May 17th, 2012
Winter has officially begun in Pantasma, and with a
bang! Nicaraguans say that winter (and
the rains) starts mid-May like clockwork, and they weren't kidding. On the evening of the 15th we had
a huge rainstorm pass through, starting around 3pm and ending sometime into the
night. The torrential downpour was so
sudden and so exciting! My zinc metal
roof was pounding so loudly with the noise of millions of fat rain drops that I
could barely hear myself think, then it would let up a little, then start
pouring down again. It went through that
pattern until well after dark, making the air cool and chilly for once. I heated water for bathing for the first time
since January, and it felt amazing. I'd
gotten used to the cool (sometimes cold) water bucket baths throughout this
whole summer heat wave because it always felt so good and refreshing after a
hot sweaty day. But now the rains are
finally here and I can once again treat myself to warm water baths.
May 15th is actually the day that Nicaraguans
celebrate the patron saint of agriculture, Saint Isidro. I attended a procession of San Isidro that
morning, which started in a nearby community and traveled back along the road towards
the Catholic church in Las Praderas for Mass.
We took a bus to Las Praderas, then walked about 45 minutes to the
church where the procession started, just to walk all the way back again. We all know I'm not the religious type, but I
don't pass up opportunities to see cultural and religious events that are
commonly practiced in my community (however I skipped on the Mass this time
since I had errands to do in town). So I
went to see what all the excitement was about.
I'd say over two hundred people had gathered at the smaller church to
start the procession, and waiting to join in were four teams of oxen pulling
wooden carts that were adorned with various fruits, vegetables, whole banana
trees and palm fronds, representing various harvests. One had white and yellow balloons all over it
as well. There were four bright orange
tractors too, and numerous caballeros on horseback. Those not hitching rides on horses, tractors,
or ox-pulled carts walked behind a pick-up truck equipped with a guy and his computer
and huge speakers blasting music toward the marchers behind, who carried a
platform with a statue of San Isidro above their shoulders. The procession marched along the main dirt
road for about an hour, collecting various neighbors along the way and growing
in size, until it reached the Catholic church in Las Praderas. My back was aching from walking along that
rocky dirt road there and back again, and I was sweating as if I'd never taken
a hike in my life, making my nice blue button up shirt stained with dark
splotches all over my back and under my arms.
It was at that point that I decided not to attend the Mass in my filthy
state, and so I headed into town to do my errands. While in town I stopped by the ciber
(internet place) and found out that they're back up and running again (yay!),
checked and answered a few e-mails, and then headed out to buy some needed
veggies.
Since that eventful May 15th evening, the rain
hasn't been around as much as I was hoping.
It's sprinkled here and there in the afternoons, but nothing like that
first big rain. It's like the weather's
saying “I put on that show so you guys know that winter has officially started,
but I'm still gonna keep you guessing”.
As is usual with big rains, the water system gets filthy dirty for a day
or so afterward. The water source way up
on the mountainside gets flooded with dirt and so does the pila, or the water
basin in each lavandero where we all wash clothes and dishes. Luckily the two water barrels in my house had
plenty of water and didn't need to be filled from the spigot during those few
dirty days. I did have to wash dishes
with it in the meantime, however.
Yesterday morning the power went out and didn't come back on until today
around 3pm. I felt totally fine in my
dark house alone with just my headlamp as a guide. My computer still had some charge so I
watched some 30 Rock episodes before going to bed. But my fridge thawed completely during this
time, and so I decided today to start eating the food items that would be most
damaged if the power didn't come back on for another day or so (from my
experience in site so far, the power hasn't gone out for more than a day or so
at a time, so I wasn't too concerned).
The cheeses that I'd bought in Jinotega (cheddar and mozzarella) and the
milk were my main concerns, so I made mac 'n' cheese for dinner last night and
also for lunch and dinner today. That
used up all the milk and most all of the cheese. Then the power came back on and now
everything's back to normal. At least
until the next big rainstorm.
If you like the photos I post on this blog but want to see more, just a reminder to check out other photos I post at SarahInNica.shutterfly.com
~Sarah~
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