I mean really sweaty!
It’s 1:08 am. I have awoken to my body dripping with sweat. My sleeping bag, which serves only as a sheet between me and the mattress, is drenched. Despite being in an open air hut, with the sound of waves rolling into the rocky shore below, the air is still. A hopeful walk under the clear and starry sky didn’t help at all. As I struggle in the dark to key this memory into the iPad, I constantly adjust to keep my limbs from touching my torso or each other.
Yesterday was 32 degrees. The weather app says it felt like 36, however my body registered a much higher number. Our day began with a 2km hike up to the agro-forest to plant saplings. After clearing brush with a machete and digging with a 4 kilo piece of rebar for 90 minutes in the morning sun my clothes were sopping. It certainly didn’t help that I was wearing pants to prevent insect bites.
And that was just the start.
Between the various activities throughout the day, there were three changes of clothes, at least three showers and one swim in the ocean. When I arrived to my cabin at 9pm, having barely moved for 3 hours, I had to, once again, hang my clothes to dry.
Today will bring more of the same as we are hiking to collect bird and reptile data. Our accommodation will be an old church floor at the top of the island after a sweaty night-hike to find nocturnal critters. (More details on this in a future post).
And, I can’t wait! Sweat is temporary, these experiences and memories will last for a long time.
Perhaps I should get some sleep now. I’ll be up early to hang my sleeping bag.