Finally, after 15 days of teeny little spritzes of rain each night, we had 2.16 inches of rain yesterday afternoon and evening, for a total to 3.01 inches so far this month. Last year's total was 7.74" in August - '06 produced 13.16 inches. The weather this morning is cloudy and muggy and conditions (except for high winds in the upper atmosphere) are right for more rain today. If you're a weather-junky, the site that's best for a detailed explanation of what's happening right now is: www.nhc.gov/text/refresh/MIATWDEP+shtml/ 182217.shtml? - after you read the details, click on UTC SURFACE ANALYSIS for a graphic of weather conditions at the time it's written and updated several times a day. It's kind of techy, but the graphic showing where the ITCZ is this week (very high up) and the location of tropical waves responsible for much of our summer weather is really interesting. The rain yesterday cooled things down a little but the humidity is high - 75% at 11:30 AM - there've been 10 days so far this month with daytime humidity over 80% - steamy! Constant power outages - evidently caused by overloaded power lines being used by the many vendors around the plaza, or a blown transformer - no one seems to know for sure - have been a problem all week. High humidity and no fans - not a great combination.The fiesta is finally over - two mornings with no rockets at dawn and most of the carnival around the plaza has packed up and gone. The final day of the fiesta was classic and wonderful - rockets, a brass band (pretty good this year), processions, and a boat ride for the Virgin of Talpa. I've seen this once before and if you ever have a chance to be here during August, you should make sure to watch it. This year 7 pongas went out from the beach in the morning, one festooned with flags and carrying the Virgin (a dupicate, not the original, I found out - the original stays home in Talpa), the Padre and some of the faithful, one carrying the entire brass band (or as many as would fit!), one with "rocket-man" in the bow, shooting off rockets as they proceeded out into the bay, plus 4 more boats with more of the faithful. After a short tour along the shoreline they proceeded into the middle of the bay, pointed their bows toward shore, shot off more rockets, and sat there for awhile (blessing the spot where many fisherman spend hours each day (?)), then over to the area around the large rocks offshore (more rockets, brass band still playing!) and then back to shore. I can't imagine a more unique way to honor this visit by the Virgin and it seems to me to be quintessential La Manzanilla - fun, reverent and slightly quirky - all rolled up into one. That night (and the night before) ended with a castillo of fireworks that was as impressive as any I've ever seen in Mexico. The finale was more of the rockets we'd heard for the past 9 days, but these roared up higher than the others then burst into fantastic showers of red, silver and gold "stars". Fabulous! I just wish more of you could experience some of the special things that happen here during the summer - they really are fun and everyone has a great time. Now we just need a few more days to catch up on our beauty sleep!
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