amadelacasa

It's raining again. This time very heavy. The combination of heavy rain and sheet metal roofs is making it almost impossible to have a normal conversation. The rainy season in Guatemala has started. It's been raining for almost two weeks now, a couple of hours every day, sometimes the whole day. But from the other two rainy seasons I've spent here I can't recall it to be this heavy ("fuerte" in Spanish, can't really find a good word in English, neither in Swedish...), but they say it's because of the climate changes...

"The light went away again!" is what they say when the electricity goes away. Normally it's connected to the heavy rains. I found it hard to understand the expression first, but in a country where most people don't have electric cookers and where other electronic equipment is very limited it's logical to talk about the light going away. No one here talks about electricity.

This time the light went away in the evening, just before the sunset. Soon it was all dark both inside and outside and only the frequent lightnings (and the shopping mall with the huge McDonald's M that never seems to be out of anything) gave us some light on and off. "¡Ya viene la luz!" ("The light is back!") Rosa said happily, lightening a candle in the citchen to be able to prepare the dinner.

Now the light is back again and the floor in my room reminds me of a private swimming pool. But we live in a good house. We notice the loss of electricity because we have access to it. And I notice the water leaking in to my room because I actually have good walls and windows surrounding me. A big part of Guatemala doesn't. First year when I was here, in 2005, a whole village just dissapeared in te heavy rains. It rains a lot up in the highlands and around the more volcanic parts of the country, and that's also where the poor Mayan people have their homes and grow their crops. Guess who (again) are the most exposed in this country?

But any way. I've been here for almost eight weeks now, only two and a half more to go. So it's really time for me to go on vacations, don't you think? Tomorrow I leave for a birthday party in Guatemala City, after that I'll go to some other turistic, but beautiful and interesting places, trying to stay away from flu and heavy rains. Hopefully together with some really nice people! Wish me luck!