Graham, Why Is The Clock In Freezer?

For the past 8 weeks we've been able to settle in to a new life with what many would consider to be optimal weather conditions.  The weather was so oddly consistent that I thought our wall clock/thermometer was broken on 79 degrees. It didn't change for four days (day or night).  So naturally, I did what any freak would do and stuck the clock in the freezer for a minute to see if it really worked.  Of course freaks forget about putting clocks in freezers and Nicole found it later, thus begging the question.  The normal weather here was sun, flowers blooming everywhere, the occasional afternoon drizzle.  One thing that was different to us was the breeze.  I should rather say, wind. We've kept all of the screen-less windows wide open 24 hours per day to let the breeze in.  Even with the lights on at night and the windows and door open, we would only be visited by the occasional moth or mosquito, but nothing of much consequence. It was hard to believe how few bugs actually came in and bothered us.  One thing that blew our minds was the wind.  During 'the dry season' most of the time there was a constant 10-20mph wind with very low humidity.  It was heaven for me, but Nicole would sometimes even get chilly at night.  Sometimes the wind would get serious and bring 30-50mph gusts.  We imported a heavy, king sized, down pillow from the states. The wind could easily blast through the window and would regularly blow it right off the bed.  

Saturday that all changed. The dry season is over.  It rained for REAL. I guess that's what they meant by the rainy season. Rain coming down in actual clumps of water. So heavy I was looking in vain for hail on the ground. I took the time to record what was easily 90 decibels of water slamming against the tin rooftops. The rainy season introduced me to another first.  Bug clouds.  I saw no less than 100,000 termites flying 12" apart from one another in a cloud towards and around our house. Weirdly they seemed to go around the house.  I still ran around slamming the windows to the room where Simeon was sleeping. The bugs weren't ominous, just abundant. Kind of looked like mayflies. The rain-soaked ground cues all insects to leave terra firma and take flight.  Our landlord, Mario said this is the norm all season. I have to believe there will be some respite. It was a cloud. Birds were sacrificing their bodies in the torrential rain for the winged-feast that was clumsily dangling in front of them.  Guess it's time for window.

On a related topic we had another Panama moment that very night:  We discovered a colony of 1" flying termites in the door and doorpost to Simeon and Canaan's room. We realized they were there when they all took flight yesterday evening (Canaan was already down). After Nicole's head stopped rotating, I got to work on exterminating, getting the door taken outside and the aftermath cleaned up. Nicole was still a little frazzled as a few dozen of the little flyers kept coming out of random holes. We cleaned the entire house. Ugh. To put everyone's mind at ease we put Canaan in our room and both of them were under mosquito nets.  This was also so Nicole could live with herself. What a night!

Walking bridge to a local swimming hole/waterfall.

Insert 'Temple of Doom' reenactment here. (sans alligators)

Follow up:  No bugs for two days and the windows are back open for the time being ;)