My Journey With Health And Fitness – Dealing With The Heat

I had a great new experience today. My taxi driver found a place for me to go and get my nails done. My last experience here wasn’t great so I wanted to try something new. The woman has a salon in her house and of course speaks about as much English as I do Spanish. And so we both spoke our own version of Spanglish! We managed to get through the nails part and she did such a good job I had her do a pedicure as well. Definitely will have her do my nails again.

Of course it has been hot the entire time I have been here in Playa del Carmen. We are at the point now where the low for the day is 25 degrees Celsius and the highs into the 30’s. The part though that I have problems with is the high level of humidity. Now first of all when you have thick, curly hair like mine humidity is your enemy. Fortunately I have managed to find some hair product that seems to help keep it under control. Because of the humidity you walk around dripping sweat all of the time. For that I always carry a cloth with me so that I can wipe myself off. As well, I travel with a hand fan so at least I can pretend like there is a breeze.

But with this kind of heat/humidity there is also physical problems but I have learned how to deal with them. Pretty much within a week of getting here I always come down with dermatitis around my eyes. I’ve learned that as soon as I see it starting I need to begin treating it with some hydrocortisone cream. Usually 2 -3 days of that cream and all is good but if I wait to start using it my eyelids become puffy and red and my eyes won’t stop watering. Normally as soon as the dermatitis starts so does the heat rash. This really tends to take off in the crook of my elbows but will often run all the way down my forearms. Fortunately, the same hydrocortisone cream will take care of it as well.

The final thing that has happened a few times is heat blisters around my lips. I think these are the worst for being in this heat because not only do they hurt but as they start to heal they look horrible. I keep medicated lip balm down here because that seems to help them heal. It also keeps them moist so they are a bit less painful. Sadly I find with these that by time you realize they are starting to form you are already screwed.

Now I admit there is nothing preventative I can really do about any of this. We are cognizant of the electricity cost here so we avoid using the air conditioning except at night in our bedroom and in the living room when I am doing a workout. We instead open up all the doors and windows (all of which have screens) so that we can keep air flowing through the condo. We do make sure to keep on hand medical ointments (including topical antibiotic cream) which pretty much will cover everything for us.

To be honest, if the trade-off for these heat ailments is to be able to be sitting at my laptop typing this blog with a view of our park with the palm trees swaying and a pool 10 steps off our back deck then hell yeah I’ll deal with the ailments.