Monday, April 25, 2011

The winter is on its way


Today was cool. Not cold, but nice and cool. Refreshing wind from the sea brushes through my hair and I feel the change in the air. 

As I am learning slowly Portuguese, I am now venturing into the vocabulary of  weather, time and the seasons. I could not help but notice that in Angola there just seems to be the following seasons: hot, hot, hot and hot. But I was wrong! There are in fact two seasons in Angola! And no, they are not "hot and hotter" as one would think, but summer and winter. 

Summer, which is during Christmas is HOT! So hot and humid that I really have had days that have been torture. So hot that when we head to the beach, I pretend to be a wicked surfer with my +40spf surfers top... What can I say, white ass roasts quickly... Here's a photo Kamene took the other day. 

Getting splashed

But soon, anytime soon now, should be here already, will be the winter. I've asked a few Angolans about this and they told me that yes, it will be cold and you must wear a jacket in the evenings! Really? The temperature will drop to a whopping +25˚c from +35˚c... Apparently the nights during the winter can drop to +17˚c. I look forward to sleeping without the air-conditioning! 

But alas, I was finally explained what the actual seasons are here in Angola: dry and wet! 

The wet season is in the summer, which is why the summer is hot and humid. The winter is starting soon, and that will be a dry season. As we are nearing to the end of summer, it feels like the rain is giving it's last bits now before the dry season kicks in.

Wet wet wet

Yesterday we spent the day at the beach in Mussulo and it was a hot lovely day, water was warm, a bit fresher than the times before and throughout the day we kept hearing kabooms in the sky! At around 16 we started heading back. The sea was flat, completely calm, eerie. And roughly 20 seconds after the waves were high and the sky was black and rain was so heavy you could hardly see where you were heading! That was one scary boat ride! 

So this is the wet season in Angola, and let me tell you, it is ridiculous! There is a "light show" in the skies almost every night followed by angry thunder with the water pissing down heavily for hours on end! Hours of heavy rain! The electricity always cuts off, so for the houses with no personal generator... Tough shit! 

The rain does its damage, the city has barely any drainage system so all streets are always flooded or cut off completely, ceilings leak and water level rises to levels that match with the sewers... (Nice aroma) And the after effects are of course that people do not go to work because the public transportation, which are funny little vans, (I'll write about those soon) do not work, the roads are cut off so walking is difficult, but the people that do need to head out, will be sitting hours in the heavier than usual traffic and there will be zero parking spaces in the city! So if you can- stay at home!

Muddy roads cut off

I'm so used to enjoying the rain at home, I always sleep really well during it cause it cools down the air and cleans it. But here, my boyfriend never sleeps during the rains, because he needs to keep checking on the boat and go out there into the dark sea to empty it before it sinks completely and he needs to keep checking the electricity and if the generator is dry or needs diesel. 

I tried snapping photos of the lightning, but we can all appreciate how difficult that is! Last week we were sitting having a drink in the city and the thunder hit so close that the floor shook under our feet and the table trembled and spilled our drinks! No, it didn't hit our car! 

I can see clearly now that the rain has gone.. 

 The wet season!