El Niño in Lake Chapala

They say that no one talks about the weather as much as we Canadians and I’m going to keep the tradition going. We have heard that after a brief balmy period, there is now big snow storms and cold weather in Nova Scotia, although that is not unusual.

However, the weather is unusual for this area of Mexico; this, along with unusual weather patterns elsewhere (especially in Europe, is being attributed to El Niño, the cold water inversion in the Pacific off the coast of Mexico and Central America. There was unusually cool weather and a couple of rainy days in early January (this is the dry season but I see that we had rain last year in January also); however, I had thought that it was getting back to more usual weather the last week or so. Temperatures were warming up. Daytime highs were 23-25º C and early morning lows were in the 12-14º C range. Today turned out differently. After a sunny morning, it clouded over after noon and began raining in short bursts. We have now (almost 7 p.m.) received significant rain. Barb intends to turn off her irrigation system as there is enought water for the grass for a couple of days. It will undoubtedly be colder tonight,.

We did not go to Open Circle this morning. Our friends did go, but most said that we didn’t miss much as the speaker had lost her notes and was not very well organized. Sonia was the only one who said that she had enjoyed it. However, she admitted that the speaker was not very good and also that she had dropped off to sleep.

We had an upset yesterday while taking the girls back to LIA. We were driving up the main boulevard in Chapala. The pickup in front stopped and I did as well. Then, another car banged into our rear, pushing us into the pickup ahead. The young fellow driving the car that caused it all, quickly backed up and drove down a side street away. The pickup did not receive any damage; we got a new dent in the front bumper and a small hole in the rear bumper. We were not injured as it was not a huge crash and everyone was buckled in seat belts; however, the girls were upset and cried most of the way back to LIA.

Progress is continuing on the bodega. Tomorrow, Feb. 1st is a holiday in Mexico, but the men are coming to work anyway. The holiday is Constitution Day (Feb. 5), but it is being celebrated (as many holidays north of the border are) on Monday to give a long weekend. We really noticed heavy traffic and big crowds yesterday and today, probably an influx of visitors from Guadalajara; this is a favourite outing for Tapitios (the nickname for Guadalajarans) and every weekend there is an influx, sometimes rowdy young people. Holiday weekends, it is much larger.

We are awaiting the arrival of Matthew and Angie next Saturday evening.