Definition of "Rainy Season"

Rainy season means we get a downpour of rain almost every afternoon around 4pm - lasting at least 2 hours, sometimes 8 hours. When I say downpour - I mean that for at least the first hour, you can't talk to anyone because the noise of the downpour on the tin roofs are so loud. Life pretty much stops (at least for locals - foreigners still move around some) for that first intense hour of the downpour because if you're out in it for even a minute you'll be drenched. So you see people standing under trees, or under whatever roof they could find when the downpour started and just waiting it out for sometimes over an hour until there's a lull. I would too if I didn't have a way to my few pairs of clothes that I had.

The ground is sopping wet - last night all of El Ayudante had at least 2 inches of water sitting on top of the ground - everywhere! Where there isn't grass, the dirt is slick mud. 2 of the 3 entrance roads to El Ayudante require 4wheel drive and very slow driving or you'll slide off the road or get stuck in the mud. So we to take the long way in and out.

Our kids love the rain - we all have 'chumpas' (raincoats) and Maddy has rain boots and there is quite often playing in the rain in front of the mission house. All of Honduras is a beautiful bright green this time of the year - it's the season of corn crops, and of cutting the grass often! Everywhere you look is green!

The power is often tripped off by these downpours - this weekend we didn't have power for 18 hours in a row.

For us the rainy season is inconvenient and creates many opportunities for mopping the house, for many of our neighbors they fear for losing their roofs in the wind or fight their leaky roofs that flood their homes. 2 weeks ago a storm leveled half of a lady's house.

Despite those downsides, I actually still like the rainy season :) It's cooler and sometimes overcast, and I like when life has to stop and you just have to sit with whoever you are with and 'be'.