Some nights, it is so hot here that I just lay in pools of my own sweat, trapped inside my mosquito net, waiting for breezes that never come through the window, and want to die. There seems to be no escape, especially as I live these moments. As of now, I can find no position that combines the comfort of being able to sleep with the most effective way for sweat to drip and evaporate off of my body. Every time I move, my body seems to think I’m switching into “exercise-mode,” and turns on the cooling system. For this reason, I lay on my back a lot and take great care to contemplate any movements, lest I ruin any progress I may have made in the previous five minutes towards being not sweaty.
Thies isn’t known as being the hottest place in Senegal. Heck, Thies isn't known as being very hot at all. But, compared to America, it is still pretty hot here. And my room is especially hot, due to unfortunately placed windows and my current cheap refusal to invest in a fan. Usually there comes some point in the night where the heat breaks – the temperature in my room finally dips, or a large breeze really shakes things up, or maybe I just sweat out my fevers, I don’t know. This usually happens between 11pm-1am. And then I sleep.
But the other night, the lapse never came. So I just layed in my bed, hoping and waiting and sweating and chugging oral rehydration solution, until 4:30am. This was unfortunate, because I was scheduled to meet my tutor and his bike club for a big ride at 6:30am. I was a little intimidated by the biking club, mostly because I had no idea what was going to happen and whether my body was capable of riding a bike farther than 5 miles. When my alarm went off at 5:45am, I thought about my options.
- lay in bed and enjoy sweet, sweet sleep for maybe one more hour before my family started making noise, but remain intimidated of the biking club forever
- go on the bike ride and finally know if I have what it takes to be a member of the biking club. Also, become so exhausted that insomnia won’t be a problem the next night!
So I made my choice! I decided to drag my weary body to the biking club in the twilight of the morning on one hour of sleep in a state of delirious dehydration and go on a 34km recreational ride in hopes that I would emerge from the experience a stronger person with the ability to sleep at normal hours.
And biking club actually ended up being really fun! Picture this: an English teacher, a doctor, a gynecologist, and me, all riding our mountain bikes around the Senegalese countryside. Actually here, I have a picture:
Occasionally they chatted and gossiped, and when they started talking about some crazy guy they know with three wives, I chimed in that I have three husbands in America: Lil Wayne, Obama, and Akon. The first half of the ride was directly into the wind and mostly uphill, which is the best way to do an out and back ride. Our destination turned out to be a water retention basin in a town called Mont Rolland. So we got the basin, looked at it, and then turned around. I was told that the basin has fish in it.
The return trip was extremely pleasant – mostly downhill with the wind at our back. I felt good. And I was so proud of myself when we made it back to Thies! It was my longest bike ride to date IN LIFE and I did it under less than ideal circumstances.
Then I returned home, took a shower, made some oatmeal, and proceeded to fade in and out of delirium for the rest of the day. I wanted to die because I couldn’t stop sweating and I couldn’t form sentences and my family told me I was pale and bloodshot and I should go to bed but I couldn’t sleep because I was too hot and sweat was just dripping off of me. And in these hours, which lasted until dark, I wondered if the biking club had been the best decision, because I am pretty sure I was suffering from self-imposed heat exhaustion.
So I don’t know if I’ll go on another biking club excursion. Maybe if it’s after a night that involves sleep or general good health. Maybe I’ll wait until the hot season is over. Anyway, hopefully the English teacher, the general practitioner, the gynecologist, and I will be best friends forever!
Until next time!
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