Santa Cruz Winter
School is out and it is Memorial Day in Texas. You are looking forward to cookouts, the swimming pools, and a visit to the beach. Now that winter has ended in Texas, I guess it is a good time to talk about Bolivian winter, or at least the winter in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I originally wrote this on a Saturday morning in mid-September. The night was cool, but the weather forecast was saying 95. Today though is quite the opposite.
Santa Cruz is in the tropical lowlands of
South America. About half of Bolivia is
in the Andes Mountains and remains cooler, or colder, all year round. Santa Cruz is warm year-round, and often
hot. If you look at statistics on the
weather here, it shows that the hottest day on record was 100 in November. When I tell Bolivians that the typical summer
in Dallas is usually around 100 (38 Celsius) they are shocked, because it
rarely gets above 34 or 35 Celsius, in the mid-90s. Occasionally it does reach 100, or pretty
close to it. In Dallas, you feel the
heat when you go outside, but in Santa Cruz, if you stick to the shady side of
the street or sit under a tree, it doesn’t feel so bad.
The winter here is at the same time as Texas
summer. Santa Cruz, Bolivia is below the
Equator, so it enjoys opposite seasons.
Most days of the winter months are like those beautiful Dallas sunny
days in January. You want to be
outside! Some trees lose their leaves,
but many more are in bloom. It is a
beautiful time of year. Then you are hit with a surazo, a cold wind from the south, blowing up from Antarctica and picking up speed in the vast plains of Argentina. There is nothing to stop it! Temperatures will drop to the low 50s at night and maybe not quite 65 during the day. The wind bites into you. No, it is not freezing, but it feels like it. The houses here are not built for months of cold, so even with every window and door shut tight, it feels cold.
In my apartment, the wind blows so hard that at times you can’t open the door, and closing windows can be difficult. My apartment is situated with one window facing south. When a surazo is blowing in, I notice it right away. The living room curtains are blowing. Quickly you feel the drop of temperature. A surazo usually lasts for three days. The third day is mild and usually sunny. There is little if any breeze. It is a great day to get outside!
My bedroom window faces north. The day after the surazo the wind changes direction; it blows from the north. I love it when it changes direction. I wrap myself in my blankets at night and enjoy the wind blowing in my window. This is not a gentle breeze, but wind that can blow you down. It is a day to do laundry, because it is windy and dry. In minutes your shirts are dry. In an hour your towels, and a bit longer for jeans. When I originally wrote this, I could feel the beginning of an afternoon heat. By noon my windows were shut and the air conditioning was on for the first time in three days.
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