Rain, Rain Go Away

ANTIGUA, Guatemala--Oh, ick. It has been raining all day. Gray, drizzly rain. This comes after a week of afternoon and evening rainstorms.

What makes it worse is that this is NOT the right season for rain. The rains should have ended a week ago at the latest.

And even worse: During the proper rainy season, there was very little rain, which means most of this agricultural country experienced a horrible drought and is in the midst of a food crisis. (Crisis as in people in rural areas are starving or living on international food aid.) And the late-season rains don't help the farmers; they just make harvesting whatever's there  more difficult.

For a dramatic contrast: The photo at left is the new luxury hotel that seems to be opening this week on my block. The lights are glowing warmly in the gray mist.

And to brighten things up elsewhere, today I stopped at a little stationery store to buy some glittery gel pens. We used them this afternoon to decorate graduation cards for some of the Common Hope kids.