Friday, July 22, 2011

Summer in the Sahara

So it's summer in the Sahara and it's HOT!!! It's a pretty consistent 100 degrees F in my site every day, some days it pushes 105.

All of my places of work have closed for the summer, and a lot of the people in my site have left to go spend the "vacation" with their families, or traveling to other cooler and usually ocean side cities. People here often asked me if I was going home for the summer, home to America that is, and when I said no they usually responded with why are you staying here its so hot! Daily conversations with locals consist of hello, how are you? and then a back and forth on how hot the day was.

During the day it's nearly a death sentence to go outside during the hours of 12-7 because the sun is so hot. A five minute walk will result in your body dripping sweat and a feeling of such substantial thirst that you feel like you haven't drank and water in days. Plus most things are shut down between those hours so there is really is no point in going out anyways. So recently I've been spending a lot of time napping, cleaning my apt, watching tv shows on my computer and other general things to try and pass the days.

I've also been traveling out of site a lot to not only get out of the heat but also to feel useful helping out with projects that other PCVs in different sectors are doing. In the last month I've traveled to the city of amazing city of Essaouira twice. The beautiful city is located on the Atlantic coast, is about 30 degrees cooler than the rest of Morocco, harassment is low and it has rare treats like Thai and Italian food and restaurants that serve real coffee (imported from Europe).

That's about all that's been going on for the last 2 months. Ramadan starts in about a week and I plan to fast, I am both excited to experience the holiday and scared shitless about how difficult fasting will be. No water all day.... during summer in the desert... AHHHH! Apparently you are just suppose to sleep all day... exciting! Other older PCVs who fasted last year said that the first 3 days are the hardest and then your body adjusts. However, this year the first day of Ramadan is suppose to be the longest day of Ramadan in 26 years. I'll report back to let you all know how it goes. Wish me luck!

1 comment:

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