Scrub Scrub Scrub, Rinse!

There are few things more satisfying than watching a stubborn grass stain disappear from your jeans as you hand wash them out in the sunshine with a cool breeze blowing and tropical birds chirping in the background. Hahaha I realize that sounds hilarious to those of you who know me and know how much I despise any kind of domestic labor, but I really mean it! I actually find it relaxing to spend an hour hand washing my clothes here! It's an hour when I'm visibly occupied, and therefore don't need to justify where or when or why I'm going to be doing something. Depending on the hour, I either get to listen to the birds playing in the trees, or the neighbors blasting their reggaeton, or to the kids playing baseball in the street, but sometimes I just tune everything out and let my mind wander.

After my first one or two times hand washing, I started to get the hang of it thanks to my host sisters patience, even if they did laugh at me as they taught me. I didn't really start to like it though, until recently. Now, I continually impress myself with my ability to really get things clean. It's true what all the women here say, hand washing really does get your clothes cleaner than using a washing machine!

For those of you who are having trouble imagining what it's like to hand wash clothes in an outdoor lavandera (clothes/dishes washing contraption) I will try my best to explain it for you. Here's a picture of the one in my new host house, which is in my back porch area.

Generally, the right side is used to wash dishes, and the left side is used as a drying rack, as shown in the picture. In order to do laundry therefore, one must simply remove the dry dishes, and voila! a space for washing clothes! The water is (obviously) stored in the pila, or sink basin in the middle, and in order to use it, one must use the tupperware bowl to scoop and pour over the dishes or clothes. It then drains out of the drain in the corner, unless one is washing clothes and therefore plugs the drain with either a corncob or an old sock, depending on who's house you're at. For soap, there are a variety of options, but my families have both used powder detergent combined with bar soap, for those harder to beat stains. Then it's just scrub, scrub, scrub and rinse! Oh and then hang your clothes on the barbed wire in the backyard of course.

Side note: It's important to note that laundry is only enjoyable for me now because it's dry season. I remember despising it during rainy season because nothing ever dried, and it just wasn't fun spending an hour outside dealing with suds and water when it was rainy and miserable. There are still plenty more months left in dry season though, so I plan to enjoy it while it lasts!