Weather!!

The weather in Cusco

This week the tree in our little garden is looking very confused! Thinking it is autumn it has been shedding its leaves, but due to the warm days it is also thinking it could be spring so has started to grow new leaves and produce white blossom! In fact, it is supposed to be winter here as we are approaching the shortest day (corresponding to the longest day in the northern hemisphere).

Seasons

We have decided that the four seasons don’t exist here – there is a wet season and a dry season. At this time of year (June) it gets dark a bit earlier (about 6pm) and light a bit later (about 6am) and it is colder at nights (below freezing at times, although we have only seen a tiny bit of frost in our area of town). However, in the daytime it gets really hot by late morning if it is sunny (it usually is) and we try to walk in the shade on the way home from school. Sammy wears a woolly hat and gloves to go to school at 8:15 and needs sun cream and a sun hat to come home at 12:30! We are forever adding or taking off layers of clothes! I saw a notice advertising a clothing collection yesterday – the idea is to take warm clothes up to the higher areas where many small children and older people die in the cold weather. Up in the mountains it is colder at night and the houses are very poor. In Cusco no one seems to have central heating but most people have glass in the windows and many have electricity so it is possible to get an electric fire (for those that can afford it).

A sunny day during the dry season near Cusco.

When we arrived here in March it was the end of the rainy season. On the whole it was dry in the mornings and then we had thunderstorms in the afternoon. I think it rains more than that from December to February but we’ll have to wait and see. Climate change is possibly having an effect as we did get some rain in May which is apparently very unusual. It is lighter for longer in the wet season – from about 5am until 7pm in December. The temperature is less variable – not quite so cold by night and not quite so hot by day.