August 25, 2010 |
| Water and Heat (a further look into the cruising lifestyle).. |
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Another aspect of cruising;WATER! Something that is mostly taken for granted back home. Since we entered Latin American countries, back in early January, we’ve relied on purchased purified water for all our needs. This entails the purchase (and transport) of the common blue plastic five gallon containers which are common in this part of the world. Dependent on where we’ve been that can mean anything from carrying by hand, loading the dink or using a friend’s truck (if we have access). While in Roatan we would usually take the dink across the bight to Jeannie’s grocery and buy 8 – 20 containers at a time (dependant on how low the tanks are). Then load them in the dink, motor back to HB, haul them up on deck and pour (individually) into our two seventy five gallon tanks. Then return the jugs for recycling and refill by the water companies. Needless to say it takes a bit of effort but, alas, it comes with the territory. We’ve managed to avoid intestinal problems by using this method. By the way….we “did” have a water maker but were never able to get it working due to being old and without available replacement parts. A new water maker is something we now feel “required” for cruising in Central and South America. It’s on the list of things of things to do for the future.
Anyway….now that we are in the tropical jungle environment of Guatemala, in the rainy season, we have begun to collect rain water. Here, in the tropics, temperatures are fairly uniform year round and seasonal changes are not nearly as pronounced as farther north or south of the equator. Instead of temperature, precipitation defines the seasons, and there are only two of them: the dry season, which locals often call summer, and the rainy season, which is often called winter. The rainy season begins around mid-May and lasts until October or November, interrupted by a short dry period of about two weeks in late July or early August. "Rainy season" does not mean, however, that it rains all day long. On a typical day, there is sunshine in the morning before the clouds begin to appear in the afternoon and it rains for an hour or two. The rain is often followed by a few more hours of sunshine and during the night more rain is likely. There is little to no airborne pollution here so the rainwater is just about as pure as the filtered purified water. You can see (in the pictures) that it is a simple system utilizing the sun awning. Last night we had only a light rain and collected ten gallons. In a good storm we can probably fill the tanks in a couple of hours. No more hauling water jugs!!!! It does happen occasionally that it rains all day long, but that is actually quite rare. On the other hand, it also happens that it does not rain at all for two or three days. The average rainfall for August is around ten inches.
It is, indeed, hot. Today the air is reading 101 degrees with little, or no, breeze (not typical as there is frequently a nice breeze). The decks are reading 118 degrees as they bake in the sun. We’ve rigged sun shades to help keep the interior living spaces tolerable during the day. As mentioned previously we have air conditioning which we use from 5pm throughout the night and into early morning (6am). When it’s this hot we rig the A/C and go for a swim or head out to a “happy hour” somewhere nearby. Upon return it is “delightful” below! Cool, dry and comfortable …then its dinner and a movie or, simply sit back a read a good book.
One last note. In the past I’ve rarely spent much time in a swimming pool. Here, now, I take a dip about every thirty minutes. The smallest little job results in perfuse sweat. So; I work a little and then walk over to the pool, rinse off, and plunge into the cool refreshing crystal clear water. It would not be uncommon to look over and see Pat and me in the pool sipping a cold beverage; perhaps even a Pina Colada.
Yep…… I’ve developed a fancy for little umbrellas in “girly drinks” poolside!
Pics Here
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2010
September (1)
Hurricane Mon...