Oh - it rains here?!?

My first two months in Colombia, September and October 2009, I recall seeing rain maybe once. Cali was full of sunshine and heat and I felt like I was constantly sweating to death. When the rainy season began last March many of us were in shock with how much it rained (almost everyday) and how breezy/chilly the weather felt afterward. This was not the Cali we had grown accustomed to!

When I came back to Colombia at the end of July, I expected a similar situation so I prepared myself not to see rain for awhile. However, in the month since I have been back the rain has continued and I am LOVING it! Don't get me wrong, it is still hot almost everyday but not the stifling, I cannot think of moving right now because it's so hot outside heat. Instead, it rains almost every other day or so and everything feels so much cooler! There is a great breeze that comes through my neighborhood everyday around 5 pm and I have taken to wearing at least capri pants and a long sleeve shirt to bed at night (with windows open and fan on, however).

With this rain inevitably comes the storms, and they have been intense lately! The thunder feels so close to our house and the lightning flashes light up the entire sky. I hardly ever wake up during storms but last week I sat awake one early morning from about 3 to 4 am just waiting for the thunder to be quiet so I could sleep! I definitely don't like being woken up, but the storms do look cool. Check out some pictures from our balcony last night just as another storm was starting...I love how eery the sky looks!!

Disclaimer: I cannot decide if it actually is cooler in Cali these days or I have just grown less tolerant of the cold. Either way, the fact that I can sit here typing this blog in a long sleeve shirt when its sunny outside pretty much makes me think my first winter back in Minnesota will be a major shock to my system.