baby's first zonda

on tuesday afternoon, i experienced my first zonda. a zonda is basically a big gust of wind that picks up all the dirt, dust, tree leaves, and stuff in the acequias. the zonda comes from antarctica as cold, wet wind that snakes up through south america, namely chile and argentina. when the cold air hits bariloche (a resort town about 20 hours south of mendoza), it hits the flat plain and lake region and drops in the form of rain. bariloche has lots of lakes, if you can imagine. however, when the wind travels up the cordillera, or the andes, it hits the mountains (remember that mt. aconcagua is right outside mendoza), loses all of the moisture, and drops off the cordillera with incredible force and heat. this is what the zonda is. hot air rushes into the city because it comes straight off the andes mountains, which are located right behind the university i go to. there have been several zondas since i've been here, but they haven't been strong enough for me to feel. this one was different though. i was waiting for the bus around 6pm to go to class, when a huge gust of wind picked up the pollen, dust, and other debris in the road. it lasted for a few seconds, then quieted down again. a few minutes later, the same thing happened, but stronger, and lasted for almost an hour. by the end of it, several tree branches had fallen on the bus stop awning that i was sitting under and in the road, i had dirt and dust in my nose, ears, mouth, and eyes, and my clothes and exposed skin was streaky with dirt. after it had quieted down, i figured that i should still go to class, even though all i wanted to do was go home and take a shower. as i rode the bus up to the university, the city appeared to have a huge brown cloud above it. the view from the university was even more impressive, because it is located on a hill behind the park, with a nice panoramic view of mendoza. the beige cover was still there, hovering over the city, yet the wind had more or less ceased. my class ended up being canceled, so i went home early.....only to have no electricity. i helped my family find velas, or candles and we had dinner by candlelight. we just got our power back last night, apparently a sign of a pretty strong zonda. two people died in the mendoza area because of the strength of the wind and people are still sweeping the ubiquitous brownish dirt out of their homes.

 my host mom told me that lots of times, the change in pressure will make people sick, feel under the weather, or cause heart attacks! she claimed that global warming ("there's something that's making the earth do weird things") has skewed the weather, and in turn, the zonda here as well. she said when she was little, the zondas used to be infrequent, but with a noticeable spike in august. the abuelitos (literally, the "little grandparents") and the weak would suffer the most, with the highest concentration of elderly people dying in august because of the zonda. now, she said, zondas are much more frequent and strong, with this one clocking in at a 5 (on her 1-10 scale) for intensity.


so there you have it. my first zonda! now all i need is an earthquake....