Here is how one fellow put it, when we asked what the weather was like where he was living, “January, January, March, March, March, June ….” Trying to make sense of the weather is definitely an area we have in common with everyone wherever we have traveled on our Home Assignment. We often hear people tell us “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change.” Almost everyone says some form of that, thinking that they are unique in this assessment.
But, we don’t often say that in Colombia. When we first got to Colombia we soon adapted to the consistency of the weather – a nice fall day, everyday, in Bogota. We have never looked up the weather report for any Colombia city where we have lived or are traveling to – not for 5 days, 10 days, never. It either rains or it doesn’t, thus affecting temperatures slightly. Regarding rainy seasons and non-rainy seasons, mankind is affecting the weather. We often are surprised to find that it is raining so much when it didn’t do so last year. Or we are surprised to find out we are in a drought when it should be raining. Yet, overall, the weather is constant and it either rains or it doesn’t.
When sharing about the weather and the climate in Colombia, instead of saying we have four seasons, we like to use the cities or areas as examples of the seasons you are used to. Each region is a season of the year (as we know them in North America) the coast – Cartagena, Barranquilla, Guajira, Monteria are like summer days, whereas Medellin, Cali are eternal spring days. Bogota is the fall weather. The higher mountain cities – Pasto and Ipiales are like mild winter days (without the snowfall). So, depending on where you are will determine what weather you can count on finding. As for us this year, we have been looking for a string of consistent, spring time weather. I don’t know that we will find it, because we haven’t found it so far. Have you?
