Central American Monsoon

You might be excited about who will win the MLB home run title, or the 3^rd week in NFL, or your looking over the college scores from Saturday. I have my excitements also. Every minute, day and night, 7 days, I have been observing, recording, analyzing and predicting – yes- you guessed it – precipitation amounts here in Monteverde! I know you can’t wait to read on. This actually reminds me of the home run contest in 1998 between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire when they were on pace to beat Roger Maris’ single season record.

Instead of hoping for 62 home runs, or for the White Sox to win the pennant, I am hoping for 1000 mm rainfall this month. I know – metric system heh , rain, easy does it weather man. Precipitation is normally measured in mm then converted to inches for U.S. citizens, so allow me to make the conversion. 1000mm = 1 meter = 39.37 Inches. Yes, we are on pace to receive about 40 inches of rain this month. OK, so it rains a lot in Costa Rica, what can I compare that to? Most places in the US receive less than 40 inches in a full year. Those of you in Chicago and Florida get about 35 and 55 inches in a year respectively.

To the North of CR, Guatemala had its wettest August on record and we in Monteverde have so far had a very wet ‘winter’ (May thru December) compared to last year, which was speckled with downpours but not an everyday occurrence as they are this year. The past few days have been especially dreary reminding us that we should stock up on some 100w light bulbs to help us get through October, the really super duper wet ‘monsoon’month.

What does that mean for life here? We always carry an umbrella or rain jacket and rubber boots keep our feet dry. Most of our mornings (except since thursday) have been sunny and the rain falls in the afternoon. Life goes on as normal but the soccer field and our yard is “mush gush.” The boys enjoy stomping in puddles, showering under downspouts, diverting streams that line the driveway catching raindrops on their tongues, and any other thing four year olds dream of.

Photos of rainy day fun include determining if one classroom visitor is venomous, John noticing the male horse, the boys and friend making treasure maps, and a deer in our yard this AM.