Stifling

Indian summer, or “la canicula” is 15 days without rain smack dab in the middle of rainy season, and we're a week in. It is now 1:40pm and I have never in my life experienced heat like this. I just walked home from school and passed a neighbor of mine who looked dead sleeping in the shade on the floor of his front porch, and now I know why. The inside of my house is literally an oven thanks to the low zinc roof, so here I am sitting out on my porch noticing that not a single leaf on any tree is even quivering. My cat has retreated to the shower floor that's still a little damp from my shower this morning, and if it weren't for this last bit of sanity that I'm holding onto, I'd be laying in there with him. The corner of my porch is being hit with the high sun, and I swear I can feel the heat from that little portion even here in my shady section.

The power's out, which not only means no fan, but also no cold drinks in any of the corner stores in my town, and no ice to buy from my neighbor who has a freezer. The water's out too so showering is out of the question and all I have to drink is an emergency three liter bottle of water that's been heating up for the past two weeks or so. I just dumped some of it onto a bandana, which I'm currently waving around in the air hoping to cool it off enough to lay around my neck, but I realize I'm just accelerating it's evaporation.

The people passing by my house are walking slower than usual, literally weighed down by the heat. Women with umbrellas carry their shade with them, while the kids walking home from school turn their uniform shirts into fans or hats or sweat rags. The street dogs that usually ferociously guard their territory have all given up on even lifting their heads when someone passes by. My neighbors kids who go straight from class to playing baseball in the street everyday, are nowhere to be found – surely collapsed in hammocks outback.

It's 1:55 and my bandana is completely dry again; I'm not sure it's a good idea to waste the little water I have just to wet it again. Five minutes until I have to co-plan. I hope we can do it outside in the shade. Then it's off to teach my afternoon classes and English at 6. It's only one block to the school, but there's not an inch of shade the whole way. Here we go.