I remember as a child our family would drive from Los Angeles to Veracruz every two years or so. It was our big vacation. I’m sure my parents saved up for it and had to request time off from work We were usually gone for a month. My mother didn’t drive at the time, so my father did all of the driving. It took us several days. It was almost always in the summer, though I do remember one time we went in May and we had to get special approval from our school. Our teachers made sure we went with enough homework so we wouldn’t fall behind in our studies. That was not the best vacation out of the many trips that we made to Veracruz. The 3 of us kids did not complete our assignments while we were there, and had to be constantly reminded by our parents, even on the drive home! 😄

So why the trip down memory lane? Isn’t this article about the rain? Well, yes it is. My point with the Veracruz road trip story was that it rained many days during our vacations there. We were there during the summer, which is the rainy season (from May to November) in most of México actually, with September being the rainiest. Same with Puerto Vallarta and Bucerias. We get a lot of rain in the summer. This year has been very rainy. We have had numerous thunderstorms with lots of rain. Mostly in the evening time, though it can start with very loud thunder, without rain, in the afternoons. It’s very odd. As I write this today (in mid-August), there is a very loud thunder and lightning storm.This one has brought quite a bit of rain.

In Mexico where the infrastructure is weak at best, the roads flood constantly. So when the rain comes, one has to immediately wonder, how will the streets be? Even in my community, we have flooding. In other words, I don’t have to go far to deal with huge puddles in the street. Some of these could be ponds or small lakes. The holes in the street are legendary and rarely are they fixed. It is not uncommon to see a car tire in the middle of the street and it is actually inside a hole so that you can see the tire and not drive your car through the treacherous hole. I’ve also seen trash in these street holes, again, to highlight the danger. Cars here in Mexico sure do go through a lot. So, you think twice before driving in the rain here. I don’t like it. And especially not at night.

You know what else I don’t like? Right. The rain. There are those people that like and even love the rain. I am NOT one of those people. Certainly I do know, understand and accept that rain is very necessary. So, how does rain form? National Geographic tells us that, “raindrops fall to Earth when clouds become saturated, or filled, with water droplets.” The Earth craves the moisture. We do need it. I just don’t like the havoc it creates, especially here in Mexico.

Something interesting about the rain is that it seems to make an excellent topic for music writers. As you know, I grew up in Los Angeles, and like the 1972 song by Albert Hammond says, “It Never Rains in Southern California.” Well, it actually does. If I remember correctly, the “rainy season” is in the winter months (November through March) and it sure can rain. California and Southern California in particular have gone through droughts over the years. The greater Los Angeles area is a desert afterall. But in Los Angeles, we don’t get much thunder or lightning. As the song says, …

There are many songs about the rain. Not just the one I quoted above. Some are sad love songs, like these, and I like all of them by the way. 😄

Then there are those songs that bring you joy due to their positive lyrics and/or fun upbeat music. I like all of these, too.

So yeah, there are a lot of songs about rain. And most of them I do really like. I just don’t like the rain. It’s been raining almost every day for a few weeks now. We do get some periods of sun or at least overcast skies, but no rain. Almost on a daily basis. I don’t mind if it rains at night, as long as I’m at home.

So I can’t complain too much. Last year it was still raining in October. One evening, I was leaving a water aerobics class (that I quit right after this event and found a morning class), and got caught in a horrible rain storm. I was driving in an area quite a ways from home and I was unfamiliar. I took a turn thinking it would take me directly to the main highway, and it would have. If it had not been for terrible flooding. I drove right into what I thought was a lake with waves and everything. It was terribly frightening. I wasn’t alone either. I went in a bit too far, and paid for it later. The next day my back seat floors were soaking wet. And remained so for over a week. Even after an extraction of the water at a car wash.

But back to that evening. I ended up backing up a little and turned back down the street and followed some other cars through some flooding, but not too deep and found my way back to the main highway. I got home safely, thank goodness.

I can’t wait for the rainy season to be over. Once November rolls around, the weather in Puerto Vallarta and Bucerias is absolutely fantastic: dry, sunny, warm. Low humidity, almost no rain; cool in the mornings and evenings. Really gorgeous weather. It’ll be here soon…

But in the meantime, I will leave you with this: