A snowballs chance in Tete

The “time of heat” has officially arrived here in Tete – which I’ve been completely dreading.  And let me tell you, this was no slow transition. Seriously, it probably went from “cool-ish” to “oh my god I’m going to die” hot  in about a week.  Fans are on full blast, heating bath water is a thing of the past, and windows are flung wide open…..except for those in the dining room and kitchen…. Someone is too concerned with dust getting in to enjoy a breeze, cough cough Eduardo.

All this heat means that mango season is right around the corner (!!!!!) and that ‘crazy thirst’ is too. Let me explain what “crazy thirst” is: its pretty simple. When you’re walking all the way back to our house or standing at the chapa stop in Matema (aka the hottest place on earth) crazy thirst hits you like a ton of bricks.  You realize how unbelievable thirsty you are, how there is nothing available to drink, how you are sweating profusely…and it consumes your mind.  It is something I NEVER felt in the states. If you’re that hot, you go in some air-conditioning or you get a glass of ice water. NADA. That’s not an option here. 

What is an option, is a can of cold Orange Fanta. Cue, what we like to call “the lesson that will never be learned.”  Here’s what happens : you’re withering in the sun at the chapa stop – praying one will stop and you can squeeze on.  Crazy thirst hits you, and its bad. You’re about 10 feet away from a number of crianças (children) peddling cans of cold Fanta. And you just can’t resist. So you flip the shoe-less 8 year old 25 mets and pop open the Fanta. At this point, it goes down in less than three gulps – and it’s AMAZING.  You feel satisfied for about 5 minutes. And then, you get hit with a second wave crazy thirst – but this time, it HAS to be water.  And that, is the lesson that will never be learned. You always drink the Fanta – and it always makes you even more thirsty that before.

Maybe you’re thinking that there has to be a solution to this problem (…. Mom).  So you suggest taking a bottle of water with you in the morning.  This will not work…. The water will be at a quasi-boil by the time you need it. Maybe you could buy some water instead of Fanta at the chapa stop? Well yes, people are there selling chilled water.  The water that they’re selling, however, is not treated….. we boil and filter all of our drinking water at home…. And this water is not.  And I’m not really in the mood for parasites, so that’s out of the question. 

I think my new method this season, will be to buy a bottle of cold water at one of the bancas close to our school. Then just carry it with me on my way home. That way, when crazy thirst hits – I’m prepared!