Phase change coolants (
vapor-compression refrigeration) are interesting. The current ones I know about (other than water) are nasty and/or flammable, but chemists are hard at work trying to find new ones.
Swamp coolers use water exactly like that. As sunlight and ambient air vaporizes the water from a fabric, that vaporization absorbs energy, lowering the temperature of the damp fabric. The solid-liquid transition can store even more energy: just think of how ice keeps stuff cold so well.
(You don't need to heat the water to 100°C to get some of it to vaporize. Vaporization starts at temperatures and pressures where water becomes liquid; at boiling point, vaporization becomes complete.)
I was going to waffle a bit about how there might be a refrigerant suitable for human use, but then I realized, we already do.
If you want to make a portable human cooler, put a fan, some blocks of ice, and netting to trap the humidity, into an enclosure; so that the fan pulls in dry air from outside, pushes it past the ice, and the loose netting traps excess moisture; the air blowing out is nice and cool. Ta-dah!
It isn't going to win any awards for energy efficiency, but who cares?