B-A-N-A-N-A-S

In Minnesota, the weather is constantly a topic of conversation. Most emails and letters I get, particularly, from my family mention the state of the weather at some point. And I love that! It's one of those things you can always count on. Life works like that because the weather in Minnesota is always changing between seasons or minutes.

In Nicaragua, it's hot. It's pretty much always hot. Unless it's raining and then it rains a whole lot (9 days in a row, I'm happy it stopped but now it's hot again. Sigh.). But people here talk about the weather all the time too, except it's a lot more limited than in Minnesota. Common remarks are “it's really hot today!” or “it rained a whole lot yesterday.” One of my favorite weather phrases is “Que rico!!” which literally means that the person thinks the weather is rich. This is perfect for the rare moment when it's not too hot but it's not raining either, it may actually be comfortable outside with a nice breeze and sunny skies. The first day without rain was totally rico, it was awesome.

I contemplated buying a real rain jacket before I left, but decided I would go it alone with my umbrella instead. My dad joked with me that I should take the “banana suit” which is probably the cheapest rain gear you can possibly buy- a full suit of pants and jacket in bright yellow, unbreathable plastic. This is the rain gear I usually have the pleasure of using on camping trips to the Boundary Waters area in northern Minnesota. I told him that they didn't wear banana suits in Nicaragua, so I'd just leave it at home, thank you very much. Had I been thinking logically I would have put together the fact that many people in Nicaragua get around on motorcycles and it rains for several months of the year so how do they deal with that? BANANA SUITS, that's how! Turns out I would be completely in fashion if I was wearing a banana suit during the rains, except that I wouldn't be on a motorcycle since that's all prohibited and all, so I might still be a little strange to be walking around in full gear. But no one really goes out when it's raining anyway so there would be no one to judge me. So sorry dad, you were right and I was wrong.

Now that it stopped raining, I'm going to the beach.