On Monday, my very first day teaching, the sun is shining bright and the fans are blowing hard and I drink about a gallon of water... and my upper lip and behind my knees are pooling with sweat... and then about 3pm I get a pounding headache and get a little dizzy/pukey. I manage to stay until school ends at 4 and walk the 20 minutes home where I fall onto my bed and call my manager.

Apparently I'm suffering from heat, even though I drank that gallon of cold water. The theory is that in CR they don't use a lot of salt in the food, the gringos sweat too much, and then we have to replenish using Gatorade or potato chips. I couldn't drag out of bed to go to a bodega, so I just went to sleep.

I've been drinking Gatorade every day since, and feeling much better!! Plus the weather has been cooperating by raining most days…….