Winter

Unlike last year, this October and November have been hot and dry. No hurricanes = no power cuts, no plantain shortages, no water system washouts. No stories. Unlike last year, I can’t say that I attended a Halloween party in a house on the Río Cangrejal that 30 of us had to evacuate in one passenger car and two pickups at 8 am the next day after 16 straight hours of rain. I can’t brag about catching a taxi to the supermarket in Ceiba that same day in calf-high water and seeing people wading waist-deep on the downhill side of some intersections we crossed. This year I may not have to describe Olanchito five days after a hurricane, with all roads into the city and the drinking water system washed out, and with no potable water, gasoline, propane or vegetables for sale in town. Nor do I have stories of Stephanie dropping me on my head at dance parties at Sandra’s house in the dark, the lights flickering on and off every ten minutes, nor of rationing, for two days before water started running again in the tap, the last 20 gallons of rainwater I had collected off my roof. I haven’t had to wait three weeks for the skies to clear so I can wash (and hang dry) my clothes. I haven’t had to close myself up in my house with nothing to do but a stack of books, waiting for Hondurans to get over their strange phobia of doing anything that gets them wet, including walking to work or school.

Well, until now. Since Sunday it has been completely overcast and severe weather warnings have been upgraded by the day (we’re now in Stage 4 here in Olanchito, and at a slightly more worrisome Stage 3 on the coast). It has been spitting on and off without clearing since yesterday, and Hondurans are bundled up in their coats and sweaters and ski caps, which I get a kick out of seeing at 60 degrees. OK, so even I am a little cold, but what do you expect in a place where no houses have insulation or even real windows to close, and everyone has the wardrobe of a Caribbean beachcomber? Personally, I find it a relief and I’m trying as hard as I can to shiver.