Seasons Change

Rebecca forwarded an email to me with some questions about the change of seasons here in Belize. I tried to think of an image to put with this post and I took some pictures. When I downloaded the pictures to the computer there were several that Rebecca had already taken, one of which was this one. It works with the post better than any of the pictures I took, so I am using it. She took this picture some time within the last few days. There are flower buds ready to replace the flowers that are older.

Some people live by the clock and farmers live by the weather, daylight, and seasons. Tom works much longer hours in the summer when there is more light. We can harvest past dark (around 6:00 pm) because of the lights, but it feels much later than it is. Today we will shell corn, and Mom will put the boys to bed for me. It is supposed to rain tonight and that is why we are pushing so hard.

How long are the days in Belize? You don't have seasons, do you? No daylight savings time either.

I was wondering how you dry your clothes if the humidity stays high? Do they mildew or mold? When you make bread, is it yeast bread? I bet it rises fast.

The seasons do change here. The cold front has arrived and it is much cooler. It is probably about 75 degrees. We still have fans on, but at night Rebecca uses a light blanket. It is much more comfortable, but the water coming out of the shower is no longer hot in the afternoon. A shower in the late afternoon is still comfortable, but late at night requires a certain force of will. A shower in the morning is more of a traumatic ordeal, but I think that I and the others are getting used to it. (by taking our showers in the afternoon)

The seasons are much less distinctive than those in the US. There is a rainy season, but two men I know, brothers, who farm cane, have told me two different times when the rainy season starts. They differed by several months. I think one was telling me when the rainy season traditionally starts and the other was telling me when the rain had started in recent years. And there is a difference. It is hard to tell, because I can't get a straight answer as to when the rainy season starts but I think that the rainy season is supposed to start in August but this year it didn't really rain until October.

I asked someone I know, about the seasons. He is in his twenties, he has lived here all his life, he speaks English and Spanish fluently and is well educated. The next season is "season that is cold" apparently seasons are not different enough to have special names. After that is a season where it is sometimes rainy and sunny, then after that hot, then after that rainy. I asked him if there are any activities that are only done in one season or another. "When it's the hot season, people will often swim in the sea every day". This isn't a person with a language barrier, he speaks English as well as we do.

Regarding farm work at night. One man I know mentioned that when he was younger during the two weeks surrounding the full moon, he would chop cane day and night stopping only for eating and four or five hours to sleep around noon. Perhaps this was an exaggeration, but it matches another story he told me how much he used to make chopping cane. He said he usually made BZ$70 a day. I have heard from others that cane choppers are paid by the ton, and apparently average about BZ$20-30 a day. If he was exaggerating saying how he worked twice as hard, he probably would not have mentioned a rate of pay that actually is about twice the average.

The day length does change. It is getting darker slightly earlier than when we arrived in June. It is not very noticeable. There is no Daylight savings time. It gets light later too. I remember dawn used to be at around 5:30, now it's maybe 5:45 or 6:00. It used to be light out past 5:30 pm, now it is dark at that time. Before it got dark tonight, I replaced my shovel that vanished and planted out three tomato plants that I had been growing in a plastic container. I hope they do well. My pepper seedlings died from lack of attention, but I have more seeds of that kind, and I found what look like Hungarian wax peppers at the market today. I also have tobacco seeds. I think they are Nicotina rustica instead of Nicotina tabacum, don't know for sure.

Rebecca should have answered about the laundry, she knows better than I. What I do know is that often we scurry to get the cloths off the line and onto the line we have strung up in the garage as the rain starts. Also, we have found that the cloths must be brought in before dark, if they are not, the once dry cloths become damp. While the humidity is high, on a sunny day the sun is stronger. We are closer to the equator, we are I think slightly closer to the sun, but more importantly the light hits us nearly straight on instead of at an angle. I should look up what I just wrote because I think there is a misconception there, but the sun is stronger, brighter, harsher here. Also the breeze dries the cloths. If hung in the garage, without direct sunlight or much of a breeze, it takes a day or so for the cloths to dry. In the yard it takes a few hours. The towels we brought from the US, seem to be prone to a musty mildew smell if dried in the garage. The towels purchased here are much thinner and dry very easily. Also, there seems to be generally less mold here. I suspect that mold spores do not survive in such great numbers because of the strong sunlight.

Rebecca has not often made bread. I pushed her when we first moved in to make bread, and she did. I have some weird idea that the mother making bread in a house makes it into a home. I can't blame her for not making bread often. A loaf of bread already sliced is BZ$1.25 at the grocery two minutes away. It wouldn't be any cheaper, and since the bread here is almost homemade anyway, it wouldn't be much better. She makes banana bread sometimes, I don't know if she uses yeast or baking powder. Yeast is sold in a 1 kilogram brick. I suspect it does not last as long as the powdered yeast in the US, but most of the people make and eat an enormous amount of bread products. She needs to answer these questions as I have no idea if the bread rose faster.