Heat

The last week of August launches a heat wave unlike anything I've ever experienced. Temperatures rise to a steady 95° F, humidity hovering around 70%, thickening the air as it pushes perceived temperatures to 115° F. Power cuts occur without warning as air conditioning units and fans overload the grid. Generators' hums fill Cat Ba Town as work continues as normally as possible through obscene heat. Although the government usually times power cuts during daylight hours so that people can sleep at night, we do occasionally wake to rising temperatures as our air conditioning fails for several-hour stretches.

Unfortunately we're without a generator at our hotel in Ben Beo, where those of us lucky enough to be on days off (read: not guiding in the sun) sprawl across hammocks and attempt to cool off in the imaginary breeze.

In typical Vietnamese fashion, the internet cable running from Cat Ba to the mainland has also sustained damage and we're already in the midst of a multiday internet blackout.

Our sole respite comes in Deep Water Solo. Luckily we have almost daily deeping tides this time of year, so we take basket boats into the bay to climb from their prows onto overhung rock before dropping into the sea. While the bathwater-warm water provides a short-lived break from the heat, it also forces us to choose between staying home or risking infection of any broken skin-- unfortunately the bay's emerald water does carry a certain level of pollution.

We climb anyway. It's the only way to stay sane.

Eating has become physically impossible. Staying hydrated proves a task in itself, as liter after liter of water simply sweats itself out of my body. By the third day, my body rebels. Heat blisters blanket my hands and fingers. Tiny scratches become obscenely infected and an ear infection begins forming. The process of trying to maintain a base level of health consumes all of my body's energy, leaving me exhausted.

I throw my hands up and turn to the island's pharmacies (of which there are many). With my Vietnamese roommate Lizzie at my side I buy a full week of antibiotics for 28,000 VND... or $1.25. Hear that, USA? That's anywhere from 2 to 10 times less than I would pay at home and 26 times less than they quoted my very ginger-haired coworker when he showed up without a local to help negotiate price for him. As the amoxicillin begins working literally within hours, I revise my opinion of Vietnam to assert that health insurance and Obamacare have nothing on this country when it comes to getting hands on prescription drugs.
______

I'll leave you with a post I put up on that sanctified Book of Face recently, which I think pretty much sums up my current experience.

In the last week:
- I've been informed with authority that I should not eat mango or watermelon, or wash my hair, while I am sick.
- After double-checking that sausage served was not made from dog, clients have asked me (in genuine concern) if dogs no longer like me because I have eaten dog meat.
- My kayakers have broken into the Jurassic Park theme song at the top of their lungs.
- I capsized my first kayak, in front of fifteen customers, while I was bailing out said kayak for customers to get into.
- I've been served purple rice wine made from sea cucumbers and sea stars. And chunky orange rice wine with bees in it.
- I bought a full week's round of amoxicillin for $1.25.- Temperature and humidity combined to a perceived 115° temperature for multiple days, complete with internet and power blackouts.

Welcome to August in Viet Nam.