State of Affairs

It has been a while since my last posting and I thought the plethora of loyal readers who subscribe to this blog deserve to know the reason behind the prolonged absence.

It is hot. Really hot.  And humid.  The air is so thick it feels like I am drinking it.  If anyone know how to convert 35 degrees Celsius into Fahrenheit, please keep it to yourself because I don't want to know. It would only make how hot it is more unbearable.

Why does it matter that is so hot?  Glad you asked.

Over the past few days, we have explored the rainforest, visited several different schools, and traveled to a cocoa farm.  There is no air-conditioning, so after a long, hot ride wedged between my travel partners in the back seat of a 4x4 my only source of relief is a cold shower.

However, because it is the dry season, and it is so hot, water is frequently turned off. No A.C., no cold shower. What is a girl to do?

I do the third best thing, which is sweat. A lot. And then drink copious amounts of water. The only problem with sweating so much is now I have to do laundry. And there is no water.

After being in a car and out tromping around the natural landscape in 35 degree heat (Celsius) and not being able to shower or do a laundry (because it is dry season) a person is going to need to lay under a fan (these do work, at least for right now). But laying under a fan when it is hot leads to an inevitable heat coma (the fan is directly above the bed in my hotel room). So, my blogging time is eaten up by hot weather nap time. This is a familiar story for anyone who has traveled like this and not some sorry excuse for a nap.

In addition to nap time, the heat causes major storms to hit during the evening hours, which also is one of the most reliable times to access the internet (not sure why). The storms knock out the power and all forms of communication, including the internet. We had such a storm on Saturday night and still do not have power or internet (to be fair, if our power goes out in Virginia, it takes at least a few days, if not a week, to have power and internet restored).

In short, it is hot. Really hot. And that really matters at this current point in my adventure.