Welcome to winter in the tropical Southern Hemisphere! Yesterday was the Solstice and the Aymara people’s New Year. It’s celebrated as a national cultural holiday so we were all off of work. There aren’t, however, many Aymara people on this side of the country so there weren’t any parties. Today (being winter and all) was a brisk high of 84F and low of 60F. One of the little boys at the Kinder had on a sweater AND sweatshirt under his uniform shirt. It is winter afterall. It looks like the winds are changing however and we’ll have a low of 50F by Sunday. Brrr….. Everything feels and looks pretty much the same. I took this picture today of our palm tree which apparently fruits during the winter. Madre Clara said it will grow good, edible coconuts.

Word on the street is that winter break for the schools might start July 4th. But they don’t actually declare it winter break until the weather gets cold. I guess you can do that when you only have 2 cold weeks a year. The schools aren’t heated or insulated so the idea is to stay home and keep warm. People are quite sensitive to the cold here so although it might only be 40F, it could still be a health concern for them. Tom and I on the other hand will be in heaven. Not quite as exciting as all the holiday parties to look forward to in the Northern Hemisphere, but I’m looking forward to two weeks of running and exercising without worrying about heatstroke. This solstice also marks the 1-year of straight summer that Tom and I have lived through (beginning last June in St. Louis, arriving in ‘spring’ here in Sucre, 70′s & 80′s and then 80′s & 90′s in Montero from October until now). And I have to say, with lots of experience to back it up, we still don’t particularly like summer weather.

Update: Tom just got back from class and said he saw a student with a puffy down coat, stocking cap and scarf on. It’s currently….61F. Try not to get frostbitten on the way home buddy