December days...

Today has been a typical day in the record book of December Days:

The CRC on a typical December day. Our mountain cloud hovering.
But no horizontal "pelo de gato" or "llovizna" (mist/drizzle) that usually accompanies the windiness!

It's cold (I was surprised when I felt "warm" and looked at the thermometer to see 64°/17.7°C! That is NOT warm by my standards!) It can heat up to 66-67°F/19°C degrees during the day, but is usually between 60-63°F/17°C at night! When windy, it's colder inside (no insulation and no indoor heating). People say, but aren't you USED to the cold weather since you come from Washington State?! Isn't it COLD up there? Let me explain the relativity/difference:

Washington: 4 seasons, different temps experienced depending on location within the state (West side, more moderate. East side, more extreme)
Costa Rica: 2 seasons, different temps depending on location (Mountains: colder. Central Valley/low lands: warmer. Beaches: more humid and usually warmer.)

Washington: 4 seasons-spring, summer, autumn, winter--different temperatures are reached, providing for a wider range of temperature relativity: 90°F/32°C=hot, 32°F/0°C=cold!
Costa Rica: 2 seasons-rainy and less rainy. It's currently the "rainy" season. Up here on our mountain it's the "even MORE rainy" season. Smaller range of temperature relativity: 95-100°F/35-38°C=hot, and 55-65°F/13-17°C=cold!

Washington: indoor heating and insulation (sometimes even heated floors!)
Costa Rica: food to fatten you up and sweatshirts from the tiendas de Ropa Americana (secondhand clothes stores). Or otherwise, architecturally, fireplaces (that blow more smoke inside than up the chimney) and thin walls and wooden boards that let the wind whip throughout the buildings.

Washington: electric heated showers all the time
Costa Rica: solar heated/gas supplemented showers (thus when they're less sun, i.e. during overcast/rainy December days, the water gets colder and you have to fidget with the settings on the water heater to get the temp just right!)

So when I complain about being cold, it's probably because:

1. My body temp is 96.7°F (not 98.6° like the "average" human), so I actually AM COLD, relatively speaking to the majority of you... if you are "average."
2. We have no insulation nor means for heating our rooms inside here, save the heat that is generated from our own bodies or electronics (the server hallway room and the "fun times room" {office} are the warmest because of all our computers). Dehumidfiers also make the rooms warmer as they take out moisture (we're talking 90% humidity these days with all the precipitation, people). My bathroom and the laundry room are on the list of "top five warmest locations on the CRC 'Colda Rica' campus"*. Because there are dehumidifiers that moderate the temperatures in these small spaces. So "room temp" varies between 60-65°F these days. I'm used to rooms being ~72°F. I'm most comfortable at 76°F room temp (that's when I can take off a jacket or sweatshirt).
3. Wind whips through cracks and crevasses in walls, the roofing, under doors and through floorboards, and down into the buildings through the chimneys. Drafty. (Why don't we use the chimneys and actually light fires in the fireplace, you ask? Well, more smoke and ashes end up INSIDE the building than going up and out the chimney. Engineering/architectural fail.)
4. Tile and stone floors seem to radiate cold and draftiness.
5. The rain and moisture make the wind and cold bite more. It's [ending?] rainy season up here on the mountain (usually through mid-January). So it's still an environment of wet and cold.

 So does that sufficiently explain why I complain about being cold here these days?

This is a quick video clip of the weather outside, at the moment. Just average wind strength.

*For those of you who are interested, the top five warmest locations on the CRC 'Colda Rica' campus: (from west to east sides of campus)

-The laundry room

-The Orange Room, by proxy, when the laundry room is warm with dryers running

-The hallway/server room

-The "fun times room"

-Lara and Bean's bathroom, when the dehumidifier is on