rain at the equator

I think I've mentioned the disappointing climate here in Quito. Despite tropical dreams of monkeys and toucans in the streets, Quito is (as mentioned in the blog title) located at 2850 meters of altitude, so the only thing tropical about Quito is the fact that it rains, a lot. And we're not talking about tropical, warm rains here either- we're talking about torrential downpours coupled with heavy winds, immediate flooding in the streets, almost always accompanied by thunder and lightening storms. (Rach, you would not last long here.)  Three things make these rain storms easier to bear:

1) People use umbrellas here and I have adopted the habit. I carry my umbrella in my purse ALL THE TIME. Just because the morning is sunny and cloudless doesn't mean that it won't be stormy by 1pm when I'm leaving class to walk home. Everyone carries umbrellas here- I just feel bad for the people who don't have the convenient, extra-foldable umbrellas like I do- lots of people carry around those cane-like umbrellas all day long in case it rains too.

2) My new botitas- boots- make the rain bearable. I realized when I got here that all of my shoes either were flats with peep holes in the toe region, or were old sneakers with holes around the soles, making all of my shoes decidedly not waterproof.  After about 5 months of wet socks and serious puddle jumping I decided to buy some waterproof shoes- my new botitas, with cariño because I like them so much.

3. Anyone on a motorcycle! Part of knowing that it's pretty much always going to rain in the afternoon means being prepared. Part of living in a developing country means lots of motorcycles. People who ride motorcycles have totally rainproof gear that they wear, one part of which is a huge poncho that billows in the wind and rain and looks like a big cape, and like there are lots of superheroes on motos whizzing around in the rain.

I actually had this post prepared a while ago but I kept waiting to get a good picture of the superhero motociclistas in the rain, but I haven't gotten one and google doesn't have any images that properly show the hilarity (and, I suppose, practicality) of people on motorcycles with waterproof capes, ponchos that cover the whole bike, etc. You'll have to imagine, and I'll try to take a picture for later. Happy weekend-ing!  I'm going to make a whole wheat olive bread with my newly purchased yeast- there are just no words for how much my hornito has made my life so much more delicious!!!