Osprey - 7-24-2010 at 06:43 AM
Summer in the Southland
Summer is the time you can look forward to taking a shower without the hot water – to get a little jolt, a small chill from the first water out of the
showerhead, to feel alive and involved with the seasons.
The ice cream man’s bell is not a happy sound for me – I hear toil and desperation – twice last year I went out to the young man, bought some colored
ice I didn’t eat, didn’t want, just to set matters right between him and utter defeat. He pushes his little cart up a small hill past the now empty
Internado where he could make a few pesos when 60 some ranch kids were housed there during the school year. Now, sweating like a mule he has to stop
in the shade, sit and rest and rehydrate by eating this day’s wages.
There is a certain unique smell and rhythm and accommodation to summertime here. The town is drowned in a two month torrent of falling fruit.
Uncountable mangos clutter every yard and if they are not removed they draw clouds of flies and bugs. Humberto, who drives the one town garbage truck,
loves the season but his crew wears out their muscles and their patience hefting 100 pound containers full of leaves and garbage and rotting mangos.
The driver owns some cows which fatten up on the mangos we throw out into the dirt streets so as not to burden the poor basureros. It is a grand time
for the small groups of cows and horses that roam the village all summer getting fat on the candy-like fruit we throw out to them.
In the summer a T-shirt is a thing you grab and throw on when somebody is coming through your gate. I wear at least three a day, one or two pairs of
shorts depending on my schedule, my summertime projects with the cars, the plants, the yard, running errands around the village. My wife reminds me to
recycle the old tattered ones into rags but it seems that as soon as I retire one, I regret it, having to wear a fairly new one to change the oil in
my Trooper or fix a leak in a water line somewhere.
There are days when you don’t want to move anything but your eyes. On those steamy days iced tea with lime and sugar is my constant companion – we buy
the tea bags in boxes of 100 and the tea maker makes more all through the day as we stay wet and happy. A mister lines the lip of my patio entrance
and when the humidity falls, when the wind comes from the south, across the dry desert, I fill the patio with the cool spray. We play gin rummy with
plastic cards, dripping all over the table and chairs.
There are fans on our patio and when the heat overtakes me I walk out to the outdoor shower, get under it, come back in dripping to sit near a fan,
bring my temperature down to comfy.
Summer is swim time – need to walk the beach a little first to see if any rays or agua malas are lurking there to hurt you. Time for trips to resort
Spa Buena Vista for a dip in the pool, drinks at the swim up bar, a crisp cool salad for lunch.
When it finally rains, after sometimes a whole year without one single drop, we relish the chance to sit out in the drizzle. I just need to turn the
music up so I can hear it out there and keep my hand over the top of my drink glass. When the rain stops it is time for a quick trip up one of the
nearby canyons – now, with the water running in delicious little streams, filling long dry pools, there might be weeks or months where one can swim
and dive and wade.
There is a heavenly stillness, a certain quietude that holds the village in the heat. Most of the gringos are up north now and many of them have never
been here in the summer time.
I have not spoken of the storms. That for another time. For now, let me say the folks who live in Mulege love being there even though their lives are
changed and shaken by the storms but they will tell you it is worth it. That’s how I feel – bring the storms. Summer alone is worth the trouble.
woody with a view - 7-24-2010 at 06:47 AM
sounds just like in my imagination.......
i LOVE summer!
Udo - 7-24-2010 at 06:52 AM
Non-Fiction works were well with you, George!!
The last three paragraphs brought out the poetic side of you. One can feel what you are writing.
Thanks for this piece to inspire the rest of us.
Iflyfish - 7-24-2010 at 06:55 AM
I think I am going to go make myself a nice cold gin and tonic! You captured the mood and essence of it, the stillness of it, the interminable swelter
of it. I'd take my hat off to you, but need what ever shade it provides.
Iflyfish
wessongroup - 7-24-2010 at 06:59 AM
Thanks for getting me to read again.. 
you guys are a tuff lot... but, from the pictures and stories .... and can relate to "sticking" it out durning the
summers ...
Udo - 7-24-2010 at 07:03 AM
Fish:
does gin & tonic go well with eggs at this time of the morning.
This morning I fixed blood sausage and eggs for my desayuno, served on a cheese-filled arepa. The coffee was freshly roasted and ground
Costa Rican, which I'll share with you when I'm down there permanently.
Russ - 7-24-2010 at 07:23 AM
EXACTLY
Russ - 7-24-2010 at 07:28 AM
Very well written. I could never put words together like that.
At the risk of repeating myself.....
[Edited on 7-24-2010 by Russ]
Up in the canyons
Osprey - 7-24-2010 at 08:00 AM
Here I am above Santiago at the waterfall.
bajabass - 7-24-2010 at 02:34 PM
I did a little writing in school, and some poetry
, during my early 20's, though
the words did not flow as do yours Osprey. A hint of what I'll be feeling in La Paz next summer. I think I'm going to need an industrial ice
maker!