09 February 2005

Tres días

Three days of continued rain here in Caracas. The situation has reached national emergencies levels. A state of emergency has been delcleared in the metropolitan Caracas and the six surrounded states. Rivers have over flowed, entire towns wash out and the place is a mess. As you know or not know, most of the poor people live in shanty houses (barrios) located on the sides of mountains. Well when it rains and the waters wash away the mountain base, guess what happens? The houses come along with them, so in one state, the mountain slipped and slid and so did the houses. The death toll so far is less than 20, but if the rains continue, it will surely rise. This is the same state (Vargas) along the Carribean coast that in 1999 a mud side as a result of three days of rain took the whole mountain with it. Reports estimate that over 10,000 people perished on that December day.

As of now, thousands of people are seeking refugee in the centre of the city. Much of the city is shut down or operating on limited capacities, as roads are blocked, and the workers of the barrios can't get to work. It is dees same poor people who does do de back braking work of Caracas and live hand tuh mouth. I had to say to myself today, man de poor people of the world does really suffer. News reports say that the rains of the last three days have broken all records, even that of the 1999 Vargas tragedy. We shall continue to watch and pray.

Well yuh know ah tell wunna dat wid de rains, ah had muh own set ah problems. Well dey getting worst. so we call in de owners ah we Apt and ley dem access de situation. But hear dis, and ley me tell wunna, dees people does operate and think different dan we..which ah assume most ah wunna dat read muh blog is West Indians or of WI lineage...anyhow..

The husband come up and look at the leaky roof. Ghi we some hog bull story bout he laxing on getting de fella tuh come and fix it, he done put down de depoit and now only waiting fuh de dry season tuh come and no rain. Mind you, dis sed roof leak last year during de rain season, he come and half ass do de job and de first sign ah rain dis season, the leak start in the same place. Now Caracas does get two seasons, dry from Dec-Jun and wet from Jun-Nov, simple so, so yuh know getting rain in Feb ein a good sign atall, especially 3 days ah continous rain.

Anyhow me and de hubby vex now, so we call he up and show he all de buckets we got down tuh ketch water..amn ah tell yuh de amount ah water we done ketch, we coulda build a swimming pool. so he really seeing de damage an now feel sorry cause if he din fix de roof properly in the first place, we wouldn't have the problem now, cause now he gotta fix, both roof and ceiling. But hear dis, he solution tuh de problem fuh we fuh de time being, is tuh get de consegeire (building supertiendent) tuh come up the apt and whipe up de water. So now we gotta call dis woman outta she apt, tuh come upstairs tuh we wun tuh whipe up water. yuh eva hear such crappo.

Why dis woman gotta come in we apt 2-3 times a day tuh whipe up water....why??? because in this culture, she is a maid and dah is wha she job is tuh do..all de menial work dat dem doan wanna do or think dem too good tuh do. So I should feel better calling dis woman tuh empty buckets and whipe up water... I had tuh tell dem...look, I quite capable ah whiping up de water muhself, wha ah want is fuh wunna tuh fix de rahtid roof at de first sign ah some dry weather... chuupppsssee.....

So wunna enjoy wunna day...I gine and whipe up me water, or should ah call dis woman outta she dry house tuh whipe it up fuh me, while ah sit back and tek a drink....nahhhh ah ein suh brutal........

Later!!!!!!!!!!

5 comments:

Jdid said...

you like you aint embracing you role as ona de higher ups and better offs ya kno :-)

naa, I understand you completely though cause you know come dry season he aint gine wanta fix the place either.

Campfyah said...

Man Jidid...things ein looking too good fuh me atall, I living amongst de lower downs and de scramblers. that is just de thig wid de roof. Dem too darn cheap and he did just waiting fuh dry season, tuh fuget all bout de problem and pocket de rent.

Sunshine, Caracas is a book in iteslf. De hubby always telling me that ah should do a photo gallery and publish a book, but de desire ein hit muh atall, fuh various reasons.
Yes, I've done muh share of living in amazing places, Korea, Germany ah couple months in Thailand, Guam and Egypt. Dem doan including de various States in De U.S. What can I say, I'm a travelling fool.

Abeni said...

Poor you.hope you get your roof fixed real soon.

Angry Dog said...

Bwoy Campy, I dunno, it sound serious fi true--but them people here bright and out of order man! That is utter disrespec! I hope y'all find a new place soon, soon, u hear!

Anonymous said...

Y nosotros aqui hear nada about la lluvia en Venezuela. Hope it stops soon Camp. Mi Espanol es a bit rusty. Dr. D.