During our first four-and-a-half months in Monteverde, we had nonstop sunshine. The temperature never went above 75 or below 60. Birds sang, butterflies fluttered, children frolicked in the streets. It was possibly the best climate I’ve ever lived in.

Well them days is long gone, my friends. We have officially entered the rainy season here, and it sucks.

The mornings are usually fine, but things start to nosedive around lunchtime. First, the entire town gets engulfed in clouds. They sweep down over the mountaintop and swallow everything. This happens quickly. I’ll come home from grocery shopping and things will be fine. But by the time I’ve shoved the last of the vegetables into the refrigerator, I can no longer see my neighbor’s house out the window. My neighbor lives 50 feet away.

Then the rain starts, gently at first, but it soon hits high gear and really starts pouring. During our last storm, I had to keep collecting all the earthworms that were crawling under our backdoor to escape the deluge.

Our lease ran out on our old apartment, so we had to move into a new place for our last three weeks here. The new house has a metal roof and no real insulation or attic. When the storms come in full force, it sounds like someone is dumping bags of steel ball bearings on top of our house. Sitting at our tiny dining room table, we have to shout at each other to be heard.

This bothers me because it seems like a waste of good shouting. I yell at Rae occasionally, but it’s usually for emphasis, such as “Clean up your room, you pig! It looks like a crack den in there!”

But when I have to scream, “Please pass the salt!” it cheapens and devalues all my other shouting.

Speaking of the new house, it’s tad on the buggy side. The mornings usually begin with shaking the cockroaches out of my clean t-shirts. After I’m dressed, I go out to the kitchen and start stomping spiders. I don’t mind the beetles as much, so I usually leave them alone so Rae can gawk at them for a few minutes. When she’s done, I round them up and flush them down the toilet. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m really starting to miss my scorpions.

This latest infestation is most likely due to two things. First, our new place is surrounded by a forest. There’s just simply more nature around us. Second, the whole damn town seems buggier now that the rains have arrived. There’s a lot of hatching going on.

I’ve discovered all kinds of bizarre looking pests on my recent walks into town. Most of them are in the beetle family, but they come in all shapes and sizes. They look like cartoons. Neon blues, oranges and greens are common. If it wasn’t for the fact that I also occasionally discover them in my underwear drawer, I could really get to love these little critters.

We only have a few more weeks left in our trip, though. I’m sure the bugs in the house won’t be too bad. And if their numbers start to get too high, well, I’ll just unleash a rain of Terror on them.

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