Really--that bad.

Have you ever said something along the lines of "How bad could that be--really?"  Sailors know that there are things that you just never say that about.   Hurricanes.  North Atlantic fog.  Cape Hatteras.  Beating against both wind and current.  If you've been to Pacific Mexico, the Gulf of Tehuantepec (for the uninitiated, that is place that gets routine gale force winds across the skinny part of Mexico.  Winds here AVERAGE 25 knots.  Half the time it is calm.  Think about the other half).  I have a new nominee for the "it is that bad" list.  We knew we would be spending the rainy season in Central America.  We had to get south of the hurricane zone, and now we have to wait it out.  As Anne put it, imagine living outdoors in Washington DC in the summer.  Only here it is a little less hot, and a lot more wet.  Everyting gets moldy.  I think I'm getting moldy.  OK, just a lethal case of Swimmer's ear, and a bit of heat rash, but I've never been bothered by those things, and I've lived in some places generally recognized as warm.  I was telling someone about the lightning storm we witnessed off Nicaragua.  They said "maybe you've just seen real lightning".  When I told them that I lived in Panama City Florida for two years, they conceded. 

I'm sweating buckets.  As I understand it, ladies don't sweat--they "glow".  I think Anne is radiating into the ultra-violet.  Nearly every day, it rains so hard that  water bounces up and into open ports and hatches, even though we have awnings to keep that from happening.  So we dash about and close everything up, incubating the spores inhabiting us and everything we own.  The experience gives me a new respect for those who explored this part of the world.  Balboa walked across the bit of marsh that we just crossed under power--from one ocean to the other.   Just 40 miles or so.  Having seen it, I'm surprised anyone survived.  I think that most people today could not walk the railroad tracks from Colon to Panama city.  We do not have Malaria, Yellow Fever, or even the general snakes, crocs, and lethal bugs to deal with, but I can tell you, the rainy season in Central America really is that bad.  We'll be running away to the US for a bit next month.