Hail, Earthquakes and the Music from the Carpio Barrio

Giant, golf ball sized chunks of hail rained from the sky at the end of our school day yesterday.   Most residents here say they haven't seen such a thing in 10 years!  Global warming or the precursor to the ten plagues...You pick.

The weather has been hot and humid, with downpours in the late afternoon, but most startling are the little tremors that we have become more accustomed to.  The other night, we woke to a 5.0 on the Richter.  (Well, Steve woke, and hence WE woke.)

Steve ran in the Cerros de Escazu, a 10K race almost entirely uphill!  (Well, eventually he had to come down!)  He took 3rd place in his age range---his first time placing in a major race.  Way to go, Steve!

I had the eye-opening experience of visiting the poorest area of San Jose, the Carpio District, only 20 minutes from wealthy Escazu.  Most of the tiny, one-room homes are built from cement with corrugated tin walls and roofs; so far from our fancy high rises just a few miles away.

Some of the luckier kids here are part of an amazing music program, where kids with little opportunity are given instruments and music lessons.  The 19 year old head of the program is a genius both musically, and for his ability to teach these smiling kids.  Our synagogue choir has been practicing for our May 10th performance with their orchestra.

We said farewell to our wonderful rabbis, Daniela and Rami before they leave for their new posts in Lancaster, PA (They aren't actually leaving yet.)  When they do, we sure will miss their kindness, humor, honesty, and our language exchange class that we have with them each week.

No matter the hail,humidity, earthquakes and torrential rain, you still can't beat the sunsets from our condominium's  parking lot!