We're not the only ones who talk about the weather!

It should go without saying that Brazil is big. To plagiarise Douglas Adams, "Brazil is big; really, really big; you just won't believe how mind-bogglingly big it is! I mean, you might think it's a long way down to the shops, but that's nothing to Brazil!"

Being such a large country, and with its north-south axis being particularly large, there is considerable difference in the weather from the north, which is equatorial, down through the tropics, and in the far south is only about ten degrees closer to the equator than England. It's also got a huge variety of biomes: Amazon Rainforest, Cerrado (savanna), Atlantic Forest, Caatinga (dry scrubland), Pantanal (wetland), and Pampa (grassland). It is mountainous and coastal, flatland, and with great lakes and rivers (not just the Amazon).

One of the perks of equatorial climes is that the weather is very predictable, and with very little seasonal variation. Patterns of predictability in weather are what we call climates. The further we get away from there, and the more variety of geographical feature are in proximity to each other, the more complex and unpredictable your weather becomes. For us, this led my geography teacher to tell us "Britain has no climate, only weather."

Goiânia is not quite that, but it is not easy to predict it here, either. One of the curiosities of the weather here is the way that rain can be very highly localised - you can watch intense rain showers moving across the city without ever getting a spot of it yourself.

Being so far inland, the humidity is generally lower here than in Britain, unless it has rained recently. During our stay, it often rained overnight, although we did get to experience some heavy rain during the daytime. Not truly intense Brazilian rain (which can quickly overwhelm all drains and turn the roads into undriveable rivers) but more intense than we usually get in Britain.

I was fascinated by the Brazilian roofs and guttering systems. Most buildings have interlocked layers of U-shaped terracotta tiles, sometimes stuck together with a terracotta mortar. Instead of downspouts, there are often just an inch or two of downward pipes, which then have chains hanging from them to guide the water to the drain. This has the added benefit of being very difficult to clog up with the usual gutter detritus.

We visited the mother of one of our hosts this week, on the twenty-somethingth floor of an apartment building. The elevator took us straight from the parking garage into the flat itself - one apartment per floor, and the lift controls require a fingerprint check to access each floor. The view from so high was beautiful, especially as the city zoo (which looks more like a miniature jungle) sits in the centre of a large group of residential high-rise buildings, like a Brazilian Central Park.

When we arrived the sky was blue, and we had brought swim-wear and towels to make use of the lovely communal pool. The spectacular view was darkened after lunch, however (which in Brazil is almoço, and the main meal of the day) and soon we were treated to Brazilian rain and lightning. We at first went out into the pool area to experience the rain, but returned when the lightning began - apparently injuries from lightning are not uncommon here.

After a while, although the lightning moved away, new booms began to sound very close. When we got back upstairs, we soon saw why: the rain had caused branches from a tree at the edge of the zoo to bend down and contact the overhead power lines. The first contact had caused a great flash and bang, and cut off power for part of the neighbourhood, and the explosions were repeated every time the power company tried to reset the system. When the rain abated, hi-vis-wearing utility workers turned up to clear the branches away and restore power.

It was really rather exciting! But the rain soon cleared away, and we were able to enjoy the park and wildlife and outdoors on the same day as some of these torrential downpours. The rain may stop traffic here, but only briefly, and life continues!