Recovering from Heat Stroke in San Lorenzo

Needing to Cool Off

I was hot, exhausted and thirsty. In the morning I went to a nearby shop and downed a liter of water and a 2-liter container of maracuja, or passion fruit juice. My head and body felt hot and under the hot sun, my body temperature was simply refusing to go down, no matter how much cold liquid I poured into it. I couldn't even think of eating at that point, either. May suggested we go to her house, where there would be power. She lived in a nearby village, San Jeronimo, and we walked along a dusty dirt road to get to this small, quaint village. I lay in a hammock in her kitchen as she set up a fan to blow on me and I dozed off while she took care of some things at home. She lives at her father's house, but he spends a lot of time with the business in El Salvador, and is usually away for months at a time.

May also informed me that hopefully I could recover well from the heat, because it was even hotter in Nicaragua - she had spent a year living there and assured me that it is much hotter than Honduras. "No more century rides", I thought to myself.

At the beach in San Lorenzo

After I woke up from my nap, we decided to take a bus into San Lorenzo and go to the beach. I really wanted to submerge myself in some water, and that would be a great opportunity. We met Tiffany at a restaurant overlooking the San Lorenzo Bay. The Pacific ocean does not come directly to the town, there is a maze of mangroves and small island outcroppings throughout the bay that lead into the Gulf of Fonseca before the ocean. So the beach did not have any waves, just a tide. We sat at the restaurant and I drank as many cold lemonades and glasses of water as my stomach capacity would allow. 

View of the bay from the restaurant

 

Tiffany (left) and May (right) on a dock outside the restaurant

As the sun began to set and become less intense, I wandered off to go jump into the water.

 

View of the sunset from the beach, right before I jumped into the water.

I relaxed and submerged myself in the water for about half an hour, stepped out and got back in. As I soaked I could feel my body temperature start to drop for the first time in 24 hours, my head started to clear and I started to get in touch with the rest of my body - like how hungry I was. The three of us went to dinner and then back to May's house. This was a great, and very lazy, recovery day. I was fast asleep by 8PM.