I think all of us in the Pacific are in the middle of the wet season right now (I hear Pittsburgh is as well…). However, rain is a little different here in the tropics. Usually it downpours twice a day for 10 – 20 minutes. The only warning is the distant storm clouds, then they move in and are gone within an hour. On our .8 mile walk home from work the other day, we noticed storm clouds a mile away and misjudged the amount of time we had to make it home. We were halfway home and it started pouring. I sprinted home, leaving Gopal behind, but still looked as though I had gone swimming. Luckily, my laptop was unharmed. The next day we got huge umbrellas from the hospital, however even these are insufficient, because it rains so hard. The rain actually hurts. Even inside a covered boat, we still get soaked. At least one advantage of tropical rain is that its always warm unlike Pittsburgh’s rain. Plus it’s responsible for making Palau so GREEN.

Soaking wet.