Dew Points

OK maybe I’m trying too hard with the witty titles. The Dew Point is the temperature when the air can no longer hold it’s moisture and cloud or fog forms. I once had a small airplane so I had to learn that stuff. It doesn’t mean I can control it in any way, and my luck with moisture has not been good of late.

Only three week ago I went on the highest like on the Sunshine Coast of BC – a gruelling two hours straight up with the reward being an endless view going all the way from Vancouver to Squamish. Great workout except the last 50 meters were on the wrong side of the dew point and I could see my hand and very little else.

Rio isn’t a dry climate. It’s hot and humid and unlike the Athletes’ Village where you can get your laundry done whenever you want, we at the hotels neither have the facilities for laundry of the time/transportation to get it done yet we sweat like everybody else. We all develop our tricks and I always have low suds laundry detergent with me. A sink or recycling bin can serve as a laundry tub if need be.

But the stuff just won’t dry which complicates matters. I find that I am luckier than most because my window faces east, so I get morning sun. I hang my clothes on the back of a chair or a hanger and place them beside the window then close the curtain over them creating a nice little greenhouse et voila! Not the glamorous part of the games, but the show must go on, and not in a smelly way.

My other adventure with the dew point is when I accompany a group of our sponsors to the Sugarloaf, a 300 meter rock coming right out of the ocean and the location of the third tramway ever built in the world. Cable cars have been going there since the early 20th century. Unfortunately, this sight below is what awaited us. No view for us, and a somewhat uncomfortable ride for the two participants who hate heights.

We ate at the restaurant at the top of the intermediate hill and of course the clouds cleared once the sun set. We did get some magnificent night views of downtown Rio, with the brightly lit Cristo Redentor statue keeping watch over the city.