Trip to Georgetown

Right now, there is a tropical wave affecting many of the lower Caribbean islands, including SVG. What this means is, it has been raining non-stop for 4 days. Now, I know that "raining non-stop" is usually an exaggeration meant to emphasize the degree of fed-up-ness one feels about the weather, but here in SVG that's a literal statement. It literally has not stopped raining for 4 days. The first day was nice, because of the drop in temperature. The second day was bearable and surprisingly cool. The third day was pretty bad for reasons I'll explain later on, and as we move into the middle of the 4th straight day of rain, I'm pretty much ready to challenge the rain gods to a fight. After 5 days spent pent-up in training, schools, and buses, I'm pretty bitter about a weekend spent confined in a house.
Yesterday, we went on a field trip to Georgetown, which is northeast of my community, and that was the day we really got to see the devestation of such a large quantity of rain. The Peace Corps chartered a bus to take us to Georgetown, a fabulous change from my normal bus experience, which usually doesn't include personal space. About half of us met the bus in Kingstown and the rest we picked up on the way to Georgetown. And of course, it was pouring down rain. We were supposed to leave the Peace Corps office by 9 am, but due to rain delays, we actually left at 9:45. This was fine, for those of us in the dry, warm Peace Corps office, but those we were picking up on the way were informed to wait by the main road for the bus to pick them up and to be there between 9:15 and 9:30. Due to ever increasing rain delays, we picked up the first person, soaking wet, at 10:45.
There were so many delays because all the rain we've gotten has caused massive flooding and landslides across the island. St. Vincent is a really hilly island, and while the hills are completely clear, the valleys often have several inches of standing water and are sometimes un-passable. Our trip to Georgetown, which would usually take less than an hour, took us more than two, due to all of the side-roads we had to navigate when the main road was flooded or covered in fallen boulders and trees. The main roads in St. Vincent are carved into the sides of hills and mountains, and when they get really wet, mudslides occur and bring trees and large rocks down too. It was really an experience driving through all this, knowing how unstable the mountainside is and hoping that our bus wouldn't fall victim to a landslide. Actually, most buses won't even run in this kind of weather, which is nice as far as safety goes, but frustrating, I imagine, when you have to get to town.
Once we got to Georgetown, however, we had a nice (though short and wet) day. We went to a place called Marion House, which teaches technical skills to out-of-school youth. We also went to a home for mentally handicapped children, who are often abandoned or abused, and got to play with them and meet the PCV who currently works there. For lunch, we drove to a beach called Black's Point, which was one of the film sites for Pirate's of the Caribbean, and ate at picnic tables (covered, of course). It's actually really beautiful here when it rains, although this is easy to forget if you're trapped inside all day. Here's hoping that this tropical wave goes on its merry way!