Casa de Agua

I've decided that "Casa de Amber" will now be known as "Casa de Agua." I've had one very wet weekend here in San Jose - and that's not all due to the rainy season kicking into high gear here!

Saturday night, I decided to have two of my friends over for dinner. Luckily they were here! While we are hanging out in the kitchen as things cook, Casey says "What's that noise?" She wanders down the hallway and then comes back and says "Oh, it's just the water heater." After a moment I realize that because the water heater is turned off (you have to keep it off so as not to run up the power bill - we just turn it on and let it heat up before showers) that it should not be making any noise. So, I wander down the hallway and step in a puddle. I flip on the light and there is a small river flowing out of the water heater closet and into the floor.

Basically, the faucet on the water heater had rusted completely off and all 30 gallons in the tank were rushing into the floor of my apartment!! Kristen (my neighbor) was quick to call our landlord Carlos, while Casey and I began picking things up off the floor in the apartment. Carlos came quickly and shut off the water, but it was no use since all 30 gallons of water in the tank were determined to be free and all over my apartment.

It was a FLOOD! Nearly every room in the apartment had about an inch of water in it. What do you do!? Well, basically you start sweeping the water to a central location (the guest bathroom), scoop it up with the dust pan, dump the water in the shower, and then use towels to mop up the now somewhat drier area. It was definitely a team effort. Casey, Kristen, Carlos, and I spent about an hour and a half drying out the apartment. I was lucky that we caught it in time and no electronics bit the dust. But, what a mess, and what a way to spend a Saturday night!

Carlos is a great landlord. So great, in fact, that he was back at my door at 8:45 on Sunday morning to install a new, smaller, instant hot water heater. Yay for hot water, but boo for the early hour on Sunday! I'm glad he's always available for emergencies like these.

Then, just because I think someone up there needed a good laugh today, I came home to find more water (quite a bit actually) in the floor of my kitchen! I had just returned home and walked into the kitchen when Kristen came over. I felt like I was losing my mind because there was no explanation for where the water came from! Not from the sink, washer, refrigerator, or new hot water heater! There were no leak marks in the ceiling. BAFFLING!!

But have no fear! As Kristen was helping me mop up water, again, she felt a drop on her head. The water was coming through a leak in the ceiling. But that leak, was actually above (in) the light fixture! So the entire globe around the light (which was working FINE) was full of water! We cleaned that mess up and I text Carlos again to explain. His response? "Don't worry about that. We had a big storm with wind." Pura vida people!!

So, needless to say, I am ready to dry out for a bit! Nick and Manissa are in the country and on the coast for a few days and Sarah and Chris arrive Wednesday. Let's just hope the apartment holds up until they leave!

<3,
Amber