In two of our last three posts we have detailed some of the remarkable growth that is beginning to stir around our home. (The seemingly dead stick sprouting leaves and yellow flowers and the explosion of maracuyá flowers bursting out on our vines.)
All of nature in this area seems to be tuned into some weather cues to get ready for the annual rainy season. In the north it is easy to see the signs of melting snow and longer warmer days signaling the springtime resurgence of life and growth, but here in San Clemente, Ecuador our seasons are much less discernible.
Living essentially on the equator means that the length of our days is almost exactly the same between the longest day of the year and the shortest. (A paltry seven minutes difference in time!) And our temperatures do not vary much month to month from a normal high around 85 to a low around 70 (plus or minus five degrees or so.)
The primary difference is that during January, February, and March our area gets perhaps eighty per cent of its’ annual rainfall. Somehow the plants know that and, even before the rains actually start the plants sence its’ arrival and start sprouting new growth.
Living It Up in Ecuador 