Compare and Contrast
I remember being in school and being assigned ‘Compare and
Contrast’ papers. This is a nod to those days and the thoughts that are in my
mind about the differences between seasons here.
Dry Season Rainy Season
Produce
Available:
Bananas
Onions
Tomatoes
Greens
|
Produce
Available:
Eggplant Tomato Sweet Potatoes
Cucumber Okra Irish Potatoes
Pineapple Onion Passion Fruit
Mango Bananas Greens
Cabbage Papaya
|
Bug Situation:
Eh,
they are too miserable to move anywhere.
|
Bug Situation:
They
love the rain…. Many, many bugs come out and inside my tukul as well. Bleh!
Imagine trying to bathe with jumping crickets around you. No Thank You. God
Bless mosquito nets. There are tons of butterflies, snails, termites, centipedes,
moths, spiders (I found one with her sack of eggs in a cup in my room! Bah!)
|
Weather:
Over
100 degrees. Miserable, sweaty nights. Dust clouds. I have now invested in a
battery operated fan. Too bad I didn’t have one this past season.
|
Weather:
Rainy
;) With amazing thunder storms. Cooler temperatures. HUMID. It sometimes
reminds me of Corpus actually.
|
Environment:
Dry,
brown grass.
Dry
leaves.
Hazey
from the burning of fields and trash.
Along
with the haze, it snows soot from all of the burning. There are ashes all
over everything.
|
Environment:
Snakes
make appearances; big and small alike. There are flowers everywhere (which
smell so good!), green trees and
vegetation as far as the eye can see! Birds chirping all over the place. In
the morning they are your alarm clock along with the toads. It is Springtime
in the Tropics J
Oh yeah, and bats. Tons of them. Disgusting.
|
Travel:
This
may be the one place where the dry season wins: the main roads are easy (ish)
to travel on, and planes and helicopters are always able to fly. The grass is
short so it also makes travel safer (people can’t hide in the tall grass)
|
Travel:
The
roads are pretty awful and takes much longer to travel anywhere by road. AND
traveling by plane and helicopter depends on the rains and how stable the
(dirt) landing strips are.
|
Sleeping:
Hot.
Still. Sleep with only a sheet beneath you and a bowl of water and towel
beside you to cool you down. Often I would sleep with a damp cloth on me and
couldn’t sleep through the night.
|
Sleeping:
Often
I get to fall asleep to the sound of rain; I use a blanket often. Pleasant
nights. However, one had to be careful being outside after sunset because of
the mosquitos. Wake up fully rested.
|
Some people say that they have a hard time deciding which
they prefer: rainy or dry season. I, on the other hand, don’t have any problems
deciding that I infinitely prefer the rainy season, even with all of the
critters. Give me an umbrella, some gum boots and I am happy. Oh, and a
mosquito net to keep the bugs away please.
 |
| Dry Season |
 |
| Rainy Season |
