Summer in La Paz is in full swing. This is not, however, anything like summer in Ottawa or anywhere in Ontario. It might actually get warmer in Moosonee. I would compare summer here to an early May day in Ottawa. The temperature fluctuates every day from about 5 or 6C in the morning to about 12 or 15C in the afternoon. Because La Paz is at such a high elevation (3,600m), it doesn’t actually get hot and any heat built up during the day dissipates as soon as the sun goes down. But it is lovely to walk home for lunch without even needing a sweater on a sunny day. The winter will be cooler, with lows around zero at night, and the highs a little lower than in summer.

Summer is also the rainy season in Bolivia. In La Paz, that means it rains everyday, but not constantly and not torrentially. Although today did see some hail. It can rain at any time of the day, and it can last 20 minutes or 3 hours. This basically means that I always have a waterproof jacket and umbrella with me!

The rains this year have been heavier than they usually are. There is flooding in some regions every year. The Rio Grande, in Santa Cruz, a region south of here, burst its banks and 100 families were displaced. The government is responsible for responding to emergencies like this, however UNICEF is one of the agencies the government can call if they need assistance. On Thursday, we got word that the river was going to overflow either Thursday or Friday and we had to be ready to respond should we be required. I spent most of my day trying to organize with Supply where to find things like chlorine, alum, water containers, blankets, and hygiene kits. The river did flood on Thursday, and there was a meeting of all the organizations and the government to discuss what to do. The government has responded and we have been waiting to see if the flooding would get worse or better. UNICEF has basically been ‘on call’. Luckily, so far, it looks like the rains have stopped for a few days and the flooding has abated instead of getting worse. The rainy season does continue for a few months, so there is still the possibility that UNICEF could be called in at some point.

Thanks to everyone for leaving comments! I have read them all!!