Honduras is fantastic…. but it’s not quite paradise. We are reminded of this every time we have to face the dreaded shower. I guess we Americans are spoiled by having two knobs on all our sinks and showers. Here they have decided that one knob is all you need. Even in the city of Santa Barbara, all sinks and showers have one knob (and it’s not one of those fancy knobs that has both hot and cold!). Another thing they have dispensed with is the shower head. The “shower” is a piece of pipe sticking out of the wall with a 90 degree elbow on it. There’s nothing gentle or soothing about it.
Now remember that we are living up in the mountains, it is “winter”, and it’s also the rainy season. So, days are often cloudy and drizzly. It is not uncommon to wear long sleeves or light sweaters in the morning and evening, and the water for our house comes straight from a mountain stream. Keep in mind also that the windows and doors in our house are screen (no glass).
So, with this background, here is my standard shower routine: Get my head wet (without getting the rest of my body wet), turn the water off (because this stream of water is splattering all over the floor and up onto my goose-bumped body), Shampoo my hair and lather my body up with soap. Then for the grand finale, turn the water back on and, breathing fast and deep, get under the stream just long enough to get most of the suds off. It’s actually quite invigorating and feels great - when it’s over!
I’ve decided that daily showers are not really that necessary. In fact, two or three times a week seems plenty! We’ve also almost completely eliminated lines for the showers. We can get our whole family through in record time!
Think of all the energy, water, and money saved by having a whole country take cold showers! In fact, why doesn’t somebody suggest this to the Presidential candidates as a way to kick start our economy. Just so long as I can have at least one loooong, HOT! shower when we get back in January!
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