Abu Dhabi us one of the driest places on Earth. The southwest coast of Sri Lanka isn’t one of the wettest, but for anyone who has been living in the UAE for the past two years … it seems like it.

In the near week we have been here, it has rained every day. Sometimes a light mist. Often, an open-the-skies downpour.

I have no doubt that more rain fell in one hour here in Koggala, on Saturday night, than has fallen in Abu Dhabi in the past three years combined.  (Last winter was particularly dry; maybe one inch, total?)

It would appear that the weather in Galle, just up the coast from this hamlet, receives something like 85 inches of rain per year. Abu Dhabi gets about two inches. Maybe three. It tends to come in brief spurts, on maybe 2-3 days total. Just after a dust storm, in many cases.

It was coming down hard the other night, on the way back from Unawatuna, and we asked Pradeep, who was driving the tuk-tuk (with flaps up on each side, to minimize rain-spatter, how many days a year it rains here.

He decided … “every day. Some rain … every day.”

That might be trouble in some parts of the world, but on the west coast of Sri Lanka the rain just seems to run right off of everyone and everything and make the short journey into the Indian Ocean.

Also, the rain is quite warm. About 80-85 degrees. It’s not as if you get soaked and risk a bout of hypothermia.

Not all of Sri Lanka is this wet. The east coast and the northeastern coast, in particular, get far less rain. Maybe 40 inches, and nearly all of it in six months — followed by six dry months. Apparently, ancient ruins show signs of aqueducts for carrying rain, and dams for storing water for the dry season.

But on the west side … you need some fresh water? Hold on for a few minutes and the sky will provide. Especially in October, which turns out to be the wettest month of the year. (No wonder the hotel is so cheap.)

So, rain, rain, lots of rain. At some point every day, and often in the late afternoon. It seems a pleasant novelty to someone who lives in the Arabian Peninsula, and so far we are not actually tired of it or exasperated by it.