Thursday, August 21, 2008

Monsoon Season

This boat is on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala but we may have to port it up to San Miguel before long if the rains don't stop. Seems like we have had rain everyday since we returned and I understand that there were some gulley washers before we returned as well.

Not only is there rain but we are having lightning and rolling thunder. Every time I see a cloud and start to hear a rumble, I go under the desk. Not because I'm scared, well, yes I am. I'm worried about all my computer stuff. So I shut the machine down and unplug everything. Of course this always happens right when I'm in the middle of working on an image. And it happens several times a day. Grrrr.... It breaks my concentration everytime. So after it is past I plug-in and turn-on and try to get back to where I was before.

Night before last, the electricity was off for a couple of hours. No TV, no computer, too difficult to read in candlelight. That really was a bummer. And that night it rained so hard that we were reminded of the places we need to recaulk or get fixed. When we had the house painted earlier this year, we ended up with some breaks where the tile meets the house on the Portico. No problem in a gentle rain but in Tuesday night's torrent, water was pouring down in the portico just outside the door to the living room and by the stairs to the bedroom.

Last night we went to the theatre to see "The Last Ride" a play by our friend Michael Hager. It was a good evening until the end of the play when we suddenly heard the din of rain on the roof. Sure enough it was coming down in buckets and there must have been a hundred people at the play all standing around wondering how they would get home. An umbrella wouldn't be any help at all. About 15 minutes later, it seemed to let up a bit and we decided to make a break for it. We waded across the street in ankle deep water and luckly found a cab in the middle of the next block. By the way, if you are here in San Miguel, go see Michael's play. The proceeds go to Casita Linda.

They say the Presa is now at 100% capacity. This is good. I don't want the rainy season to end just yet, but it could start behaving a little better. Nice sunny mornings, showers in the afternoons, and cool evenings would be fine, thank you.

3 comments:

Nancy said...

Rainy season is really something! Coming from the Pacific Northwest I like how all the rain is packed into a few months rather than drizzling away all year long....

but I am also now a big fan of caulk, and have some pretty creative contraptions constructed to keep the water out!

I hope the dams are filling up, over here in Mazatlan it had been incredibly dry. It's been raining all day today, perfect soup weather. Mmmm.

Babs said...

Well they opened the dam in the Charco at 3AM this morning and the "roar" was deafening as that wall of water came down the canyon! It shook the house and I thought, "Oh crap" an earthquake - then I heard the water. I tried looking out, but it was night, it was dark and I figured if that water was as high as my house we were ALL a goner! It wasn't that high - but it was flooding through the old hotel......all day! I got photos.....an amazing sight!

Billie Mercer said...

Babara, go get pictures. How scary to hear it up close and personal. Blog it, girl!

I've never been able to figure out who in their right mind would have started that hotel in the first place. It is obviously in the path of a flood.