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Tuesday 19 June 2012

Memories so sweet those Mountains and Rainy Days

Guatemala has two seasons. One is the dry season and runs from around November to May. The other is the rainy season and runs from May to October. Of course this year it started to rain in February. I am writing this in the month of June and yes it is raining.

It does not rain all day, just usually in the late afternoon or evening. Of course last night it rained all night and then all morning today. When the rainy season starts it is more of a light rain and later into the year we get some real down pours. Here like everything else that varies as well and sometimes varies quite a lot.

So in the rainy season (more or less) the morning starts off cool. The sun arrives and quickly heats up everything. Later in the afternoon we see some clouds rolling in. Then comes that rain. The nights at this elevation 2330 metres (7600 ft) are always cool and comfortable to sleep with even if its raining.

I must be a mountain guy. That all started out with the love of the mountains in the northern part or Wales where I was born. In Wales there are the Brecon Beacons, Cumbrian and Snowdonia ranges with Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales sitting at 1085 metres (3560 ft). On the southern end of the Snowdonia range is Cader Idris meaning "Gaints Chair. Idris being a giant from Welsh Mythology. Seeing it sitting like a giants chair, conjured up all sorts of imagery in my young mind at the time.

After moving to Canada and growing up in Ontario, I had to search out mountains there. Most people do not know but in an area just south of Sudbury Ontario in Killarney Provincial Park, there are the old growth mountains known as Lac Loche Mountains. They are laced with quartzite peaks that look like snow and ice. They once towered higher that the rockies their white quartzite and pink granite rocks sliding into deep lakes and water passages.

Later the western part of Alberta and it's ever stunning and grandiose Rocky Mountains captured years of my interest with camping, hikes and many scrambles.

Then in British Columbia I discovered several mountain ranges other than the Canadian Rocky Mountains that everyone seems to know about. British Columbia has many mountain ranges. The Selkirks, Purcells, Kootenays, Cassier, Columbia, Coastal Cascades and the Vancouver Island range to name a few. It was the coastal mountain vistas on the Pacific coast of BC that caught my attention lastly.

There is here a connection, between seasons, rain and mountains. 

Wales has its fair share of both mountains and rain. Ontario has hidden old maintains and rain. Alberta has mountains two seasons and some rain. BC is know for many mountains, coastal beauty and rain. Guatemala has its western highlands with mountains, two seasons and rain.

So wherever I seem to live I have either two seasons to deal with, certainly lots of mountainous terrian and yes pleanty of that rain.

I must love mountains and rain.


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