If I wrote anything about the rainy season last year....it was all lies! I did not know what a rainy season REALLY was until about a month ago. Last year we may have had a few weeks of rain, but it was absolutely nothing in comparrison to this year.
Let me tell you what rainy season really is, it means that we only have a few hours of sun each day. Usually the rain starts around 4-5 in the evening and goes until the morning, and around 10 or 11 in the morning it all burns off. So yeah this all might not sound like a big deal to you all living in the United States, but for someone living in a dirt home with dirt floors, it's a huge deal!
When rainy season starts the first problem we have is that we are suddenly able to identify where the holes are in our roof! Sometimes if it's a strong rain this becomes apparent very easily. My family will put pots, pans, washing basins all over the house to keep the water from doing too much damage. They cover the TV and move furniture. Our roof is made of a very thin tin, so with time, and sun damage, it rusts and falls apart and that's when the holes show up.
The problem is just the other week, my host Dad's system of gutters that he has running through the house to catch the rain became a problem. Basically he used large sheets of rolled tin to create this system to catch large amounts of water that may roll of the roof and direct it outside. He has two of these gutters in the house, and they are rigged up using thin wire attached to bamboo that holds the roof together. However the thin wire a lot of times has been used a million times over in other household projects and is very rusted and worn.
So this particular night a huge storm came through the valley, there was thunder and lightening and a lot of rain. My family was running through the house putting all of their pots and pans in place to catch the rain, but this time was bad, because the wind was really bad and water was coming in windows and the doors. Even my room where I usually don't have any problems had holes that the wind helped find and water got in. Then the roof in the back of the house came crashing in because my host Dad's gutter system got to heavy and water got into the house in waves. The entire last room the dirt floor in front of our bedrooms was flooded. O wait...i didn't tell you the more suspensful parts, we had no electricity, and with heavy heavy rain on a tin roof we could barely hear eachother talking. So there was lots of screaming. I saw my host Dad climb on a chair and the water was just pounding down on him as he was trying to repair the gutter. My host sisters were taking buckets to try and get rid of the water before it got into our bedrooms. My host mom was trying to recuperate as much as she could out of the bedroom that was getting destroyed. It was a nightmare. Unfortunately one of my sister's husbands had taken a trip out of town that day, and at the time the storm rolled in he should have been on his way back and everyone was really nervous and she was running back and forth to her house in search of him and to save what she had in her home.
I was standing there with Dayana who had a death grip on my hand crying because although the rainy season isn't anything new, this storm was scary and watching everyone scream and rush around her was scary. So that night once everything got pieced back together the best it could and the storm continued she slept in my room and cried her self to sleep she was so scared.
The next day was a mess, the house was filled with mud and water and outside was only worse. The only way to get around is barefoot or in boots, but even then the mud cakes to the bottoms of your feet. I watched family after family walk in front of my house after having gone to buy more sheets of tin for their roofs. My family had asked to borrow money to help repair part of their roof as well.
It was a mess, but it's not like rainy season gets any better. Maybe we don't have stroms every night but we do have heavy rains and it just feels like there isn't anything you can do to get out of the mud. I may be able to go outside to take my shower, but the walk back in just means I have feet caked with mud. And because of this it took a week or more for the house to get dried out and not have any mud in there.
We have been lucky in this rainy season because for the most part our house has stayed together. Other people have lost their entire adobe houses due to them melting away in the rain. Small bridges have been destroyed that help you get around town, and the water has taken pathes through peoples fields and destroyed crops! The other day a body washed up in the lake, someone how appeared to be bathing and the water came and may have swept him away.
I have been watching the news and reading the newspapers and there are parts of Peru where entire towns have been washed away, and in the mountains above us more houses and families are being washed away and killed because of the rains.
Last year we had a drought and everyone really felt that for the loss of their crops, this year there is rain in excess and people are feeling the damage to their homes. And it's not over, everyone says March is the worst month!
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