies

 Ferry to Puntarenas.

 Dusty Santa Teresa.

 One of our many surf shacks we've built down here. It has become a bit of a hobby.

The other day we were on the beach building a surf shack and eating cocos and i tried to balance rocks on this log when the whole ground shook, knocking all the rocks down. Nolan and I looked at each other and packed up and ran for the hills. I am not going to be a victim of a tsunami! Then there was another one the other day. Freaks me right out!
We haven't written in a while cause i think the travel plans to go home have been taking up our thoughts. It is a bit meloncholic around here now that we have bought the tickets. We are just rying to get in as much beach time as our skin and kid will allow. We decided not to stay, when we realized that it would be financially impossible. this place is out of control expensive and minimum wage is $2 an hour. So for the mean time we are eating a lot of beans and rice and a lot of beach time and couch time. It has been a nice change from driving always. I do wish we could have seen more of Costa Rica on this trip.
We sold the truck. It was kind of a trip. The guy that owns Mal Pais Surf Camp, Doug, set us up with his car guy in San Jose. This guy met us at McDonalds (second time we have gone to mcdonalds on this trip) he jumped in our car and took us to his house. He gave us 4000 in us cash at his house and offered a room to stay in for the night. I just wasn't all that into it, so we went by a bank to get the rest of the cash, and his son's pregnant wife drove us in her rice burner downtown. Then we took a cab to the hotel. Not all that cool walking around with 5 grand in cash in your pocket in downtown Alejuela at night.
We found this really cool Hostel and there was a sweet American couple staying there. They fed us rum and cokes and told great stories. We stayed up till way to late and drank too much. At one point I found a Mariachi band to come back to the hotel and play some songs for us. We all thought that the place was empty and we made way too much noise, but in the morning people came out of every room for breakfast.... Whoops!
 It was really fun, but with every really fun morning there is an equally un-fun next day. We took a cab to the bus station to head back to Santa Teresa. We were very entertained by a Spiderman toy that would crawl down the window, and bought a few, and once we got on the hot bus I fell asleep. Nolan was up with Stella until she finally fell asleep as we got to Puntarenas. No more truck, and no more riding in comfort. Enter the real world.
Back to Santa Teresa:
Stella has become quite the crab catcher. I am impressed. They scare me. She has also been perfecting her own wrestling style. Her name is Stella the Destroyer and the Destroyer comes out at about 5 at night, it is an epic battle between her and Dad. I wait till she is exausted to get in my tickles.... Until she has calmed down and I know I am not going to get a black eye or broken nose from head bangs. We have been having a lot of fun, but she is really ready to go back to her school and her friends. She always talks about Miss Robyn and Kaylen, who used to hit her but doesn't hit her any more. Soon enough we will be home in the cold, so for now we are just going to soak up the heat.

El Salvador/Nicaragua

 Tried to get a car shot of the Volcano.

Political parties.

 Flooding.

 Probably wouldn't fly in the states. In Nicaragua.

 New apartment. New balance board. New rug from Teotitlan.

Photos of Antigua