The tropics and its inhabitants are often misunderstood. This is what I have recently realized.
Up until now, I have more or less thought that I live in the hottest place on earth (apart from the desert, of course). Surprise, surprise. I do not. I don't exactly know why I thought that way, but I do have a hunch as to why.
For one, people who live in places with four seasons think that you
do live in the hottest place on earth. When you come into contact with them, then you begin to think that they might be right. After all, they do have winter, spring, summer, and fall (
all you gotta do is call). It must be really better there! But, that frame of mind lasts only until you experience first-hand the scorching heat that comes after the oh-so-cold winter and the cool-and-breezy spring. That's when you come to know what it's really like. Yes, I've lived in the Philippines for my entire life, but I've never experienced heat as I experience it now here in Japan. The sad thing is, everybody thinks I'm A-okay even if in reality, the heat is driving me crazy.
Every time it's been really hot here and I complain about it, I always get: "Hey, you're from the Philippines, isn't it hotter over there?" or "Isn't it like this in your country?" In other words, they're thinking: "What are you complaining about? It's probably hotter where you're from." That is not necessarily true. Upon consulting the ever-reliable-and-accurate
CNN.com/Weather, I've seen that places that have killer winters can also have killer summers. Now, in the back of our minds, I'm sure we all know that. But we really don't think much about it. It comes naturally to think that places which are hot all year round win the heat scale. Hmmm, not a very wise move. It's not as if we add the temperature for every day of the year and sum them all up. If we did that, we all know who'd win. Yes, the Bedouins in the desert will get the trophy!
A lot of people also think that they'll just die, or melt, if they go to the tropics. You should know that it's nice and breezy in the islands. I can surely tell you that it's not like the hot breeze of Tokyo that just seems to swallow and drown you in its hellish mugginess. At least, we still have (some) trees, and not every single patch of ground is covered with cement. Believe me, that matters a lot. If you're really scared of the
sunny, tropical sun, but have been to Tokyo in the summer and are now still alive, don't worry. I think it's safe to say that if you go to either the Philippines, Indonesia, the West Indies, or any other bright, tropical archipelago, you will not die, melt, or spontaneously combust just because of the heat. However, if you've lived in the South Pole your whole life and one day decide to get on a plane to Manila in the middle of April... well, that is another story.
A while back, one of my teachers here asked the class if we wanted to have the airconditioner on, and then turned to me and said: "Or maybe you're used to it." Hmmm. By this they mean: "These tropical folk like the heat." I dare say, we do not like the heat. We put up with it because it's there, but it doesn't mean that we don't want to use the airconditioner if it's available 'cause we are used to the heat anyway, and we might get cold if it's turned on. In fact, here, I'm always the one who turns on the airconditioning. I'm always the one who lowers the temperature on the thing. Come to think of it, among the people I know, I'm the only one who brings a fan almost regularly. Really, we don't like the heat! We're just plagued with the blasted thing.
I reckon this "used to the heat" stuff is a kind of racism, really. Or maybe it can be appropriately called
meteocism (if you'd let me coin the word)?
While it is true that a lot of tropical countries are third-world (I have no idea why such is the case, what do you think?), and even if we are often underestimated and misunderstood, it's still all good! After all, where else can you: frolic in sandy beaches all year long? Or plant all those pineapples? Or never have to wear those bulky wool coats? Most of all, where do you live to get that year-round tan (that everybody seems to want nowadays, even though they look horrible in them)? Yes, from now on, I will never ever use whitening products anymore! I just realized that,
tropical is best!
