¡Achachay! 2

The cold snap I was complaining about in my last posting has apparently been felt even more severely in other countries in the region. Ecuador, it seems, has escaped rather lightly.

In Argentina, snow has fallen in many parts of the country that seldom, if ever, experience it, and the president declared several regions national disaster areas. The cold there has been blamed for more than 40 deaths so far. The hardest hit nation in the region, however, has been Peru where more than 100 people have died of exposure and respiratory infections blamed on the extreme weather over the past few days. In Puno, a city high in the Andes, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the thermometer plunged to -23 celsius (about -10 fahrenheit), down from a normal temperature of about 8 celsius (46 fahrenheit).

What I find most surprising about the news reports from the nearby countries is that it's not just the high Andes or the coastal regions that are suffering from the cold. The jungle areas of the Amazon basin are also feeling it. The Peruvian city of Puerto Maldonado, for example, in the steamy far east of the country normally registers temperatures this time of year in the area of 30-35 celsius (85-95 fahrenheit) but this past week the city has seen temperatures plunge to as low as 9 celsius (48 fahrenheit).

Here in Quito, the end of the cold snap has already arrived and today skies were sunny. It was the first day without rain since the first of July. There is still a chill in the air but I'm hoping by tomorrow night I'll be able to stow that second comforter.