The rainy season is approaching, so says Paul. I have to believe him because I have no reference points of my own. One thing makes me want to believe him, and that is that everything about the weather changed during the two weeks that I was in Amsterdam.
When I lived in LA, the same thing happened: I was gone for two weeks in the middle of winter, which in LA meant that the temperature only went up to 75, not 85, and there were heavy black clouds until 11:30 a.m. Those were the big differences. But there were also barely perceptible changes like the tiny succulents that were blooming down low in the grass. And the small, washed out, easy-to-overlook blossoms in hedges. Easy to see if you didn't expect them to be there. Easy to miss if you were a lifelong Los Angelean.
The Dakar changes are somewhat the same. Perhaps because I don’t know what to expect, I experience the variation more vividly. Although we've been living by the sea, and humidity is normal, now, the humidity is way, way up. And it’s warmed up at least 10 degrees in the past two weeks. As a result, the air has become heavy. Before I left, it was refreshing. Now, it’s just heavy. Very heavy. It would be unbearable, except that the wind has been blowing relentlessly for two days. Outside, it is possible to be comfortable, even in the sun. But inside, with all the windows thrown open as wide as possible, with the wind whipping down from the roof through the central ventilation corridor of the house, there’s not much relief. It’s sticky. It’s tropical.
It’s Africa.
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