"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen"
--- Harry Truman (33rd President of the United States of America; 1884 - 1972)
In order to best appreciate the upcoming blog posts, you have to get a feel for the time of year I was in Reynosa. That's what this post aims to do (See "3rd Area: Riveras, Reynosa"). The canícula is the name of the 40 hottest consecutive days of the year on the Mexican border.
Other posts of mine which illustrate the kinds of unpleasant climate conditions we experienced include: "Chilly, Muddy, & Moving", "Peace Like a River", and "Eurus", although I make mention of the weather and seasons throughout this blog as a whole.
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SUMMERTIME SADNESS
By now, the weather had become unbearably hot and we did all we could to not die of heatstroke. I can’t tell you how we did it but we did. Some days were windless, and other days the wind only blew the hot air around making it feel hotter. Our routes became a lot more zigzagged as we scampered from one tree’s shade to another. When there were no trees, we’d shimmy up against walls if only to enjoy a few inches of shade from the building against the noon sun directly over our heads. We were so desperate to keep cool that I even resorted to wearing my tan slacks in lieu of my black ones which I resorted to for the rest of my mission. We would rest a few minutes when needed but we agreed that we’d rather rest while teaching people than sitting on the sidewalk wasting precious time. After all, if we’d waited for cooler weather, we’d be waiting for months. Waiting for our circumstances to change on their own was never the solution to any problem.
I never did get sunburned (miraculously) but I knew many Caucasian missionaries who changed a few shades. It was inevitable. They had no choice. They looked like they just got out of a tanning booth; I looked just as dark if not darker. The humidity was still fierce, although it wasn’t as bad as Matamoros. We'd sweat from the top of our scalp, down our backs and pant legs, and into our shoes. The temperature transition from winter to spring was quick. All the while, everyone was dreading the impending canícula.
It's not uncommon for temperatures to get over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (as much as 40 degrees Celsius) in the summer in Reynosa. But furthermore, it always felt much hotter due to the accompanying merciless humidity and unreliable cloud cover. Keeping in mind that we were dressed in white dress shirts, ties, and slacks, you can further understand why we were so hot. Even though I had switched from wearing black slacks to tan ones, they were still hot to the touch after constant exposure to the light and heat of the summer sun. The effect they had was like a nonstop sauna for my legs which is why they stayed so pale while I rolled up my sleeves to let my arms breathe which is why they and my face got so dark. You can see where I wore my watch; if I cared more, I would have switched wrists every other day like some others did.
The Canícula (Cah-nee-coo-la) is what the Mexicans (at least in the north) call the forty consecutively hottest days of the year starting around July 24th to the 2nd of September but everyone seemed to have differing opinions as to the exact start and end dates. The general consensus of the members seemed to be the 14th of July so that’s what I went with. I used to tease my companions, “I have a feeling that July 24th is just as hot as July 23rd”. It wasn’t like the 23rd would be frosty cool and the next day would be some incredible rise in temperature. I didn’t understand why they chose a specific start to the Canícula since the months and weeks leading up to it seemed just as miserable. And the intense heat lasted longer than forty days. It seemed to last an eternity!
Although we mostly walked, the car rides which we took from time to time were just as bad because most of them had no air conditioning. The best they could do was roll the window down and let the hot air circulate through the car as it went down the bumpy dusty streets, like a hairdryer to the face. Now, I don't know how car thermometers work but I recall a particular car ride in Reynosa where the car read it was 106 degrees. I hope you start to get a sense of the intense sun and temperatures, and the darkening and thinning effects it had on our overworked, constantly sweating dusty bodies.
LOOK TO THE STARS
As for the etymology of the word "Canicula", it comes from the Latin canicula meaning "small dog" which is the diminutive form of "Canis". It's also the Latin name for Sirius, the star that represents the hound of the hunter Orion from Roman and Greek mythology. The constellation, Canis Major, contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, also known as the "Dog Star". Because the first visible rising of Sirius occurs during the summer, the hot sultry days that occur from early July to early September came to be associated with the Dog Star and are referred to some as "The dog days".
Now, I am no expert on astronomy, but many ancient myths and theologies are associated with the stars and are fascinating material to study (See "Sabbath Day Observance"). All in all, the word "Canícula" gives new meaning to the word "Hotdog".
I don't know the exact science but it's believed that the Canícula results from an anticyclone (associated with calm weather) in the Bermuda region that provokes high atmospheric pressure in the Atlantic Ocean. After June, the anticyclone arrives in the Gulf of Mexico and this hot air inhibits the formation of clouds which heightens the intensity of the already warm air and makes those weeks extra dry just before the wet hurricane season come September (See "Eurus"). This phenomenon of the Canícula is applicable for the Northern and Eastern States of Mexico and less so to the south or the west of Mexico which are notably greener.
Sometimes I would silently pray for cloud cover and cheer up when those prayers seemed to be answered, sometimes immediately. There were times that I wished we would get a little rain to cool us off and sometimes we did but it was always followed by steamy evaporation that made us sweat even more. And the dusty dirty streets of "Reynosa la Polverosa" had the potential of turning into either "Muds or Floods". I’d offer prayers regarding the weather sometimes several times a day, or even multiple times per hour. There was no harm in trying, right? Sometimes those prayers were answered. And sometimes the answers were "Try again later".
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