Summer in Mazatlan
Summer season has just begun in Mazatlan and will soon be in full swing. Therefore we are in full prep-mode for the slight increase in heat by getting into a routine of applying sun screen and wearing baseball caps on our daily walks, and remembering to take a bottle of water with us. We target the “cloudy” (shaded) side of the street and avoid walking for long stretches in direct sunshine. We have learned to plan a few stops on our routes where we pause for fruit at a local vendor or a quick cool refreshment at a beach bar. As of this writing we have been here for two wonderful months and have not had one drop of rain - clear blue skies and sunshine every day.
We don’t react as quickly in the summer as we normally would. Seeing as we are “year-rounders” in our retirement adventure, rather than snow birds, we have found that the warmer weather means that everything starts to slow down to a gentle pace. Our daily walks take longer in the summer. One must preserve energy and minimize perspiration during our treks. When we walk through most Mexican neighbourhoods we see people sitting under the shade of their awning or their large tree in the front yard while leaning back on chairs or rockers. Sometimes having a snooze. We try to avoid being out for too long from 11 am to 3 pm, and we try to plan our activities so we are watching things (...like the level of our refreshment going down), rather than doing things.
The world feels slightly blurry and heavy and people talking directly to us sound a bit muffled somehow (...but we suppose that could be the cerveza's...). It’s as though we are out of sync with our bodies… a very odd feeling indeed. But the most unfortunate phenomenon during this warmer weather is that our brain seems to steer us astray from time to time. Yes, it seems there has been a sign put up in there that says “Closed Due To Warm Weather" and then lays back to enjoy umbrella drinks all day… in bulk. No thinking required. That would be just fine if the rest of our body could join our brain in this type of siesta, and we must admit there are days when that happens... But, sadly, we must also continue to go shopping, pick up water, cook dinner, visit our favourite beach bar and have some semblance of intellectual conversations with our friends... we try our best to be fully functional, but we often find ourselves operating in a sluggish format, and feel somewhat over-heated until we can find cool breezes on the beach.
And, we have observed that this increase in heat hits all of us a bit differently. In addition to the over-heated year-rounders like us, there are a couple of other types of people here when it comes to the summer heat:
The Ignorer – these folks just refuse to acknowledge the upward change in temps. They are the ones powering through the hot spells like there is no tomorrow, completely ignoring heat and humidity. In response to anyone whining about the heat, their reply is always, “It’s actually not so hot... I feel fine. I can do this. I sure can.” They put enormous effort into dressing correctly in the mornings, despite knowing full well that upon arriving at their destination their attempts were completely pointless. Like the rest of us they will have frizzy hair, a bit of makeup melting down their faces, and sweat stains on their shirts. But they still say they are fine, not to worry. It feels great outside. And then they head for the beach in the afternoon for a tanning session, and still smiling.
The Complainer - hates the heat – no one is mistaken about that. These folks start sweating at the mere mention of summer coming closer. Complainers avoid any activities that could potentially cause excess sweat, and rather stay indoors most of the time with the A/C set on constant deep-freeze mode. Typical quotes from a Complainer include: “It’s soooooo hot out! Please make it stop!” and, “Why isn’t your A/C working? Can’t you make it colder in here? Please turn up the A/C, I’m dying!” These folks are typically snowbirds and try to time their comings and goings around the exact temperature turning points in spring and fall to coincide with when sweating starts and stops. They would never consider staying during the summer months. Here in Mazatlan, at least half of the expat population disappears by the end of April.
When we tell the complainers that we are year-rounders, they are always amazed that we stay for what they call the “onslaught of the heat”. “Oh my”, they say, “just wait until you start burning up in the summer”, and "are you crazy?". "You have no idea what you are in for!" Then we tell them we have gone through it before in PV and in the Caribbean, and have learned to live with it. No big deal.
What they don't realize is that remaining in the heat year-round allows your body to acclimatize so you too can become something of an Ignorer. In the Caribbean, at 12 degrees latitude, the heat was constant year round and we became some what accustomed to it. Our one year experience in Puerto Vallarta started us into the process to acclimatize. (Check out our previous post from PV: http://beachseeker2015.wixsite.com/jan-and-cyndi-travel/single-post/2015/11/02/PV-Weather-so-far). But we only used our A/C a few times when there was a combined spike in the heat and humidity.
The reality of the situation here in Mazatlan (see red line on the graph) is that the “average” high temperature only rises 4 or 5 degrees Celsius during the summer from the average high during the winter months (27 C to 32 C). It's not really that much of a feat to stay year round, even though there might be a day or two when it gets really hot, we are happy to stay right here in paradise during the summer and enjoy being a beach bum during the day and watching the stars at night. We will soon see what our first summer in Mazatlan brings us. Hopefully a lot of fun and wonderful memories, and we are mindful of preparing for hurricanes so we keep our Hurricane Survival guide handy that we prepared while we were in PV: http://beachseeker2015.wixsite.com/jan-and-cyndi-travel/single-post/2016/08/13/Hurricane-Survival