The rainy season has started in earnest. A few weeks ago the occasional storms were a dramatic surprise. When I was up in the highland villages in September a storm swept in suddenly; the sky darkened to asphalt-gray, the wind picked up, and rain spat down--until the wind doubled its efforts, and rain poured down in sheets. Banana trees were blown in two and at one point I thought falling eucalyptus trees were going to hit the car. Since then, when I've gone "uphill" the ground below the coffee trees is startlingly green with young bean, yam, and corn plants.
In town, rain the rain took a while longer to arrive; the clouds had to unstick themselves from the mountain peaks to get down here to the lakeshore. This week women are out in the early morning turning the soil to ready it for planting. Their fields had looked dusty brown and cement hard; now they are rich mahogany and invitingly soft. The rainy season is here and it's time to plant.
