We have entered the rainy season. Last Tuesday it rained for 19 hours straight and then again on Wednesday, ruining my plans to help Winston paint the internet cafe he just created. Luckily there was lots of office work to do for PAN. The PAN centers are closed for summer vacation, but the facilitators and their trusty volunteer are still taking up office space doing fun things such as inventory and... inventory. I am taking this opportunity to teach my two female work partners basic computer skills. Lourdes has leaned to type the letters asdfghjklñ in the last week and a half, and Ana Rosa is quickly catching up while Lourdes curses her unruly thumb and the k key for being difficult to press. Ana doesn´t seem to have any qualms with specific keys or fingers but plugs along quietly and patiently. I showed Carlos the program we are using, but I think his manly pride kept him from giving it a real chance while I was watching. He spends by far the most time on the computer, typing official letters and solicitations and documentation to be signed and stamped for every toy or kilo of rice we distribute to the centers. I can only hope he´s sneaking typing lessons behind my back. Soon I will add Microsoft Word and Excel instuction into the mix.

But yes, the rainy season. My host mom (Mom? Maybe more of an aunt) Rebeca just painted her roof with sealant that was supposed to prevent leaking, but the roof still leaks, peeling the ceiling paint in my room and dripping into the bathroom and hallway. The water also turns the pathetic trickle outside of town into a raging river for about a day and the streets into mud. This mud becomes a large part of everyday life. Despite numerous efforts to keep it out, the light brown muck still hitches a ride on the bottoms of shoes and stows away in water pipes. Yesteday I showered in brown water. Tomorrow I fear I will be washing my clothes in it. I did feel cleaner after the shower than before, and I hope my clothes will look it.

I´ll be moving to a new house February first. Though the toilet will still flush brown, I believe it will be a step up. Spacious with a kitchen and bathroom to myself, my house shares a courtyard with the home of a nice family. The only downfall, aside from losing my perfect-for-stargazing roof at Rebeca´s, is that the daughter of the nice family is, as Lourdes put it, ¨a rat.¨ I´ll soon discover exactly what the rattiness entails (pun intended).

It has begun to rain again. A woman informed me through a witty little rhyme the other day that it will soon get much worse: ¨Enero poco, febrero loco.¨ Translation: I will be showering in mud for at least another month.