Rainy days

Like much of Africa, Tanzania really only has two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. Or perhaps more accurately (for Kibondo at least): dusty and muddy! The rains started a little early this year, with a handful of thunderstorms temporarily damping down that ubiquitous dusty haze toward the end of August and through September. It’s only been within the last week or so though that the rains have really started to hit their stride. And when I say “rains,” I don’t mean any of your run-of-the-mill showers. I mean dark ominous masses of storm clouds rolling in across the horizon and eclipsing the sun. I mean thunder and lightening as loud as any I’ve ever heard and gusts of wind that tear entire roofs off of houses. I mean torrential downpours of rain falling as hard as you think possible – until it starts raining even harder five minutes later. I mean some serious, serious rain … sometimes all day, sometimes for just 20-30 minutes a day, but always with a stunning volume of water pouring out of the sky – never just a sprinkle here or a light rainfall there.

As with my initial fascination with the dust, I imagine my enchantment with the new weather patterns will fade eventually. For now though, the pros still outweigh the cons:

PROS
-cooler weather (especially at night/in the morning)
-less dust!
-everything’s greener (both because things are growing and the thick layer of dust has been washed off all the plants)
-bigger vegetables
-mangos
-awesome storms to watch from my porch

CONS
-less dust, but lots of mud
-cars getting stuck in the mud
-sudden downpours aren’t conducive to dry laundry
-more mosquitoes (or so I’ve been told) and probably other creepy crawly things appearing in my house