It's getting hot..

Thursday, June 08, 2006

I've been dreading the coming of summer months ... hearing rumors of 130 degree temperatures and sleepless nights. Until this week it has been unseasonably cool, and even rained for a few days, But... just as I was getting my hopes up that the cooler days would continue, the mercury shot back up. Thankfully I will be traveling a lot in the coming months, but here is some of the approaches to dealing with heat when you have no A/C:

1. Soaking my sheets with the showerhead before heading to bed
2. Sleeping with a fan directly pointed at me
3. "Watering" my concrete floors throughout the day (it's dry and as the water dries, it cools the air).
4. Leaving the windows and curtains open at night and waking at 5:40AM to close the windows and curtains, keeping out intense sun rays (windows point due East so the second it rises I'm awake and hot) before the sun peeks over Mt. Kisane.
5. Sleeping on the roof
6. Doing my laundry in the shower... with clothes on ... i.e. getting completely soaked. Feels great.
7. Cold showers. I ran out of butagas to heat my water, but then realized I didn't really want any more hot water for the next couple months.
8. Water! The other day I was walking home from the center of town (as in, down the street and around the corner)... as I neared home I remembered I had a 1.5 liter of water in my backpack. I immediately pulled it out and downed most of it... couldn't wait even to get home.

So... those are a few fun tips if you ever get stuck in a similar situation.

PS. My blog entry about the "Black Man, Mexican and Queer" was committed with the full knowledge of my friends. They really "are" what the titles purport, but it is all in good taste and among friends, so please understand it was not meant to offend anyone.