Sueters

Sueters

8 February 2006 LIVING, Interviews & Editorials, Art & Local Culture 6

No, it's not misspelled. The Spanish word around here for sweater is sueter, believe it or not. Pronounced the same way. It's one of those words they just didn't have in the language, at least not in the Yucatan.

Yes, Virginia, once in awhile it actually gets cold enough in Merida to wear a sweater. Working Gringa is wearing a sweater (okay, it's a cotton sweater) right now as she types. And long pants. And if the dog didn't have a penchant for taking them off of her feet, she'd be wearing the fluffy leopard slippers that her daughter left behind. We sleep at night without air conditioning and with a blanket... or two. For the last week or so, the temperature at night has gotten down into the 60's at least. Maybe even below 60.

Now to those of you living in the great Northeast or the Rocky Mountains, that may seem almost tropical. And it is, by definition, since this is the tropics. But when you've lived here for a while and you are used to the heat, the mid 60's feels cold.

Another thing we've noticed. While it slows them down a bit, the cold weather doesn't deter the mosquitoes.

We used to laugh when we saw Yucatecans wearing sweaters on a nice warm evening in January. Now we're them.

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