Here where i live, sometimes in the summer temperatures reach from 115 to 120 degrees. People that live in some parts of the Mexicali Valley doesn't have electricity or even running water, so what they do to live in these conditions is:

1.- Built their house (usually made of Adobe and wood) beside a big tree (Usually Mezquite and another variety they call "Pino Salado"), in a way that the tree gives them shadow to their house from 12:00 to at least 4:00 p.m.

2.- No pavement or cement floors, that means at least a couple degrees less heat reflected.

3.- At night (it is still hot outside)they sleep on the roof of the house, they have mosquito nets and they have a bucket filled with water that they use to damp a cotton sheet and cover themselves with it.

In the city, you couldn't withstand a single week without a/c , concrete block houses radiate heat from the wall hours after the sun has disapeared, pavement streets have the same effect.

When i changed houses 2 years ago, summer kicked in and we didnt had the a/c installations ready, so (stubborn me) I decided not to seek asylum with my family and ride it out until the a/c where ready. Needless to say, it was the worst idea ever.