Falling in Puddles

It rained for the fourth time today. Seriously, is the rainy season already here? Anyway, I was at my friend Astrid's house for a baking lesson. She and her cousin, being Guatemalans, never really made cakes, cookies, pies, breads, etc. before and they really wanted to learn. So far we've made sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, chocolate brownies with frosting, strawberry cheesecake brownies, rice krispie treats, and chocolate cake. Today was a lesson in how to make zucchini bread. I kind of freaked out in the market in Xela the other day over finding zucchini and eggplant and started gushing about how good zucchini bread was, so she bought three zucchini and today we made something she never imagined existed. She thought it was so weird to make bread out of a vegetable. Anyway, we made enough batter for two loaves and had just finished turning on the gas oven when the rain hit. I remembered pretty much right away that the window in my room was open for some fresh air and I hadn't closed it because there was no evidence of rain in the sky when I had left just half an hour before. I didn't mention anything because I thought the rain would stop. Instead, it got stronger and after confessing to Astrid that I was worried about finding a flood in my room, she got a worried look on her face and told me to hurry home. I translated that literally and was practically running with my umbrella held high and clutching my purse to my chest so it wouldn't flop about outside of my umbrella's protection. I was almost home free when I came up short before a large puddle continuously emptying into a stream of water. I made the quick decision to back up a little and move to the side to avoid the river. My feet decided not to follow my brain and instead slipped right into the giant puddle while the rest of my body followed suit. At least my hands lept out to keep me from falling face first, getting wet and full of dirty run-off water (imagine streets filled with garbage including dirty diapers and the remains of lots of food, as well as the poop of animals ranging from cats and dogs to cows and sheep, and the urine of lots of men who don't mind public exposure). My left leg meanwhile fell into the giant puddle just as my purse was swinging forward towards the water. This happened in a matter of seconds. I didn't get hurt or anything. I just got up looking slightly like I was a stumbling bolo. There weren't a ton of people around to witness my embarrassment because almost everyone was holed up at home. The women selling vegetables kind of made an incredulous gesture at me and I just waved and ran off trying to act like nothing had happened despite the giant wet spot running down my left leg.

It was hilarious. I was even laughing at myself. Of course being one of the town's gringas, everyone who saw me knows just who it was that fell down in the rain. It was also one of those moments that you had to be there to really get the hilarity of it all. Just thought I'd share my super klutzy moment of the day.

Only 18 days left! (and that's an exclamation point both of surprise, excitement and sadness, if an exclamation can convey all that)