And now it’s October [by Marta Saracho]
Fall has always been my favorite season. This year it seems to have snuck up on me without me taking too much notice. The end of October was special to me because the years that I lived in Mazatlán, my hometown, it was when the weather changed. The humidity almost magically disappeared and the temperature also cooled down. The rains stopped but the vegetation was green and lush. The ocean is still warm and inviting. The end of October and the month of November are truly unique in Mazatlán.
Here in Merida, where I live now, it has not been as magical. During the month of October we had three hurricanes visit us. Gamma, Delta and Zeta. We were also graced by hurricane Laura at the end of August. During Laura’s duration in our area it rained for 86 hours without stopping. So by the time October rolled around with three new hurricanes, we were pretty soggy. Luckily none of these last three were as big and carried as much rain as Laura did.
We thought Zeta was long gone, as it has already caused quite a bit of damage in Louisiana, but this morning I woke up to the sound of hard rain. This was unusual as I usually have time to get to the park with my dog before it starts to rain. Not today, it rained all morning. Then it rained all day. It didn’t stop till this evening. Tomorrow we will be blessed by a blue moon. Blue moons aren’t really blue, they are just the second full moon in the same month. This doesn’t happen often, hence the saying, “in a blue moon” meaning that something happens rarely. Three hurricanes in as many weeks don’t usually happen either. This season has been so active that they ran out of regular names and had to use the Greek alphabet. Luckily our area doesn’t flood, but many areas here in the Yucatan do. There are no rivers or lakes above ground in the Yucatan peninsula. Only underground sink holes that are called cenotes. These are mystical places that the Mayans used for their fresh water needs. I imagine these cenotes are completely full now, there has been so much rain. Due to the pandemic all the beaches and cenotes are closed for the time being. We were told that they might open in November. But then it will be November, and that is another story.