It is dry in Central Texas. Very dry. This has been the case
for many areas of the U.S. this summer. And last year, too. I have developed a
new appreciation for the wet stuff from the sky. A nice, steady rain that soaks
in and pitter-patters on the roof would be welcome. I would especially welcome
the kind of rain I have experienced in Central America.
I have written about the cold climes of Latin America (see
here), and the hot ones as well (here). Many places I have been in Central America
have two seasons: rainy and dry (or muddy and dusty as the case may be). The
rainy season I experienced in the hot, tropical areas of Costa Rica, Nicaragua
and Panama did not include days and days of unending rains. The days were hot,
pretty much like the dry season. But typically in the afternoon, it would rain
like the dickens for a while. It came down in buckets. Within minutes, the
streets were running with water. If you stepped into the street, your shoes
would get soaked. Even with an umbrella, you would get drenched. If indoors, the
rain battered the rooftops so loudly that you could not have a conversation
with anyone.
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| This is a nice, hard rain I experienced while staying with a family in Granada, Nicaragua. This is the uncovered laundry area (notice the pila in the corner) and my room was to the left, where the floor was covered with water. |
On my first trip to Costa Rica, I was with a group. It was during rainy season, so the afternoon rains came after we had completed our work at a house construction site. So much rain came down, that some of the young women in my group ran outside to wash their hair in the downpour.
There are places in the U.S. where these types of rainstorms
happen. I experienced strong rains years ago in the Houston area. If I was driving, I
sometimes pulled over to wait out the storm because my windshield wipers
couldn’t keep up and I couldn’t see a thing in front of me. There are also
places in the U.S. where the rain is regular, consistent, and at times
unrelenting. But I have never lived in those places and can only imagine what that is like (maybe a little too dreary for me).
I did hear about a person from the Pacific Northwest who
moved to Austin only to be bothered by all the sunshine. It is so sunny here so
often that this person found it strange and uncomfortable. For the first time,
she had to wear sunglasses regularly; she had to think about sunscreen with a
higher SPF; she even wore big hats when at an outdoor events.
Yes, the sunshine is pretty predictable here. You wouldn’t
know that from the meteorologists on the local news. They say things like, “If
you don’t like the weather in Central Texas, just wait a minute,” a quote that
is actually attributed to Mark Twain speaking about New England. Since New
England actually has four seasons, and a cranky Atlantic ocean whipping its
shores, in Texas (at least in Central Texas for the past couple years) it might be more appropriate to say,
“If you don’t like the weather, too damn bad!”
If you travel to a place that has a different climate, different weather patterns, different temperatures than at home, enjoy the difference. If you are from hot and dry Central Texas and are spending some time in hot and wet Panama, get those shoes wet, walk without an umbrella, shampoo your hair outside in the rain. If you are from a place where it rains frequently and the sun is a stranger, enjoy that sunny beach you are visiting, bask in its glow, soak up that Vitamin D (but always use sunscreen!). If you are visiting a place that is so hot you feel like you could melt, then find some local cool cocktails (like I did here). As I have said before, enjoy what is different. This weekend may be gloomy and rainy in Austin, but that gloom and rain is welcome out of necessity. When you're traveling, the weather is part of the experience, even if your original plans get washed away.
