The phone rang at 6:20 this morning; it was Jess letting us know that the clinic was once again rained out. We've now spent four days suffering from the near-constant rain here in Xela, and here's what I've learned.
- I fail miserably when I try to predict weather in Guatemala using the radar. Everybody knows how weather moves in the southeast US - pretty much west to east. Things don't spin around, slow down, speed up, or really do much of anything. Well, I challenge you to look at Guatemala on the radar and figure out what is going on. So far I'm 0/4.
- The streets in Xela are built for the rainy season; the power grid is not. It finally stopped raining here at about 1:30 today. Within an hour, the streets were drying up. Three hours later, you can barely tell it has rained here. Way to go city planners! On the other hand, power randomly comes and goes all over town when it rains. Earlier the internet cafe lost power. Then the hostel lost power. Then all the traffic lights quit working. Let's put some tax dollars to work on the power grid...it needs it.
- When it rains in Xela, only the gringos notice. Everyone else just continues with their daily routine, patiently waiting for the power to return and lighting candles in its absence. They move about outside with umbrellas and rain boots, darting in and out of shops like nothing strange was going on. The gringos, however, whip out rain jackets and high-performance outerwear to beat the water. It looks like I have to accept rain as a way of life this summer.
- Rainy days = inside days. To my delight, the last several days have led to lots of great discoveries here in Xela. Probably my favorite so far is Xelapan, Xela's own delicious bakery and the photo of the day, which offers a plethora of baked goodies at rock-bottom prices.
When I lived in Peru, I absolutely fell in love with one particular breakfast - pancito y queso. It's basically this little roll thing with cheese in the middle. All I can say is that it's truly delicious. Well, at Xelapan they have their own take on pancito, and it is leaps and bounds better than my beloved Peruvian pancito. Now if I could only find the right cheese...
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