For the past few months I was beginning to think life here wasn´t so physically hard as I imagined it to be. Sure, it gets hot and dusty, but that makes my afternoon bucket bath super sabrosa. Spent a lot of time swinging in my hammock. Sat on a lot of neighbors porches drinking mango frescos. Enjoyed several warm, starry nights sitting on my doorstep. Tranquilo, as we say here.
Then, it started raining.
In Nicaragua there are two seasons, summer and winter. Or better said, dry and wet. In the dry season (December to May) everything dissipates to dust and it gets hot as hell. In the wet season (the other 6 months of the year), which is just starting this week, it rains and rains and rains and floods and hurricanes sweep over the country and blows roofs off and takes out electricity and water for days. Just a week ago I was strolling around my community in my flip flops. Yesterday I was up to my knees in mud (and probably cow poo too, but it all looks the same at this point) just walking to the bus stop. As the bus approached the river, the driver went out and contemplated the gushing currents. People on the bus started telling me about last year when so and so´s pickup truck was swept away as he tried to drive through the river. Or the time everyone had to get out of the bus and cross the river, waist high in water. The bus driver decided the best thing to do was to floor it through the river (yeah..we don´t really do bridges here...), but not without stalling in the mud and me seriously thinking about how I could climb out the window if it came to that. We made it to Matagalpa City, but the bus driver decided we weren´t making the return trip because the river was too flooded to drive through. So I was stranded in the city for the night and there may or may not be a bus going back today.
Basically, what used to be an idyllic bus ride to the city is now a huge pain in the muddy ass. The good thing about all this is I think in the next few months I can entertain you all with more outrageous and interesting stories, you know, the ones that start with I-walked-10-miles.
