Friday, July 15, 2011

The Rainy Season and the "Pink Cloud"


I sometimes get e mails from people asking me when is the best time to come during the rainy season. I can't answer that. Every year for the past four years I have left for Portland for a month or two during this time of the year. This is my first year of staying here.

I have friends who love this time of the year. Everything is so green and lush. It is fairly quiet in town with the winter people gone. The roads aren't clogged with cars. The thunder and lightening is  dramatic. The storms never last long and they are mostly at night. Don't believe people when they say it never rains during the day here. That isn't true. It does rain during the day but usually not for long. It is often just a light rain. So, take an umbrella when you go out. I have lost lots of umbrellas that way. I walk off and forget about them.

When the rainy season first started a few weeks ago, it was a lot hotter and muggier. We had just come off of several months of very hot weather. Now it is cooler and when the sun comes out it is beautiful. Usually it will come out for a few hours in the afternoon.

For now, Lower La Floresta, where I live hasn't had another electrical black out. Hopefully, it will stay on. Maybe they finally fixed the problem. And maybe my landlord won't decide to move. I think he is happy now that we can have electricity and water every day.

I am trying to learn to love this season. I am a lover of sunshine. I am not used to summers being overcast and unpredictable. But I am trying to find the beauty in this season. It is here. It is a fault in me that I expect the weather to be perfect every day as it is the rest of the year.  Okay, I admit I complained a lot about the weather when it was too hot in the afternoons for walking.

Since I don't have a car, the weather plays a much larger part in my life than it does for most expats here. Most of them have cars and also nicer homes that aren't as affected by this moisture as my little casita.

It is saturated in moisture. Smells kind of moldy in here now. I have these little white crystals that soak up the moisture in the air. I put them out a few weeks ago and already the jars they are sitting in are filling up with water.

So why don't I get a better place? Inertia, maybe. Also, it is inexpensive and convenient. I am just a block from the Wednesday market and a few blocks from downtown Ajijic. And the biggest reason for staying is my love for Chico, my landlord's dog.  So I stay. And so I have to quit complaining about the flaws here and learn to just love every day that I am alive and lucky enough to live in such a great place.

I sometimes talk about the "Pink Cloud" people experience when they first come here. I did..... It lasts for several months. That word is used with recovering alcoholics when they first get sober. Everything is perfect to them during those first months. And here, it is the same way with new people. But after awhile we have to come back to ourselves. And then we see the flaws here. This isn't paradise. No where on earth is there a paradise. So, the pink cloud gradually goes away and we are left with all our old patterns of thought and behavior and worries and complaints about things that are less than perfect.

That is the challenge, to continue looking at the good things and not focus on the things that are less than perfect or even downright bad.  These are my thoughts for an overcast morning. Looks like the sun may come out in a few hours and I can then take a long walk with Chico. He would love that. So would I.

6 comments:

  1. Count me in as one of those folks who love the rainy season! This is my fourth rainy season here and they have all varied, except for the fact that we get the bulk of our rain around Lake Chapala during that time.

    I'd never heard of the "pink cloud" that people experience....but I do know that there are several stages to adapting [or not] to life in another country. As for me, I never went through the "pink cloud" or "honeymoon" stage.

    For me, from the start it's been more like being happily married, i guess. [Having never been married, i can't personally speak to that. But, hey, i read a lot of books!] Sure, there are things that make me a little crazy, but overall i've learned to love Mexico more and more as the years go on and overlook the bad things because the good things so outweigh them.

    And i guess i'm still a romantic, rose colored glasses, glass half full, hippie kinda gal. Raining too much for you? Think of all the benefits to the farmers and to all our yards and gardens. Too hot for you? Think of all the snow and ice we don't have to deal with.

    Too cold for you for a couple of months? Think of all the justification you can use for staying in bed under the covers and reading all day. Infrastructure bad? Just consider yourself lucky that you have electricity, propane, running water and indoor toilets, and a great public transportation system that operate most of the time.

    And, yes, not having a personal vehicle can be a pain and it limits your view, both literally and figuratively. Which is why, cost be damned, it's so important that i have mine. Just another thing i'm thankful for.

    Pat, i can only really say be thankful for what you have and don't worry about what you don't have. Worrying about it doesn't do a damn bit of good, but being thankful for it might improve your outlook. Oh, well, that and St. John's wort and alcohol!!

    Let's get together again soon!

    barb in joco

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  2. HI Barb, Thanks for your interesting comment. I didn't realize that my post seemed so gloomy. I am not unhappy here. I was just commenting on the rain. Yes, let's get together again. I have these videos to return to you too. I am feeling better physically now. Keep in touch. Your friend. P

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  3. Sounds like Barb should take the two of you out on a ROAD TRIP! You could probably use a change of scenery - even if it does rain. And, photos from another village in Mexico would be good, along with your perspectives... gaw in pdx

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  4. That sounds like fun. I am guessing this is Gayle. Thank you for writing. Huge thunder and lightening storm going on right now. Patricia

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  5. Check out her Sahuaro photos! I may have that misspelled...

    love ya! gaw in pdx (yup it's moi)

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  6. Thank you Gayle, Will do. Patricia

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