When It Rains, It Ashes???

It has been 'raining' ash here in Costa Rica for the last week or so on and off and today it got really bad.  Volcanic ash has been spreading throughout the San Jose region and it's making people a little on edge.

Not that we're all that worried that the volcano is going to blow (we're pretty far away from the danger zone and the people that are close by have been evacuated.)  But it has been wrecking havoc on our cleaning schedule, as petty as that sounds.  I went outside this morning to a carport filled with black dust, ash blown just about everywhere.

When I left with my son for his dentist appointment today, ash was falling still and, with the wind blowing, was getting into my eyes, my hair, my mouth.  It's a dangerous combo those two, ash and wind.  It gets all around and it is a bi..tc..h to sweep up.  I had to really get a good dusting on all the furniture in the main parts of the house, especially the all purpose room.  When I was done dusting and sweeping that one room, it looked like I had not cleaned it for months.

Plus, with all the sweeping I've been doing and the dusting and re-dusting (as the ash keeps coming and wind keeps blowing), it's been hard keeping my feet clean in my flip flops.

Now those are just my small gripes, lets get to the more troubling aspects of this whole ash situation.  The Ministry of Education has suspended classes until further notice due to all the ash.  And many people have taken to wearing surgical face masks like the ones they wore in China when they had that bird flu scare.  Volcanic ash can wreak havoc on your lungs.  If enough gets into your system (as it's hard not to breathe it in when it's swirling all around), it can act like cigarette smoke.  It's a health hazard and so now the kids are required to wear face masks to school, that is when they do eventually go back to school.

So, we might live in 'paradise' but with the random earthquakes and the threat of volcanic eruption (but first comes all the ash), paradise never seemed so scary.  Honestly, I am not really scared, and neither is anyone else for that matter.  But it does bring me back down  to reality that life is precious and anything can happen.  Mother nature is not one to be messed with. So live for today.