Las Lluvias- The Rains

I arrived in Mexico the same week the summer rains started in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit. Subtropical climates with their dry and rainy seasons are far different than our weather in Canada where six weeks without rain is a significant drought. Here it rains only in the summertime, from about June to September which coincides with hurricane seasons on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

My parents' home at the start of the rains. Things are much greener now.

The three hour drive from the airport in Guadalajara to the home of my family near Tepic was very wet as we drove up mountains into the clouds and then down in valleys with lightning and rain descending on the slopes above us. The temperatures in Tepic were hot and the humidity very high.

Early morning...This is the same direction as the sunset picture below

Morning mists rose from the ground until they were burned off by the sun. The surrounding sugar cane fields had been harvested and with the rains, the brown landscape became greener every day. My brother has planted hundreds of trees and plants on their five acre property and the flowers were beautiful.


Very early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I walked outside after a thunderstorm and a full rainbow stretched across the valley over the city of Tepic. Ten minutes later it was gone but it was a great way to start a new day.

San Pedro, Coahuila

Our daughter lives in the north of Mexico in the state of Coahuila. The area is part of the Chihuahuan Desert and rain may not fall for a year or more. Dust storms are more common than rainstorms. It was very hot here too, and the air so dry you didn't sweat but just evaporated. One day at noon, while we were at the main town square, a downpour started and most of the children who were gathered for a festival ran for shelter. But a few ran happily in the warm rain which did cool the temperature significantly.


Clouds bring rain and they also create spectacular sunsets. I took far too many pictures of the evening light over the mountains in front of my parents' house but each moment was different and better than the last.

In Canada we often experience dreary, grey, rainy weather for days on end. The rain in Mexico was present each day but the sun always came out when the storms moved away.

Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
Sing praises on the harp to our God,
Who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who prepares rain for the earth,
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

Psalm 147:7-8