La Tormenta

I didn´t write last week because I quickly fell into a pattern here that seemed to resemble normal daily life, and unworthy of passing on. Except for the rainstorm last Thursday. I was at the school until about 7pm that night when it started storming. The school has an open courtyard in the middle that we could watch the lighting from in a safe place, so the handful of us that were there stayed for a while until the heavy rain passed. It was a dense storm! And one that Xela hasn´t seen in awhile - here begins the rainy season! But eventually I had to make my way back (dinner was waiting for me), so I braved the rain and ran for it. As soon as I set foot outside on the tiny sidewalks I was in complete shock - not twenty minutes had passed and the streets were flooded more than a foot high and rising! It was totally impassable; I watched a car try to drive through and I´m certain the water seeped in through its doors. A nice boy on his bicycle tried to help me cross the street but it was hopeless - the only thing to do was head for higher ground until the rain stopped.

This city has apparently expanded so rapidly in the past twenty years that its infrastructure can´t possibly keep up, and the drainage system is totally insufficient for storms like this one. People were sweeping water out their front doors as I tried to get home. There are so many public services that we take for granted in the States...



I don´t have a picture of the storm but here´s the school. Pretty right? (by the way there are a ton of new yorkers here. I thought I was getting away from them. Anyone want to go see this guy play at Piano´s with me when I get back?)