Those of you who know me well know that Peace Corps has pushed my bedtime back from around 10:00 pm to 8:00, the same bedtime I had when I was 6 years old. So what am I doing awake at the witching hour?
Over the past two weeks or so, I have begun to look forward to bedtime with all the anticipation of a root canal. What used to be a time to relax and let go of the stress of the day has become my personal hell. You see, up until today, it is hotter than Hell at night, an unbearable humidity that leaves me sweating til about 2 a.m. But far worse than the heat are what seems to me like the millions of mosquitoes that come out to play as soon as I turn off the lights. When it first goes dark, I can hear the chorus of a legion of them whining high above my head. Within about 10 minutes, the high-pitched drone I've come to dread is a whine in my inner ear, and they are starting to nip at any exposed skin. While I usually cover up pretty well, they feast on my face, fingers and toes.
So between the heat, the itching, and the buzzing, the eight hours of restorative sleep I used to enjoy have become an intolerable stretch of tossing, turning, slapping, cursing and scheming of ways to get a Peace Corps-issued mosquito net out here without actually having to go to the office (an 8 hour camioneta ride).
If you're worried about diseases that the little buggers carry, don't. I'm taking my malaria medicine every day, and the species that carries Dengue only go on the hunt during the day. If you're worried about my sanity (even "harshly interrogated" terrorists are allowed to sleep more consecutive days than me--Uncle Sam lets them doze off after 11 days, if you're interested) that is probably a valid concern, and all I can say is, We're working on that.
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