I have seen a few crazy things I’ve seen in the rural/suburban province of Heredia recently. But the two that stand out for me are the noisy and excited pericos, (parakeets) and la ceniza (ash). Well, you’re probably asking, “ How are parakeets and a little ash crazy?”
OK, to start, the relatively small province of Heredia has a lot of little suburb towns before you get to the farms and the forests. Charlie kept pestering the whole family that there were pericos flying around town. At first, I was like, “ Yeah, sure” because it sounded crazy. I continued to roll my eyes at the idea of a jungle bird living in the suburbs. But one day, while my dad was driving us to school, Charlie pointed out little green birds that were unmistakably parakeets. I was shocked, and proven wrong by Charlie (!?!).
Not a great picture, but this is a parakeet at school.
I realized the only reason I hadn’t noticed them before was because they were always flying by you in an instant -- so fast that they looked black. I later looked it up and discovered that not only one, but three species of parakeets were living in the suburbs of Heredia, and even downtown San José. Those species being orange-chinned, crimson-fronted, and orange-fronted parakeets. (read about them for yourself if you are interested!).
This is what they look like up close!
Anyhoo, about the ceniza, aka "ash" in English.
So, before I talk about the current ash issue, we have to travel all the way back to 1963. So, many years ago, in Costa Rica, on March 13, 1963, the volcano of Irazú erupted. It wasn't a big lava eruption, but explosion after explosion of ash. Floods and mudslides were caused by runoff. The continuous eruption didn’t reach a climax until December. It was so bad that for TWO YEARS there was ash drifting around before it all finally drifted away by March 1965. Anyone who lived through that crazy time (like my tennis coach) will never forget it.
Biking as ash falls!
Back to today. A few weeks ago, volcano Turrialba exploded, and ash drifted down past the Turrialba area to northern Heredia. I was shocked to discover I could actually see the ash float around the streets.
Dad's car covered with ash. Volcán Turrialba
It was blowing around! Although whitish, when the ash landed on something, it looked completely black, like normal ash. Cars were completely covered with ash, and looked gray. The airport was closed for a couple of days. Also, the ash makes it hard to breath, and gets in your lungs. Because of that many people wear masks at school. Charlie and Lia got some masks from friends. I had some of it tickling my lungs, and water was the ultimate cure.
I hope you’ve had fun learning about some nutty things happening in the province of Heredia!
Ciao (for now)Jack
Not a great picture, but this is a parakeet at school.
Biking as ash falls!
Dad's car covered with ash.
Volcán Turrialba