Flood!

When we first moved to Ecuador, we went through the settling in process. That included finding an apartment, navigating a new city, and figuring out how to do basic things in a country where people spoke a language that we did not. Shortly after we settled in, right as we were beginning to prepare ourselves for the exploration stage of moving in to a new place, the rainy season struck.

The rainy season in Quito is from October through December or so. People told us to prepare for it, and sure enough, the rain followed and held true to predictions. Quito's rainy season stands in stark contrast to our previous home, Florida. In Florida, during the summer it rains. It dumps. However, these thundering deluges usually last for about an hour or so. In Quito, the storms are usually much less vicious but they last all day.

Well, people were wrong. We were wrong. The past month in Quito has been the rainy season. Much more so than whatever was happening in November. It has rained every single day, all day for a few weeks. When we asked people about this contradiction, they said "Oh yeah, April is our rainy season..." Oh Ecuador, you slay me.

Anyway, keeping in line with the majority of our experiences related to cultural adjustment, Murphy's Law applied here. I woke up early on a recent Monday. My eyes were crusty, my spirit hadn't yet come in the form of coffee and it was cold. As I walked into the living room I felt a distinct and disappointing squish squish of a watery boogie board like crusty wet carpet. Our back patio had flooded into the living room. We lived on the second floor! It's not supposed to flood there.

Soggy carpet

Anyway, after some morning grumbling and general crankiness, (remember...still no coffee) Shannon and I mopped up the water. We propped up the rug to attempt drying it and prevent mold growth. What had just 9 hours prior been a dry fluffy carpet had morphed into a living room version of tres leches.

MMMM. Tres Leches

We had a local cleaning company pick up our rug and we did the best we could to spot dry the couch. We got a hold of our landlord and had her send a repair guy to come and fix the leak. Instead of, you know sealing the leak carefully he decided it would be best to drill holes into the wall at a downward angle. That way, if it flooded, it would just fall back outside. He just happened to ignore the fact that if he had just sealed the leak we wouldn't need holes in the wall. Of course, I made him do this before he left anyway, although he felt the holes would be sufficient. He slabbed a giant wad of silicone sealant on the wall, swiped it like a frat bro on tinder, and left it as it was. Our best lessons living abroad remain. Be flexible, and more importantly expect the unexpected.

Not exactly how I would have solved this problem.