My mom is trapped!!!!

Colombiche says on Dec 19, 2007, 20:10:

My family in Manizales tells me it has been cold as hell and pouring. There have been a lot of landslides (derrumbes) on the roads between Manizales and Pereira.

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

msaucey says on Dec 19, 2007, 20:12:

That would make sense.... I think that's why they've been closing the roads.... Imagine what traffic must be like at the line over in Ibague.... geez.....

My mom's cousin was going to make lechona outside, but with this weather apparently that Christmas dinner has been cancelled....

The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. - CS Lewis

Colombiche says on Dec 19, 2007, 20:13:

Que tristeza, con lo rica que es una marranada al aire libre jajaja.

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

slguy says on Dec 19, 2007, 20:14:

Speaking of delays....

A mother was working in the kitchen listening to her 5 -year- old son playing with his new electric train in the living room. She heard the train stop and her son saying, "All of you sons of bitches who want off, get the hell off now...cause this is the last stop! And all of you sons of bitches who are getting on, get your asses on the train...cause we're going down the tracks" the horrified mother went in and told her son, "We don't use that kind of language in this house." "Now I want you to go to your room and you are to stay there for TWO HOURS. When you come out, you may play with your train...but I want you to use nice language. Two hours later, the son came out of the bedroom and resumed playing with his train. Soon the train stopped and the mother heard her son say..."All passengers, please remember your things, thank you and hope your trip was a pleasant one. We hope you will ride with us again soon." She heard her little darling continue... "For those of you just boarding, remember, there is no smoking in the train. We hope you will have a pleasant and relaxing journey with us today."

As the mother began to smile, the child added, "For those of you who are pissed off about the TWO HOUR delay, please see the bitch in the kitchen.

Before you throw me out, make sure I pay my bar tab

msaucey says on Dec 19, 2007, 20:22:

LOL... That is really cute..........

The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. - CS Lewis

goin_south says on Dec 20, 2007, 00:26:

Cute???!!!
WTF!!!! MSaucey!...I almost lost a mouth-full-of... ... ... all over my keyboard!
good one, slguy.
You could have thrown me overboard, in the middle of such laughter... jaj
--------
Hey, mi Pastusa tambien.. has only been reporting to me for it ... what seems like... now, ... about 4 weeks... ever since I/she returned from Cali at Thanksgiving.. that every day.. mucho lluvia y muy frio... she was sick... then a son spent three days in hospital... now, another has the same shit... croup, infection.. cough fever... she said the rain and cold are reaking havoc all over southern Colombia for weeks now... Who wants to go outside in that chit to get anything done???

why can't the freakin Chung King Chinese just LEAVE THE FREAKN DOLLY LLAMA and Tibet ... ALONE!

goin_south says on Dec 20, 2007, 00:44:

10 days... ahead... lower 50's at night.. con lluvia.
not good. not nice weather to put up with.
bad health.. bad business.

solamente para poco mas tiempo :-)

why can't the freakin Chung King Chinese just LEAVE THE FREAKN DOLLY LLAMA and Tibet ... ALONE!

adrimm says on Dec 20, 2007, 01:43:

I think that part of the problem in Colombia is that the storm water and gutter systems suck. I've never seen such huge lakes form so quickly on major roads as I did in Bogota last month.

john_stark says on Dec 20, 2007, 06:46:

"I think that part of the problem in Colombia is that the storm water and gutter systems suck. I've never seen such huge lakes form so quickly on major roads as I did in Bogota last month."

Same is true in San Antonio. Because it doesn't rain much, they don't have a system of storm drainage and let the water run over the road where ever it goes. When you get a serious rain roads are closed all over the place. So it's not just the Third World that's Third World.

tomtom33 says on Dec 20, 2007, 07:28:

The one small difference, UC, is that in Cartagena, for example, it rains one helluva lot. In Cartagena the rains stop the city. And this happens often.

You almost never see a city shut down because of rain in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois. Is Texas part of the US?

Lowell says on Dec 20, 2007, 07:30:

Not so in Cartago. A bit more rain, especially at night. However, the days have been pleasant partly cloudy days. Here we sacrafice one Gringo a week to the to the God of Tourons, so Cartago doesn't get overrun with them. Don't even think about moving here.

Alfred E. Newman. "What. Me Worry?"

lpdiver says on Dec 20, 2007, 11:33:

Actually Texas is an extension of Mexico and Houston is the capital of North Mexico!

t

"cook some rice!"

Robert Jorge says on Dec 20, 2007, 11:40:

JS is right. Flooding roads isn't just a 3rd world phenomenon. Try being on Fort Myers Beach during a squall.

Robert Jorge says on Dec 20, 2007, 12:05:

Good point. And I might add Bogota is at a higher elevation than Denver.

adrimm says on Dec 20, 2007, 18:42:

The amount of pavement, road-curvature and maintenance of storm drains matter alot too. Plant roots can totally stop up systems.

Unless you are at such low elevations that you can't have a basement, the ground can absorb water - problem is that many of today's concrete jungles don't let the water get to the natural ground. Some cities (ie. Portland) have designed really cool retrofits that channel gutter water into rain gardens to help absorb the water, let it infliltrate into the ground, before letting it spill into the storm drain system. The ground infiltration takes alot of pressure off of the storm drain system, 40 - 60% of water goes back into the ground (where it belongs),and it puts that much less pressure on the storm drains - ie. less chance they'll be overwhelmed.

Also, Bogota has built alot on the wetlands (humedales) that could help handle alot of rainwater... There are ways to take advantage of natural water-sponge of the wetlands, but roads and storm drains must be designed to work with it from the get-go.. and from what I could see they don't seem to curve some roads in Bogota.. and on sections of these roads the space between sidewalks can turn into a giant water trough when it rains.

Incidentally Bogota it is about the same as Portland for mean annual rainfall, but it is a bit more evenly spread out in Bogota over the year.

john_stark says on Dec 20, 2007, 20:54:

"You almost never see a city shut down because of rain in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois. Is Texas part of the US?"

I don't think so. When it rains in San Antonio, it causes absolute havoc. Drivers panic because the pavement is wet. OK, maybe they haven't seen rain in a couple of weeks but they HAVE seen it. On a day with a good rain in SA, there will be several hundred car accidents not to mention the road closures. They can barely handle rain, God knows what they would do with snow.

goin_south says on Dec 20, 2007, 23:15:

Actually Texas is an extension of Mexico ???
Yes, hence: TEXACO.

When it rains in San Antonio, it causes absolute havoc...
I was there for about four days, once. yep! a torrential downpour for the morning.. you can't get around.. roads shut down...

BUT... I THINK.. IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF COLOMBIA NOW.. we're talking torrential rains for NOT JUS ONE OR TWO DAYS..

... WE'RE TALKIN WEEKS, NOW... IT'S ENOUGH TO SHUT DOWN ... LIFE/BUSINESS/LIFE/HEALTH.

why can't the freakin Chung King Chinese just LEAVE THE FREAKN DOLLY LLAMA and Tibet ... ALONE!

jorgegdiaz says on Dec 21, 2007, 11:30:

Once in TX someone asked me where I was from, to which I replied, " South America". I saw a puzzled face in my interlocutor and then the obviuos-to-them-statement, "what?, but Texas is the south of America !"

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.