Agatha

Tropical storm Agatha came on strong yesterday, creating a dramatic change in the weather. After two straight months of very warm weather, temperatures dropped sharply, the skies turned dark, and rain began to fall in torrents. My experience of rainstorms in the tropics prior to this tended to follow a predictable pattern, where the mornings would be dry, clouds would build up in the afternoon, and rain would fall intensely but briefly late in the day.

This was different. The rain was almost non-stop for over 24 hours. Rivers quickly  overflowed their banks in many parts of the country. Our part of San Salvador got drenched but was otherwise not heavily impacted. There was no interruption in power or phone service.

We had planned to spend yesterday exploring the western part of El Salvador with Nelson and his wife Norma. We were going to visit Tazumal and Casa Blanca, two archeological sites, then go to some hot springs near Ahuachapán. But Nelson called in the morning to say the weather looked too rough for a road trip. So instead the four of us went to the national art museum. It´s a really nice museum, and the small number of visitors made it easy to get up close and personal with all the art. I hadn't known that Salarrué, an early 20th century Salvadoran author whose short story collection Cuentos de Barro I´d been reading recently, was also a prolific painter and has a number of paintings on display at the museum.

Norma drove us around in their car, which was nice given the stormy weather. On the way home in the afternoon, with no letup in the rain, we were forced to change routes when we came to a spot in a major street that was flooded over a foot deep. Today has been overcast all day, but very little rain has fallen. Based on how things look outside and the online forecast, it seems the worst of Agatha is over. Poor Guatemala, they were already coping with the eruption of Volcán Pacaya near the capital this week, and Agatha reportedly hit them even harder than she hit El Salvador.