tropical storms

Torrential downpours have been falling several times daily for two weeks, there has been very little sun in three weeks. Everyone is baffled- this is not only not normal, but hasn't happened before. Even in monsoon season, there are rarely more than three days of rain without the sun returning.

I recently got a tv cable installed in my room- which has lead to bouts of watching the BBC World. I discovered that the hurricanes this year are catastrophic, with more than 1,500 dead in Haiti. Further, the number of hurricanes that have happened in the last 10 years has risen dramatically.

It has been 40 years since the state of Florida has been hit by 2 hurricanes in the same year. With a month of hurricane season left to go, they are facing their 4th hurricane. One has to wonder whether we are starting to suffer the consequences of global warming. It is undisputed that an increase in oceanic temperatures will inevitably lead to greater tropical storm frequency. The last time a State in America was hit by four hurricanes in one season, was more than a century ago (Texas, 1886).

Weather conditions all over the world have been unusual over the last few of months and reports that glaciers in the Antartic are melting more quickly than predicted, are also giving some concern.

Oceanologists currently think that the Maldives will disappear within the next 30 years. Years ago, in El Nino, 95% of the coral here in the Maldives was destroyed by a temperature rise in the ocean's currents. There has been some regrowth, but not enough to protect the islands from mass erosion.

a poem to his wife

Matilde, where are you? Down there I noticed,
under my necktie and just above the heart,
a certain pang of grief between the ribs,
you were gone that quickly.
I needed the light of your energy,
I looked around, devouring hope.
I watched the void without you that is like a house,
nothing left but tragic windows.

Out of sheer taciturnity the ceiling listens
to the fall of the ancient leafless rain,
to feathers, to whatever the night imprisoned:

so I wait for you like a lonely house
till you will see me again and live in me.
Till then my windows ache.

Pablo Neruda

rain, rain, and more rain

No worries, the island is no longer spinning. Ear infections are long forgotten.

It has been cold (for here) and rainy for the last two weeks. Monsoons bring a considerable amount of rain to the tropical world. Still, it's not truly cold, and watching the rain trail down an orchid's petals has a unique joy. The banyan trees are like waterfalls with their great roots that grow from the top of the tree down into the earth, creating their own jungle. The silky white petals of the angsana trees' flowers retain their soft sultry sweet scent which fills the air after the rain ceases.

olvidé

I have forgotten your face, I no longer remember your hands;
how did your lips feel on mine?
....
I have forgotten your voice, your happy voice; I have forgotten
your eyes.

-Neruda