Note to Self: Beauty and Ugly seasons in Yucatan Mexico

- March 26, 2023

I had a drone aerial friend come a few days ago and take some updated aerials for me so I could see the riding trails that we've worked hard on clearing the past four months. Obviously, you get a different sense of perspective from a "bird's eye" view.

After we were finished and I was reviewing them on my computer, and it dawned on me how ugly much of the land is right now. Much of it, away from the oasis of my home, is brown and looks bleak or dead. And then I realized, it's because most of the trees have dropped their leaves.

The seasons here are much different from the USA. I jokingly tell people that Yucatan has 3 seasons. They are Not-so-hot, Hot, and Very hot. Now the locals think that the "not-so-hot" season is winter. It's funny to gringos because it simply means the daytime temperatures are usually in the high 70's to low 80's, (F) and the nighttime temperatures are in the mid 60's. In the USA I guess we'd call that spring. But here it is winter and the people wear hoodies, and sweaters and layers of clothes because its so "chilly". Since I wear shorts or swimming suit all the time, the only difference for me is that I might wear a t-shirt, whereas in the hot months I walk around bare-chested.

The not-so-hot season here, coincides with winter in the USA and goes from mid-November thru about mid-February. Then, toward the end of February, it starts to warm up again, and many of the trees drop the leaves. By mid-March, they are stripped bare if they are going to shed them. That's where we are now on March 26. Next month, April, and then May, will be the too hottest months here, and then in June, begins the hot and rain season, until the end of October (coincides with the hurricane season in the USA.

I looked back at aerial photos I'd done back in May of last year, and then September, and again in January. All the trees are green, and full of leaves and beautiful. But for now, I've learned, March is not the time to have guests come to enjoy the "beauty of Yucatan". ha ha. It's a wasteland.

I'm anxious now to see when the leaves return and how long the trees are bare. I know they will be beautiful again by the end of May, but perhaps it will come sooner. Coincidentally, now I also have a mental marker in my mind for the absolute bleakest period. The Equinox was 5 days ago on March 21. On that day the sun was directly over the equator and is in the process of making its northerly trek back to the north for the June 21st Summer Solstice in the USA. The sun will be directly overhead here in Yucatan twice each year. The first time is about a month before the Summer Solstice, and then again, a month afterward.

Here is an aerial directly over my house and corrals on about May 21, 2022