It is definitely the rainy season!

I have to say, getting stuck in a Central American open air market during a torrential downpour at dusk was definitely an experience to remember.   Let me start from the beginning.  All of the environmental sector trainees, myself included, had just gotten back to Jinotepe from a gardening glass in an old former school (the school would be a great backdrop for a horror movie).  Anyways, before taking another microbus back to our individual training towns, we all decided to go buy our Nicaraguan cell phones.  It definitely takes longer than you’d think for 20 gringos (not a derogatory term here) to buy cell phones.  So after about an hour or so, we were ready to head back, but the sky was looking pretty ominous. 

            As we started to run to the bus stop, the sky burst open.  By this point we were in the middle of the market, and it was hard to stay dry despite being underneath a roof (well, kind of).  After a couple minutes, we somehow ended up in the entranceway of someone’s house for a good five to ten minutes.  Once the rain died down a bit, we made our way back into the market.  By this point it was starting to get darker, and we were a bit lost.  Luckily we had our language teacher to help us out a bit, but we were still wondering the streets for about ten minutes in the rain trying to get back to the main road.  This whole time I was pretty excited that I was actually cold, which doesn’t happen much with the warm tropical climate.    

            Well, we ended up finding our way back to the bus stop, and made it back in time for a late dinner with our host families.  The whole time we could not stop laughing, and I know I at least was pretty amused by the whole situation.  You’ve got to love the rainy season, I know I sure do! 

A blurry picture of the Jinotepe mercado

Claire shared my mutual excitment for getting caught in a rain storm

Unsuccessfully trying to keep my backpack dry