The cyclone season is just beginning here and I am beginning to find out what it will be like. The dry season lasted for about one month, now we will have alternating multiple-day rainstorms and periods of sun and heat. The next 5 months will be like this, punctuated by the occasional cyclone. In the last two weeks we have had two three-day storms. It rains hard and makes going anywhere difficult since most of the roads and paths get muddy and slippery.
People here like to talk about the obvious. If it is hot, they will tell you, ‘its hot today’, and the same for rain. When I mention the rain, however, they are always quick to point out ‘mbola tsy tonga ny rano’, or ‘the water has not yet arrived’. I am not yet sure whether this is a reference to the rainy season or the impending cyclones, but I am sure I am in for a unique experience. In Seattle, the rain is plentiful, but always just a dribble compared to the tropical storms here, and the fact that the people of Vavatenina don’t even call it rain is ominous. When the water arrives, I will be in for a whole new atmospheric experience.
October 2, 2008
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