hot and dry

It’s hot again. 1pm and 35.5’c or 96’f in my bedroom.

And it hasn't rained more than a passing drizzle in over three months. The drought obviously has serious consequences for farmers and herders and such. Recently there has been a huge growth in wildfires here, and Tacuati has been the hardest hit district in the country. The fires may have started as the typical burning/cleaning of the fields, but with the winds and driness have quickly spread to consume thousands of acres and millions of US dollars worth of countryside. The air throughout the whole country is smokey (it kind of reminds me of the smog in LA) and it was hard for me to breathe well when running a few days ago. A little kid came into the office Thursday to tell Noemi that her chakra (field) was burning. She called her husband who had left town, he said he'd make some calls and try to find someone to go visit the chakra, but even so, what would that person be able to do to save it? Throw a couple thermoses full of water on it?? There are firefighters that have come in from Concepcion but they don't have any where near the equipment necessary to do anything to stop the fires. Someone also explained to me the damage the fires can do to livestock - the cows won't die, they're smart enough to run away from the fire (as much as they can within their fenced in grazing area), and when the fire comes close they'll move to the area that's already been burnt. But then they have no choice but to burn their hooves, which get infected and blistered and can't really be treated, and even if they survive that there's no grass left for them to eat. I'm not sure exactly how it'll play out, but the economic consequences of this drought and wildfire season could be pretty severe.