We are not talking about the drench-and-gone cloudbursts that we get any time of year, even in Dry Season, but the kind of intense continuous downpour that sets in with the Wet and cannot be out-waited.
(Photo by Galena Alyson Canada.
Clic to enlarge.)
I am thoroughly wet by the time I complete my 30-step commute to the office.True Rain is an active kind of thing, near impossible to catch in a still photograph. The drizzles of Seattle I can capture, with their mists and drips from branch tips and hat-brims and their deep abiding grey. But the Rain of the tropics is a dynamic, dramatic beast that requires a movie; motion and sound.
The Rain is filling all the cracks and crevices, swelling the parched earth, and many of the Tiny Ones are on the move, rising on the tide. Ants and roaches and beetles are on the swim. And scorpions.
A juvenile scorpion has climbed the gap in the office doorjamb and gives me a glancing prick on the forefinger as I turn the key. He is small and it was not a solid strike, so only a few minutes of fire in a finger and thereafter a little linger. And he would have done better to scurry away and leave me be, for he is now arthropod paste. Now, a solid body-hit from a mature ten-plus-cm / four-plus-inch specimen is
an injection of a different colour. This life-affirming event will occupy your attention fully for one to two days, and is an experience not to be missed. If you prefer to miss it, Wikipedia says there are no scorpions in New Zealand or Antarctica; so those are your choices.After an hour-and-a-half there is an intermission. The sun peeks through the clouds and the humidity rises to saturation. The birds come out to play -- it is the Feast of the Commencement of the Wet, and everyone scurries after the Tiny Ones, flushed from their refuges. Joy and Life for some; Terror and Death for others. Then the sun hides itself again, the temperature drops a degree or two, and the birds are hushed. Looking down, I notice that there is already mud on my ankles.
The Wet is come.
Galena Alyson Canada 30 May 2007 Stann Creek, Belize, C.A.
7 comments:
Neat. You've taken me back again Lena. Growing up in central Mexico we had torrential rains unlike the stuff the poor gringos in sunny CA call "storms". The street where my grandparents lived would always overflow and turn into a virtual river, with water up to our knees (little kids' knees, mind you). At our own house the drain (is that what they are called?) would get clogged with leaves and the dog's hair and the water would just gush from our backyard all the way through the house and out the front door. Getting up at midnight to sweep all the water out, those were good times.
You also reminded me about alacranes, which I haven't had the pleasure of seeing up here. They weren't the 10cm monstrosities you describe, but they still scared the shit out of us. For some reason we believed you had to burn them in alcohol in order to truly kill them. Who knows where that myth came from.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing.
Arturo, do I know you from somewhere else, by another name perhaps?
Would love to be able to contact you back.
'Lena
Ah, Arturo, a.k.a. J---, now I understand why we seemed to be on familiar terms outside my comprehension! Haha! The 'Net is a weird place, no?
I am so glad you find my stories of value, and I am so glad to have your encourangment, because often this exercise is akin to performing before a one-way mirror...
Your responses make my day. Really.
Are you in SoCal? If you head east into the desert, esp. at night with a blacklight, you will find your alacranes, a different species, true, and only up to about 5 cm, but they can deliver a respectable zap.
Of course, not quite the religion-engendering experience you will gain from a good-sized jungle scorpion... ;-)
Besos,
'Lena
I thought you lived most of the time
in the States and only a few days
of year on Belize; now I see is the
other way around. Why join La La
then. Just curious.
Guillermo Sanchez
aka memito
In past years I have spent 2-4 months of each year in the USA, distributed over several trips.
This past year, for business reasons, I have had to spend extended stretches in the States (up to 6 months at a pop). During one of these stretches I discovered LaLa http://www.lala.com and got a lot of great new music.
I will be back in the USA in a couple weeks, for another protracted stay. >sigh< And there will be some new music waiting for me. >yay!<
Thanks for reading the blog and posting here.
'Lena
We had a downpour here earlier this evening, but after reading this post, that was nothing, especially since ours only brought out a few beetles and spiders.
Wow, definitely takes me back to tropical rains. I love the smell after the rain. I also love being just out of the rain so you can watch the drama. Good post.
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