Keeping cool

Pancho woke with a start. It was hot and his head felt as if it was wrapped in cotton wool. His leg had twitched and the sudden jerk had brought him back to the present sweltering heat. His brain clicked into action and with unrivalled speed of thought Pancho proceeded to act as if he was stretching. Of course he had not twitched in his sleep, he was just stretching particularly vigorously, something only well trained practitioners of vigorous stretching were able to do. Twitching in his sleep was not something Pancho did!

Opening his eyes a crack, he surveyed his surroundings. Good! Apart from a few chickens and a few roaming pigs there was nobody around that could have misinterpreted the movement. His gaze returned to the pigs with suspicion though. He had heard that they were intelligent animals. Maybe their snuffling the ground was just an act. Maybe they thought he had twitched in his sleep instead of the most apparent truth?! He maintained his focus on the pigs as they continued their act of innocence, but Pancho knew better, he was certain. It was the subtleties that gave secrets away and his most discerning eye meant that they couldn’t elude him. The way the pigs consequently ignored him was a sure sign of their embarrassment!  Ha! He had found them out. Pancho’s sense of triumph was only diminished by the fact that he now knew that the pigs believed he had twitched… He directed his considerable mental faculties towards finding a way of convincing the pigs that he had in fact just been stretching but then a more important thought entered his mind. A thick thirst had settled in his throat. Disappointed at not being able to commit fully to the pig problem Pancho diverted his attention. He squinted at the brilliantly lit dusty world beyond the shade of his mango tree and sighed. The time had come. He would have to brave the blistering heat and battle the elements to ensure further survival in this inhumanely hostile environment.

He mustered his strength and stood up to his imposing height before stepping into the glare. The sun’s rays bore down on him from directly above without mercy. He nodded to himself as his expectations were confirmed. It was indeed hotter in the full glare of the midday sun, but naturally this was nothing that Pancho’s steeled physique couldn’t handle. A few measured steps further and he found himself inside his baked mud hut, pouring a plastic cup of water. Despite the warm temperature of the liquid, bordering on hot, he drank it greedily and followed up with several more cups.  In the meantime the radiating heat off the mud hut walls meant that Pancho was turning into a true fountain of sweat. He had to hurry up unless he wanted to sweat out the amount of water he was just drinking.

When he hurriedly stepped out of the baking oven a renewed blast of hot harmattan wind hit him and evaporated the drops that had started beading and trickling down his bare chest. He had quickly learned that it was wiser not to wear a shirt during his midday breaks. It was “cooler” this way and meant less washing as well.

Ahhhh, a brief moment of respite as the evaporating sweat cooled him.

Moments later he collapsed into his chair again with a sigh. When would this blasted heat end?! The wind was still blowing from the wrong direction for the rainy season. The shade of the mango tree was nice and the frequent wind made it all the more bearable as despite its heat and dryness it cooled well by evaporating sweat almost immediately. But even in light of his superb resilience Pancho thought some cooler temperatures may just make the stay ever so slightly more bearable.

He blinked and his mind turned in circles and searcheing for something to occupy itself with. Finally his sight came to rest on the pigs again suspiciously. A smile of triumph curled across his features. The pigs were settling down in the shade for a nap of their own. Pancho would watch closely to see if they twitched in their sleep. If he were able to witness such an event it would surely even the playing field!

But before long, Pancho’s own eyelids became heavy once more as if tied down by lead weights and he dozed off. This time of course he made sure that no movements would be involved that could possibly be construed as involuntary twitching.

…Ouagadougou was not what Pancho had expected. As the capital of a country striving upwards in the world he had envisioned streets paved with finest concrete, lined with spectacular (in one way or another) tropical palaces displaying cultural artefacts of an alien culture. But what he found, as Edward III chauffered him through the streets, was a familiarity that reminded him of destinations such as Thailand or India. Ramshackle buildings, rubbish strewn streets and the glorious whiff of burning plastic in the night air. It was almost as if he was back in Bangkok again, except that the buildings here seemed a lot smaller and flatter ( they rarely seemed to stand taller than the ground level floor).

Edward III’s domicile, which they reached soon after, was not quite up to Pancho’s regal standards but with his impeccable manners he accepted what was on offer. A simple mattress on the floor was enough until he could make it to his own quarters on the following day. Edward III had already set a strict schedule for the coming days that would ensure that Pancho would acclimatise in no time. Pancho nodded appreciatively at this, he was most confident that he could manage anything this fellow could throw his way. In fact Pancho was most famous for his words that discipline and hard work were the backbone of any worthy endeavour. He said the sentence alloud and made sure to repeat it several times until he was certain that Edward III would for ever remember who had coined them.

The night brought more memories of Thailand. The sound of roosters crowing in the morning and waking him at unpleasant hours was the fondest of them all. In reality the roosters never crowed in the morning, for some reason they seemed to crow in the middle of the night, or well before the sun decided to rise, which was 5:30am in Ouagadougou.

Despite these pesky and wholly unwarranted interruptions by the rude local fauna Pancho managed to find some well deserved rest.

The following morning, more or less refreshed, Pancho was quickly ready to establish himself in the country and delve in to the plentiful work he had set himself.

He was greeted by fresh baguette with avocado and spiced and dried crickets for breakfast. This was certainly a pleasant if somewhat unexpected surprise for Pancho. Having eaten such delicacies before it was no issue to overcome his initial scepticism and truly indulge in the great taste the meal had to offer. As fond as Pancho was of dutiful industriousness, much to his liking Edward then whisked Pancho off to the research institute’s office shortly after breakfast. The office would serve as the base of operations from whence Pancho would set out on his heroic endeavours in the following three months.

Once on the roard Pancho found himself drenched in sweat very quickly. As his body began the process of adapting to the local clime Pancho’s mind was already vigorously taking in its surroundings.  Ouagadougou was a very different place in broad daylight it seemed.

It was dusty; very dusty and brownish in colour with dusty roads and dusty side roads and various things covered in dust here and there in between dusty patches of dust. Interesting, Pancho thought. Just as the dustiness of the dust was somewhat of a surprise the state of the roads was as well. Due to his expert research skills being applied before embarking on this grand voyage, Pancho had been aware that Ouaga’s side streets were not paved, but he had not been entirely prepared for the real live sight of them. They made the city look more like a slum than a capital he found. But, then again Pancho had to remind himself, as he held a most critically appreciative inner dialogue with himself, that behind the metal gate of Edward’s house, the inside had been quite comfortable and nice and considerably less dusty.

So as Edward III expertly weaved the motor cycle through somewhat unreliable local traffic Pancho felt that old and familiar tingle of excitement and delight rise insider him at being thrown into a new adventure. It was the new experience he had sought and the challenge that he looked for. Conquering this challenge would most assuredly provide Pancho with new international allies for his grand scheme of…. Ah, he was letting his excitement get the better of him. He snapped out of it and instead enjoyed the Burkinabean air(presumaby dusty as well) ripple over his face and through his hair as they rode along.

Arriving at the head office further lifted his spirits. Despite the drab and disorganised inside of the office room, it offered the height and crowning achievement and decadence of technological civilisation. The glory of air conditioning! And to top all of this off, if there was a power outage, which was a frequent occurrence in Ouaga as the municipal diesel generators that powered the city would sometimes overheat, the institute had its own backup generator that would ensure a cool and measured environment in which to maintain his most diligent work practice.

Pancho nodded in approval. This would do for his research. The deep mysteries of the Mossi plateau termites and their impact on the local agriculture would not elude Pancho for long (or longer than the allotted 3 months in any case).