We decided it was too hot, so then we went straight to the cenote to cool off. All of our family and friends took a dip in the natural well and since I was wearing a hat, I decided not to wet my hair. We spent about an hour inside the cenote and then went to our hotel. I felt tired, thinking it was probably from the walk and from the temperature outside.
One of our friends was leaving so she kissed me on the cheek to say goodbye and she said that I felt hot. My eyes were burning and I did feel a little flustered. It wasn’t until later that night, that my stomach started hurting, my eyes were burning, and I had a temperature. I took a shower to see if that would help lower my body temperature and even took some Tylenol, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t until I grabbed a jug of water and placed it on my head and kept drinking cold water that I was able to lower my body temperature and sleep well. I suffered from heat exhaustion because I didn’t drink enough water and because I failed to wet my entire body, including my head when I went swimming.
The extreme heat and those hours I spent outside caused my body to overheat, especially since my body was not cooled off completely when I went swimming. Luckily, it only lasted a couple of hours and I was fine the next day. Other symptoms of heat exhaustion can include, heavy sweating, dizziness, fatigue, weak, rapid pulse, nausea, headache, muscle cramps, and cool, moist skin with goose bumps. I learned a very important lesson that day and unfortunately, it took a health scare to remind me of the importance of keeping hydrated.