Panama Forum

volcan357
Joined 2013
Posts: 1681

10 years ago

Mountains vs The Beach

10 years ago

This topic has been discussed before but I thought I would bring it up again. I have lived in Volcan (1400 meters in elevation) for 14 years except for a brief period in Concepcion which is close to sea level. Yesterday in the morning at 9 AM it was kind of chilly (66 degrees F) but I needed to do some shopping in David so I left for David. When I got to David it felt like I had entered a hot oven. I am sure the temperature was at least 95 if not hotter. The thing is that living in David is very similar to living on the US Gulf coast (Pensacola, FL). Sometimes at the beach there is a breeze but not always. Once I went to Las Lajas and pitched a tent on the beach. It was very comfortable with a nice breeze off the ocean but around midnight the breeze abruptly stopped and it got too hot to continue sleeping. In addition thousands of no-see-ums came through the netting of the tent so there was no more sleeping that night. I have bought several maximum-minimum thermometers to check the temperatures here in Volcan. When I got home yesterday I saw that the temperature had reached 80 degrees F during the day but by evening it had dropped to 68 degrees. The low last night was 61 degrees F. In my living room the low was 72 degrees F without either heat nor air conditioning. So what you have here in Volcan is lows in the mid-fifties to the lower sixties and highs in the upper seventies to the mid eighties. The good thing is that we have these temperatures 12 months a year. In the rainy season we usually only get sun in the morning as it rains in the afternoon. It is very important in Volcan if you are building a house to have lots of windows facing the morning sun. Since the floor holds the heat your house will stay a very comfortable temperature. It is also very important in Volcan to have the first floor of your house a couple of feet above the level of the ground which helps keep the house dryer. A second floor if you have one is a lot dryer and is a good place for your office and to keep your books. If you like the ocean you can always go there on day trips. The climate of Volcan is warmer than it was when I first moved here. All the locals will confirm this. I don't know whether this is due to global warming or local deforestation but the climate is definitely warmer. Actually to me the slightly warmer climate is more comfortable. During the wettest months of the year some people like to use a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier adds a slight amount of heat to the house which is not a problem because outside when it is real humid it is also slightly cool. Some people think it rains too much in this area but I like the climate here. Years ago I spent time in Guadalajara, Mexico which is a similar elevation as Volcan but much dryer. In the dry season everything turned brown and the trees lost all of their leaves. The last couple months of the dry season everything turned to dust which covered everything inside your house with dust. Volcan is attractive because of the greenery so I prefer to put up with the rain. Even in the wettest months we usually have beautiful sunny mornings.

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