Our friends up north are not the only ones that think we’re nuts for spending a summer here with no air conditioning. Many of our friends right here in Mérida think the same. There are times I also think it. Other times, I get this perverse pride in it and think that not having AC keeps me in touch with the weather and truly connected to the tropics. Whatever. Sometimes it is just bloody hot!
So, what have I learned about living in this kind of heat and humidity? Showers, cotton, talcum. That about covers it. A pool helps a lot but it is just another kind of shower. You have to get wet or rinse off several times a day.
You’ve got to have cotton clothes, poly-whatever will fry you and give you all kinds of misery.
Talcum powder is an on/off thing. Some say it can cause ovarian cancer and some say it doesn’t. Of course, that assumes that it is a woman and she’s putting it ‘down there’ and that she has ovaries. I don’t have ovaries and I rarely put it ‘down there’. What I’ve found is that if you leave it on for very long it can cause rashes. However, there is nothing better for the short term of feeling dry and cool. So, put it on but don’t leave it on for hours. Also, don’t use just any talc, baby powder is the only one that doesn’t quickly cause you to break out.
Sometimes you sweat and sometimes you don’t. That’s another weird thing about living in the tropics. I have days that I just drip sweat all day, it can be cooler or hotter than the day before. I don’t know why that is and I have no idea how to control it. Other days, it is hot as hades but I’m dry and cool and comfortable. On the days that I am sweating like a running faucet, I’m not all that uncomfortable from the heat. I can feel hotter on days when I don’t sweat at all.
The sweat is a problem only because it gets in your eyes and drips on whatever you’re doing. The only redeeming thing is that it seems this happens to everyone and since everyone has sweat days no one seems to pay much attention.
lowering the core temp
It’s unreal how much water you need to drink when it is this hot. If you wait until you are thirsty, you will be dehydrated. I try to drink straight water but I never get enough to keep me hydrated.
I’ve come to rely on Electrolyte which has less salt than Pedialyte but has the minerals and stuff that helps you keep hydrated. I like the Coco and Orange flavor but I’ll drink any flavor. It seems to keep me from getting the muscle cramps that cause me to leap up screaming in the middle of the night. That alone is worth the price.
I also try to eat bananas daily but alone they don’t do it. I rarely salt anything and that may be part of my muscle cramp problem. I take a mineral supplement and when the cramps seem to be coming on I take magnesium as well.
Even with all these downsides, I love the heat and there is something wonderful about being so completely warm that you exude heat like a radiator.
Then, there are times like this afternoon when I just had to get wet and lay on the bed under the fan and offload heat. We call it lowering your core temp and it is a subject of conversation more than you’d guess. There is something really wonderful about diving in a pool of cool water and letting it soak into your core until you get cold.
That brief feeling of cold is about all the cold I can tolerate anymore. I think I’ve turned into a lizard.
Jeepers, it is hot down here in the south too and being so sweaty all the time is not fun….I am looking forward to cooler weather soon. Until then, the fans are saving our bacon. I love the photo of the hammock in the pool in the rain….fabulous!
I sure wish you had the inclination to post more often…your photos are always great and I love your take on life.
hey kathe
been checking out maricasa on web. really interested in finding out more about your plans for the community. 2 1/2 yrs till i can retire. thats if wallstreet doesnt figure out how to drain our pension fund. im looking for a place to hang my hat and a fishing pole. is the fishing good off the shore of maricasa?
connie
After 5 years on the beach (Pacific side) I was used to the heat …. but this year was special. Not enough rain – little weather moving up the coast – hot-hot
Water volleyball in a pool was my escape until I decided to move to the Chapala area. As much as I loved the coast … I must say this is a relief
It appears that heat has captured the imagination of we coastal bloggers. Sparks is correct: the lack of rain this year has made the summer heat almost unbearable. Last night’s rain changed that. This morning’s heat is quite pleasant.
I think the heat is on our minds because enough is enough, it is time now for it to cool off. Even Gabi the Yucateca said to me this morning that is was too hot and for too long. It’s true that having regular night rains makes it much better. We haven’t had any rain for a week and thus it is much more humid. The coast over in QRoo missed alot of rain this year – not sure about south where Kathe is – and it meant it was hotter there than over here, unusual.
I don’t know Sparks, one of the coldest Thanksgivings I’ve ever had was in Ajijic. Really cold.
Steve, I think you should rent my condo on the water in Akumal and spend the winter on the Caribbean.
Yeah, the last several days have been particularly grim — the daytime wind is nice in a way, but as in April-May, moves the ground-heated air all round — like a blast furnace. A damp blast furnace. I agree with the consensus — too little rain and the heat is lasting longer. The nights should be starting to cool off, and they haven’t been (in the last few days). Sigh.
I don’t use AC either — the cost!, but mostly I don’t like the feeling of being trapped inside, or inside one room. At night, the fans do the trick, and in the day, I just try not to move…
Sweat in eyes — that’s what bandanas are for kiddo!
It is so hot here in Progreso too. And it never rains. There are a few clouds today and I left the laundry on the line in order to tempt Chac but it isn’t working.
My husband no longer salts the food when he cooks, he says the sweat dripping into it while he prepares it takes care of that!
It’s getting colder here, Lake Erie is more grey and choppy each day. No hope until May. Yuk and sigh. I know that in a previous incarnation I was neither Canadian, Icelandic, Mongolian, Laplandish. I have the Naked Rule: If You Go Outside Naked In A Climate And The Cold Kills You, You Should Not Live There. I wish I could follow my own rule…..
We’re dying here in Mazatlán, too. It is just unrelenting this year, almost. We did have a few teaser days is all. I can’t do talcum powder, it just goes everywhere, so I just shower and change clothes several times a day. I never dress to go out until a couple seconds before we leave because whatever I’m wearing will look like I slept in it in minutes! Oh well, another few weeks for us so I can survive.
I love the photo of you in the pool in the rain. I would so love that feeling! It has been a couple of weeks at least since it’s rained here, when it comes I plan on standing under it and my expression will probably be a lot like yours!
Great photo of the hammock cooling off in the rain process. I could have written this blog, I drip all over the place too, and finally bought a head band to wear when sweeping the floors because I hate dripping all over the floor and then trying to get the broom to work properly without streaking the dirt/dust all around. The head band does work, mostly. But yeah, my clothes are always soaked – I look a mess. Time for the cooler weather to show up, or at least a better breeze.
Well, it SNOWED here (Fort Collins) last night. I agree with Rummy’s naked rule – we’re working on that. Add me to the list of folks who love your hammock photo over the pool.
I’m guessing the reason for the variance in sweat/no sweat days is more a function of humidity than temp. On the dry days you sweat as much but it evaporates (and cools you). On the damp days it just dribbles off or soaks your duds.
I love it when the Yucatecans complain about the heat too, it makes me feel less el gabacho. While we feel there is nowhere as charming or safe as Merida, we are forced to consider the central highlands, given our less reptilian constitutions…
Love “lowering the core temp” great picture. Like Stan said, snowed in Colorado, we’re scraping today. I’d much rather be on that hammock.
Jonna – Send ME info on the condo in Akumal for this winter, por favor……
BABS
Connie, look for a comment on your blog about Maricasa
Babs, off to email you