98.6 is healthy, no?

The forecast is for tomorrow is 37° C (98.6° F) in Buenos Aires!!!

That´s not common ...but it tends to happen a couple of times a year.

The city is on a low-level alert for babies, the old, and the sick.

For a city whose average year-round temperature is 20° (68°) residential air conditioning was not all that common.  (Full disclosure: I lived for years in a fancy Retiro high-rise that never had a/c ...if that seems 3rd world to you, I refer you to this.)  It´s only been since the advent of good, cheap units and their easy installation that a/c has approached the universal here.

So how to survive?  Yanqui Mike says, "DRINK!"  No, seriously.  Fluids are the most important thing you can "do" ...fluids help your body naturally reduce its core temperature.

Wanna give your body a welcome assist to its natural efforts ...and do it in true yanqui fashion?   ICE!  Oh, yes!  ICE!

No nationality loves ice more than we yanqs!  They say that the first request of US prisoners of war was commonly ice ...and that they really didn´t feel like they were actually going home until they could here that ethereal sound of it clinking in their glass.

No matter what your favorite beverage, duck into the shade and imbibe it with plenty of ice ...then have another.  You will notice immediate relief and it´s not imaginary.

To my fellow beer drinkers: consider the venerable michelada on days like these.  Although ice in beer is anathema to most, los mexicanos are way ahead of us on beating the heat with a tasty bev.  The salted rim could help, the lime refeshes, and the optional addition of hot pepper could make you sweat (sweating is importantisimo ...if you stop sweating in a heat wave, seek medical attention immediately) and a little booze can help you take your mind off things.

Of course, it´s the ICE that really does the trick with it´s cooling properties and the dilution of the beer´s already mild alcohol levels.  Anything other than mild levels of alcohol during a heat wave is a bad idea.

Cold water ain´t bad neither!  Cold showers are great!  Filling your bathtub with cold water for a late night dunk when you can´t sleep can do wonders.  Swimming is good ...but watch out for over exertion in the full sun.

Finding a neighborhood joint like a bar or café that feels like a walk-in freezer can be a lifesaver.  Just an hour or two in a place like that can really take the strain off your body´s fight to not succumb to heat stroke.

But ICE will do the trick as good if not better than anything else.  Trouble is that ice is not normally sold outside of gasoline stations.  Get there and buy a couple two three bags and stash it in your freezer or cooler ...and keep the icy beverages coming!  That will help your appetite, as well ...something that can become as depressed as you in this kind of heat.

Cheers,
Mike