As I write this I find myself smack in the middle of hot season. Ever since we first got here we have listened to the older volunteers tell us horror stories about this time of year and now that I am finally living it well, their descriptions were not that far off the mark.
No matter what you do sweating- and I mean like serious Shaq like sweating- is inevitable. Whether sitting under the shade reading a book, eating a bowl of to, or lying in your tent at night trying desperately to fan yourself to sleep the sweat will find you.
Nighttime is the worst because even though the sun has set somehow the temperature does not drop. So basically you fall asleep fanning yourself with a handheld bamboo fan and inevitably wake up 20 minutes later in a pool of sweat. Repeat this process until the sun comes up and that’s a night’s sleep in Mali! A trick many volunteers use and I must say it really does work-- is to dunk a cloth in water and lay with it as you doze off- at least this way you get about an hour of sleep before the cloth has dried and you wake up sweating again.
Crucial to surviving hot season is the bucket bath. Usually at site I take one to two baths a day but during hot season this is bumped up to five or six. There is nothing quite like the sweet relief of pouring lukewarm water all over your body to cool down. Then if you are lucky a light breeze will pick up and for a few glorious seconds you are actually cold!
In case the heat is not uncomfortable enough you also get heat rash. These raised red itchy bumps do not discriminate and are willing to cover all parts of your body and only the healing powers of Gold Bond can save you (thank mom and dad for sending it!!).
But hot season is not all bad. In addition to extreme heat it is also mango season. The markets are full of brightly colored mangos of all different types and sizes each more delicious than the last. There are so many mangos that they are sold for practically nothing. You can get 7 for 25 cfa (about 5 American cents!). I am eating so many that I am concerned that by the end of the season I might actually turn into a mango!
Finally, hot season teaches you to appreciate your trips into the city (Segou for me). Although bucket baths are great they can’t compare to that first shower followed by relaxing indoors while the air conditions rushes through your wet hair. Oh and did I mention ICE water!!
Yesterday, I was complaining about the heat to one of my friends in village and his response was —well you do live in the Africa—touché sir touché
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