I just lay there as more of the day passed by. I tried to get out of bed a couple of times. I'd make it up, then see Kavitha and Monica still dozing, and lay back down. I wasn't sick, but we just couldn't seem to get up.

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We'd only been in Mali for a few days and the heat was killing us. During the day, sweat poured down my face and back just sitting still! I've had mild dehydration (water loss) before, but this was bad. The signs were clear: we were all spacey, tired, and felt wobbly.

There was a drugstore just a few doors down. I bought ten bags of special salts and five bottles of water, and carried them back to the hotel. Each trekker was given a bottle of water mixed with one special salt packet. Soon we were feeling better.

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Since then, everyone has been carrying these packets around with them, using them whenever they've been sweating a lot, and remembering to drink lots of water and eat salty foods. It has really helped -- even though the heat still makes me lazy!

We have to be very careful about the water we drink. The locals can drink out of the wells, but it's dangerous for us to do the same. Drinking unsafe water could give us any number of icky gut bugs, and leave us with horrible diarrhea or vomiting! I don't even like to think about it! Abeja