hello rainy season!

rainy season

I've said it over and over but in case you need to be reminded my favorite time of the day is after I'm finished working in the clinic and I head down the road to the village.  I typically don't make it too far from campus before I'm dripping with sweat and wondering why in the world I choose the middle of the afternoon (hottest time of the day) to walk the road to Chambrun.  

Rainy season has officially started which means that it can look beautiful and sunny one minute and start pouring the next.  The rain is a blessing because it takes away some of the dust and also cools the afternoons off a little.  It also brings with it the mosquitos which are less of a blessing.  It's crazy how it can go from the "dry season" picture to the "rainy season" picture (this is the exact same spot in the village) in a matter of thirty minutes.  Last Friday I was blessed to have Natacha's home to sit in while waiting for the rain to stop falling.  The children all teased that the rain wasn't going to stop and that I could just sleep in their homes.  They all were willing to share their beds and I joked that I would only sleep with the potty trained kids!  The rain eventually stopped and walking home was quite the adventure.  The water was at least four inches above my ankles and I knew the odds of me falling were incredibly high.  The entire village looked like a pond with houses that were in the middle of it- there was literally no dry ground.  Let's just say the children and adults both would never let me forget it if I fell!  When it rains the mud on the paths is literally like an ice skating rink.  It's impossible to walk with my flip flops so I typically end up carrying them and pray with each and every step that my feet don't step on the thorns, broken glass, and of course the donkey and goat droppings.  On this day my Haitian friends helped to form a line and we all walked or more truthfully slid down the path towards the road.  When I started to slip and fall they would pull me up and when they started to fall I would help them too.  We all had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard at our attempts to not fall.  Thankfully I made it back to campus without any foreign objects in my feet and without falling!

dry season (same path as above picture!)