downsides to the rainy season

Well, my latest exotic adventure was quite literally dampened by an influx of 4 tropical storms in a period of a week. I made it out to Bluefields, which is the capital of the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region, (RAAS) and gathered most of the HIV statistics I needed. But I didn't make it to the Caribbean island where I was planning exploring a little and relaxing a lot. The rain was incredibly hard and incredibly constant. Many villages out there are completely flooded by now. Bluefields is normally extremely isolated as they haven't even considered making roads to stretch over the miles and miles of wetlands that separate it from the capital. And now, the increasing isolation that the floods bring are pushing up the prices of basic goods and people are continuing to be evacuated. But this isn't an emergency - it happens every year.

Here in Managua all is good. I have three weeks to finish this project and no other travel plans until then. The big holiday of the year is approaching on August 1st. Somthing to celebrate Santo Domingo...which, as luck would have it, is the name of the church directly behind my house and the epicenter of all firecrackers, parades, and general brewhaha. My alarm clock is now drowned out by loud Nicaragua pop music that starts promply at 6:30am. I expect it to get louder and earlier until August 1st arrives. The anticipation is killing me.

I'll post some damp and dreary pictures of Bluefields momentarily...