The Really Wet Season

Water seeps under my door and slide along the wall, like a secret agent creeping around a corner. Except I can’t just shoot the water and bury it out back if I want to get rid of it. My buddy in PC Honduras used to laugh when he told me about women there furiously sweeping water from their porch. Broom in hand, I realize I’ve joined their futile fight against the wet season rains.

Actually, it’s now the Really Wet season (official meteorological term). December – May is the mostly dry season, which means it rarely rains and there’s a steady, strong breeze. June – September is the wet season, and October and November are extremely, inconsiderately, there-is-no-end-in-sightly wet. Wet season means it will probably rain at some point every day, but often for only 20 minutes or so. Really Wet season means it always looks like it’s just about to downpour and four or five times a day, it does.

The rain is random here. In the States (at least, in the northeast), I feel like a rainy day means it will probably rain, off and on, all day. And if huge, grey clouds are coming, it will rain. Here, there are always huge grey clouds that can’t seem to make up their minds It’s like we live in the garden of a severely narcoleptic person holding a watering can. Sometimes he’s asleep with it tipped entirely, sometimes he’s asleep with the nozzle pointing ominously sideways, but not quite down. I often have to stop myself from looking up and yelling, “Just fucking rain and get it over with!” Luckily, I haven’t actually done this yet and community members don’t cross the street when I walk near them.

There are benefits to the Really Wet season: it’s cooler; rain on a zinc roof is relaxing at night; and if you don’t feel like leaving your house during the day, hard rain is an unchallenged excuse. Unfortunately, I get cabin fever too quickly to stay inside too long, so I end up getting wet every day.

Which means my clothes get wet and never dry and then mold. Although, they mold, somehow, even when they don’t get wet, so I might as well walk around.

Unfortunately, in the Really Wet season, I have fewer places to walk to, because people are less likely to show up for work if it looks like it will rain hard. Which is always.

There are tactics to deal with the wet: enjoy the cool – it’s nice being able to walk without sweating; assume it will rain – don’t fool yourself and for fork’s sake, don’t ever forget your umbrella; just get wet. Getting used to getting wet helps you follow through on your commitments. You want to be able to stand on your porch, face the downpour, and say, “Fuck it.” I’ve found it helps to actually say this out loud. It’s ok, no one else speaks English.

The Really Wet season is relentless and potentially depressing, but if you can appreciate the humor in its narcoleptic nature and apply a few coping tactics, your clothes will still mold. The grass is literally greener right now, but I’m already ready for the sun to come back.