Rain, rain go away...

Rain. I know it's necessary, and I don't mind it at all when I can sit inside with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate, but when it rains everyday and stays overcast and damp, it definitely is not my favorite weather. All this to say that it has been raining here in Guanajuato for the last week and a half. Not all day long, but everyday.

Guanajuato is a different place in the rain. There are hardly any people in the streets but the shop doors are crowded with people huddled together awaiting the end of the cloud burst. The people who are in the streets have umbrellas or ponchos. All the street venders pack up their wares or cover them with tarps. Because Guanajuato is shaped like a bowl, when it rains, the streets turn into rivers and the callejones are like waterfalls. The water rushing downhill brings with it small rocks, dirt, and trash which then collects on the sidewalks and street corners.

Everyone remarks about how great it is to get rain, but it is also incredibly inconvenient. Washing clothes is a nightmare because no one has dryers and so line-drying is common and sun is essential for this to succeed. I washed clothes on Saturday morning, they got soaked in a shower that afternoon, Sunday was sunny until Sunday afternoon when it poured again, and Monday, when it started to rain, I ran out to get my clothes and bring them inside to dry. Even though they had been hanging all day in the sun, they were still very damp. Everyone walks everywhere here: kids walk to school, parents walk to work, the markets are outdoors. So, rain sets everything on hold and often it comes up without warning, so it is common to be caught without an umbrella or a hood.

And, unlike the US where rain often leaves a behind a freshly-clean scent that is not the case here. I don't know what it is, but the whole town smells a little like a sewer after the rain. It might be that the underground aguas negras flood and are brought closer to the surface, or maybe it is the dirt and trash that is pooled during a shower.

All in all, rainy days are not my favorite. They do make the weather cooler, but once the sun comes back, it is usually just humid. I guess I just associate fall with dry, crisp weather, and this rainy season stuff is just different.

*Photo was taken by Jessica Cruz.