Melaque had a sunset tonight.
Well, of course, the sun sets every night in Melaque. But tonight we had one of the first magnificent sunsets of the spring-summer season.
During the past month, the sunsets were fine. But they were a bit like a German Expressionist play. All script. No stage set.
For a tropical sunset to be stunning, the sky needs to be generally clear. But scattered clouds are as necessary as a telephone in a production of Sleuth.
That reflected light, as the sun slips below the horizon, needs something to -- reflect off of.
We have started seeing more of those clouds. Enough that it is apparent our season is quickly changing to summer.
And summer means rain. Lots of rain. Or, at least four months of it.
Without the rain, this part of the world would be referred to as a desert in the tropics, and not as a "jungle" -- though I find that term to be just as misleading.
The rains have already started in the central highlands. And they will soon follow here.
Unfortunately, for sunset watchers, steady rains are worse than the bland Brechtian sunsets without clouds.
But there will be some stunners, and I will pass them along as they occur.
For now, I will sit here like the good audience member I am -- and take what is offered to me on this little stage of Melaque.
