The rain in Spain may fall mainly on the plain, but here in Potrerillos Arriba, Panama, it pours like you wouldn’t believe.
The term “Rainy Season” doesn’t even begin to describe what’s been happening here. There is officially a “rainy season” in Florida, but it’s a joke compared to what we’ve been going through here. In south Florida it heats up during the day and then there are isolated thunderstorms scattered around the area. Sometimes with a deluge and localized flooding, but these storms are usually of a limited duration. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve literally been standing in the sunshine on one side of the street and watched it rain on the other.
Here, though, it rains over a wide area. June and July are supposed to be the driest months of the rainy season but this year has seen the shattering of 16 year records as recorded by Ricardo Espinosa. http://joycepa.wordpress.com/precipitation-data/.
In June it rained 27 days out of 30 and dumped 43 inches of the wet on us. Here it is the 22nd day of July and we haven’t missed a day of rain yet and another record was set. Back in July 2008 38″ of rain fell. As of the 20th we’ve had 39.5″. On the 19th we had a storm like I’ve never seen before. We got 4.4″ in two and a half hours.
The mornings generally start off in glorious splendor.
By noon the rain clouds start to form
And by two o’clock it starts to rain
And then it’s like someone turned on a fire hydrant
So, if you need to do anything outside the house you better get started early and finish up by one or two o’clock. And you NEVER leave home without your umbrella no matter how sunny it is when you close the door.
One More Good Adventure 
that’s why panama is so green!
Be well and talk to you soon in sept, when i come back in the green country -hopefully from sept it will be a little dryer…
Personally, Carlo, I love the color green and I’m not even Irish. I always hated the winter when the trees were naked and forlorn and delighted in the first green buds signaling a new Spring and Summer.
Not everyone thinks Panama’s green is so great, though. I remember reading John Steinbeck’s first novel Cup of Gold years ago. It centers mainly on the buccaneer Henry Morgan’s sacking of Panama City. He referred to it as an “odious, never-changing green.”
But still – a little blue sky to go with all that green would be lovely.
Reminds me of a dress my mom made for me when I was in 5th (?) grade. It was a beautiful blue and green plaid, and I cried like crazy. When grandma asked why I informed her that green and blue don’t go together.
She marched me out and made me look at the trees against the sky. Did I think THEY went together? Yes, I did. Problem solved.
Grandmas are great.
Yes they are. Grandpas, too. I’m fortunate to have known all of mine.