I know you’ve all heard that before. It’s the tropics and unless you are up in the mountains, hot weather is expected. We thought the rainy season had begun though, and the worst of the heat was over. Do they have Indian summer in Panama?

We’ve had some really nice rains and everything is green again. A couple of weeks ago the yard was brown and look at it now. I love the mani, or perennial peanut. When it has water it’s a beautiful green with yellow flowers and it doesn’t need mowing like grass. We take the weed whacker to it maybe once or twice a year since it seems to grow higher than it did in Florida, especially in the shade, but it’s thick enough that it needs minimal weeding. The Panamanians aren’t big fans because they are afraid that snakes like to hide in it but we’ve never seen a snake in the mani.

So, the rain is back, we’ve had some beautifully cool evenings. Then we woke up to heat, breezes, clear skies, and burning sun. The clouds didn’t gather in the afternoon and the rains didn’t come. Yesterday I got an email from Santiago saying he’d never seen it above 100 there, but here’s his thermometer.

I checked ours about 1PM and it wasn’t that hot, but it could have gone up more in the next couple hours. We also live on the north edge of town so it could have been hotter downtown.

Located in the shade on the terrace

Our dog may be nuts. She likes to lie out in the sun. This was also taken about 1PM, the same time as the thermometer picture. She’s either in the sun, in the dirt next to the house where she’s made herself a spot, or if I’m inside she’s behind the sofa or wherever I am. She takes good care of me and takes that job very seriously, so don’t come in our gate without a proper introduction.

It looks like today will be another hot and dry one.

Yesterday’s weather report

Today’s weather. That chance of rain is 10% this evening, so I’m not counting on anything.

People assume that David is impossibly hot. Florida was hotter in the summer. Pretty much anywhere I’ve lived was hotter in the summer. I remember 100+ degrees in Kansas many times. People assume that it rains continuously in the rainy season, but it doesn’t. Rains come in the late afternoon and soak everything, and then it clear up in the evening…. not always but that’s very typical.

It’s just odd to have summer weather again after the rains, but I see some clouds in the sky already so this too may be passing. One nice thing about Panama is that you can choose an elevation that suits your taste in weather. A lot of expats are in the mountains but I like it nice and warm so David is perfect for me, and we have AC for those hot afternoons.