Holy Toledo, it is hot

You know it is hot when the locals are complaining. Two days ago, they didn’t bat an eye at 95 degrees. Today, I’ve had three locals comment on the excessive heat. It is 99 degrees and humid, with a heat index of 111. Yet what idiots decided to walk half a mile to lunch? Yup, these idiots. One of my teammates was so drained from it, he fell asleep when he went to his room to type up some notes. It is definitely overwhelming. Makes summer in Florida almost tolerable by comparison.

Even worse than the heat, apparently a sewage pipe burst nearby. When we walked to lunch, we were passing raw sewage in the streets. It was hard not to gag. We returned to the hotel and decided to check out the spa/fitness area (ok, my colleague was checking out the fitness room while I checked out the spa) in the basement of the hotel. First we noticed it was deserted, then a few steps in, we were hit with the smell. Apparently the sewage problem is impacting the hotel, luckily just in the basement so far. We quickly fled back upstairs. See, I knew exercise was bad for me!

I don’t know if I’ve ever visited a collectively friendlier country. Australia was close; India might top them.  Everyone goes out of their way to please us. It felt like a parade in my room last night: first housekeeping stopped by to see if I was happy (that was literally what he asked), then the laundry service came by and he offered to press all of my clothes for free even if I didn’t have them washed and wanted to let me know his work schedule for the week, and finally I had three workers in my bathroom to see if the cold water was working. They called to say that some maintenance work had damaged pipes and a few rooms were without hot water, could they check mine? I didn’t expect it to result in 3 visitors for 10 minutes to see that yes, the cold water was broken. I told them it was no big deal, I’d rather have that happen than the a/c go on the fritz. They felt so bad, I couldn’t get them to leave. They finally got it fixed mid-day today. Whew! Here is hoping for continued cold water (aka non-scalding showers), reduced sewage smells, and fewer visitors tonight, no matter how kind they are… 🙂