el niño
Everyone, yes well maybe not everyone as some people already know, that whenever I speak with them about Guatemala, all they can think of is "heat."
Well that is true is has heat here.
But not exactly where I was.
By that I mean I was hardly ever in a tropical zone. I lived mostly in the western Highlands and at an elevation of 2330 metres or for you folk still not in metric that is 7600 feet.
Now back a few years ago when I lived for a time in the Canadian Rocky Mountains well yes those mountains are a lot higher than the mountains in Guatemala. In western Canada, Alberta and British Columbia I lived at an elevation of around 1460 metres and once again for the folk using standard measure, that's around 4600 feet. At the time well, I thought I was living at a high elevation.
In Guatemala there are two great major mountain chains and then three major geographical areas. There are also several sub-geographical areas The difference in elevation which can be drastic produces sharp contrasts in temperature and all in such a small country. I come from Canada and it is really big, so yes Guatemala is small compared to that. (heck every country but China is smaller than Canada).. But this blog is about Guatemala, not Canada. I should start that Canada blog soon.
Anyway back to temperature differences...
This link maybe explains than a lot better and in greater than I can.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Guatemala
All that aside, here where I always seem to end up, is warm during the day and yes cool at night.
Warm is being say, mid twenties Celsius and again for you folk still in that old way of measuring things, that is around 80 F during the day and yes sometimes it can get a lot cooler at night. I have seen frost in February (early mornings) which is darn cold, in Celsius or Fahrenheit.
So is it hot and sweaty in Guatemala?
Well Quetzaltenango (Xela) being at such a high elevation (remember) the air is dry and very comfortable during the day. But just about an hour or so west towards the Pacific Ocean, well it starts to get hot and sticky really fast. You can actually feel it happening the closer you get to the Pacific. And once there on the Pacific shores well, it is very hot and yes very sticky and a sweaty place to be.
There is such a major difference in temperature and humidity in such a short distance.
BUT
I have seen it rain, that is heavy rain, not just a shower in the dry season.
So what is happening?
Maybe as people are saying is is all because of
el niño
or
Global Warming
Well something is happening, because things are somewhat, a little different than when I first arrived down in Guatemala back in early 2010.
Who knows what that is...
But I somehow suspect that we (humans) are involved in this change of weather patterns...and that is not good at all.
Climate change happening here?
Well, that is a real concern because I came here to escape the winter...
I just hope it does not snow in Guatemala.
