Each morning, for the past few days, we have been without water. The utility company is working on something up the hill, tearing up the road and digging a big hole. So they shut off our water randomly and without warning. We were caught off-guard at first, and had to go without coffee one afternoon! That was a sad day. But we've learned to deal with the low pressure and occasional outage by saving water in any container we can find. This morning, for instance, I bathed out of a bucket of cold water.

I'm already used to icy showers. My bathroom doesn't have hot water. This is the Tico way. I think I earned a little respect by not complaining about it, too. For my first couple of mornings here, the family would laugh and ask me how I enjoyed my shower. I would grin and say, "Refreshing!" But really, when the sun beats down and the temperature is 70 - 80 degrees, a cold shower feels pretty good. I think it's a fair trade-off. Marta says if I decide to stay here, she will install a shower warmer for me. I've heard about these. They're also called "Suicide Showers" because it's an electric device that attaches to the showerhead to heat the water. Nobody has actually died from using one, though. At least, I don't think so.

Labels: costa rica