Tormenta de Santa Rosa

The weather here has been amazing...until today that is. This weekend I spent two days soaking up the sun on the warm sand of the Pocitos Beach only 7 blocks from our apartment. I still can't believe I was laying on the beach in my swimsuit during winter. The temperatures got well into the 80s fahrenheit. Yeah right, "winter".


Apparently, however, close to every 30th of August, it gets warm and then takes a turn for the cold with the legendary Tormenta de Santa Rosa (Saint Rosa's Storm). And lo-and-behold, we had a storm today. Lots of rain and cooler temperatures than during the weekend. The stats for the past 8 years seem to suggest there's some truth in this old meteorology legend.

Nonetheless, I still rejoice that the days of hovering over the wretched gas space heater are forever gone.

Brrrrr, it's cold

When I first arrived in Uruguay it was late summer and so hot I didn't believe it when people said it would get cold here. I thought they were speaking in relative terms, as in brrrr, it's cold for me, but it won't be cold for you. Well I was wrong. The weather finally started to act like autumn, and I had to dig out my coat today.

There were thunderstorms earlier this week that are responsible for the cooler temperatures.


This is lightning from my window. You don't even want to know how many attempts it took for me to get this photograph. Luckily (unfortunately?) the storm lasted all night. There were plenty of opportunities.

Also, side note, someboday was BLASTING their television at 4:30 AM this morning. What is with that? One, who is up that early? Two, who turns on the TV that early? Three, who puts the volume at on full blast when staying in a hotel? Didn't they think the rest of world might be trying to sleep?

Could It Be Global Warming?

Sweltering. Yes, that is the word to describe the heat today.

Today being the first real "hot" day of "summer," it didn't take long until we realized that our air conditioning is broken. The air inside our house sticky as molasses. It feels like we are sitting inside a greenhouse with winter coats on. I am generally a cold person, but today is the exception.

The air conditioning repairmen originally said they couldn't come for two weeks since everybody is probably cranking up the air for the first time this season, but then they showed up at our door an hour later. They have been tinkering with the central air all day long, but nothing. They hacked up the bush surrounding the unit, been hammering, taking apart, putting back to together, making strange noises, and it won't work. Oh, now we'll have to back to the days before air-conditioning. I don't think I enjoy that prospect.