Language and Culture: Hace mucho invierno hoy

When we were packing to come to Ecuador, we knew we would probably be living just south of the equator, and therefore expected the timing of seasons to be a little different. Everyone knows that in Australia, for example, summer is in January and winter is in August.

It turns out that we're too close to the equator for there to really be temperature differences in seasons. Or even seasons at all. This doesn't prevent people from using the same seasonal vocabulary that is used in other Spanish speaking countries. For example, we often hear "Hace mucho invierno hoy" (It's wintery today) and the next day "Arararay!" (Kichwa for "It's hot!") or "Que solazo" (Ecuadorian Spanish for "what a powerful sun!")

The annual chocolate festival on a wintery day in Tena, eastern Ecuador.

After living here for just over 6 months, I've finally figured out that "winter" and "summer" have very little to do with temperature. Rather, they depend on rainfall. Wet days are "winter" and dry days are "summer."

Gotta take advantage of those summer days for washing and drying sheets. We don't have a clothesline that ISN'T covered, since it rains so much.

But it gets weirder. In the coastal part of Ecuador, there is a long, very well defined dry season, called summer. The whether tends to be lightly but evenly cloudy, resulting in relatively cool temperatures. Winter, on the other hand, tends to have hotter temperatures when the sun is out, punctuated by frequent strong rainstorms.

So there you have it. Winter is hot and summer is cold. We're gonna be so confused when we move out of the tropics...

..Isaac..

This post is part of the Language and Culture series.