The Humid Season

Senegal’s rainy season runs from June to October. It has rained about a dozen times in four months, and only four times has the rain been harder than an intermittent drizzle. Really it’s the hot and humid season, to be hopefully followed by a cool and dry season. Or what they call “winter.” It’s so hot that I don’t even go out during the day unless I have a good reason to. I feel bad because rain here means that some people can’t sleep in their homes that are regularly flooded by even the tiniest amounts of rain during the humid season (I refuse to call it the rainy season anymore) but the only times it isn’t ridiculously muggy is when it rains so I find myself hoping for rain often. Most of the time it is like 90˚ F and 90% humidity and it feels like it’s about to rain until it doesn’t.