Mid- August the kids go back to school and the zone is looking at the Labor Day weekend coming up knowing that it will be sleepy after the mess is cleaned up til jingle bell fever strikes at Octobers end. It will get quiet for sure but not just because the parade of traffic will diminish and the beach cabanas will empty out.
Long strings of days will advance on these latitudes when comes the languid stillness that smells of earthquake weather. Fierce afternoon downpours displace blue skies in minutes and drench the storm drains which quickly bubble out pungent streams of gray water through manholes into the streets- not the fountains of Rome but the only fountains the B*zone currently have.
There will be some boats coming into the bay looking to be nearer the mangrove lagoon at the end of the beach where it's possible to nose into the density of it all in there and if the occasion arises spider-web yourself in tight to ride it out should it come to that.
This lagoon is well known as a safe haven, really one of the few in the Caribe, and boat people know that one of the greatest dangers in a bad blow is not only from the weather but from other boats and damage they do should they get loose and tear a path through everything in their way until finally whacking into something too sturdy to move. So to hole up alone in bug heaven is the safest way to go.
The zone has been lucky. Only a few times has it gotten really nasty here owing mostly to the protection afforded my mountains to the east which take the brunt.
Skywatchers in the zone have other things to see as well. This area, for reasons more of chance than anything else, sees unusually high numbers of iridium flare activity. These are caused by the sun's rays reflecting off solar panels of low orbital communications satellites. They are predictable by those who plot the locations of the 70 or so craft in orbit that exhibit this lightshow and are an incredible sight to see.
The flares are long, eliptical, and bright and can appear to be so UFO-like as to be almost a caricature.
Combining the tenor and tendency of the general population with the appearence of lights in the sky has put the B*zone on the short list of UFO hotspots, which adds another pinch of lunacizm to the local genepool and have made a nearby lake a favorite spot for folks to go at night seeking close encounters of the B*zone kind. |
