show-er

August 15, 2010

shower: (n) a bath in which water is sprayed on the body, usually from an overhead perforated nozzle.

I have taken showers in La Union before, one almost every day for 3 months last summer. Most of the time the water was freezing, about half the time the water was brown, once in a while there just was no water. This morning however, was an experience I had never had before.

I opened my eyes at 6 this morning. A combination of the busses, roosters and the natural light that my bedroom receives woke me up. I forced myself to stay in bed until 7, then it all got interesting. My shower began in the bathroom that Andrea and I share, which is between our rooms. The water was brown this morning because of all the rain we received last night. I decided a shower was necessary no matter the color of the water and proceeded. Showers here in Honduras have electric shower heads that heat the water. The water heated up just fine and my shampoo was bubbling in my hair when I noticed the smell of burning plastic. Above my head there was smoke coming from the chords of the shower head. Suddenly, POP POPOP, some sizzle and flying sparks in my shower. I shut the water off immediately and cautiously turned off the hot water switch on the shower head. It took me a few minutes to wrap my mind around what had just happened as I stood outside the shower naked with my hair still white with shampoo. Wrapped in a towel I tip toed to the other side of the house carrying all of my shower toiletries dripping water as I went. There are 2 other bedrooms in the house, each with their own bathroom. The shower in the front room looked fine as far as I could tell. I turned on the water, and before I could even switch on the shower head to hot, the water hose from the shower head flew off and started spraying water everywhere. Annoyed and still walking around with a head full of shampoo, I transferred to the last shower. This time there wasn't even the option of running the water. A plastic bag was shoved down the drain prohibiting the use of the shower. Back to square one. Cold showers are nothing new to me, especially in La Union, and it was the only option left. The smoke and sparks had subsided and would not reignite if I kept the showerhead turned off. So I bathed in the cold, brown water.

Brown water, though better than no water, does not leave one feeling very clean. My hair, normally blonde, soft and fine, today is light brown, coarse, and dry. Albin and Patrick attempted to fix the showers after hearing my morning story. Wire and pliers is the Hondurans way of fixing everything… cars, ovens, showers. Andrea decided to test the skill of their handy work tonight and also opted for cold water after fireworks ignited during her shower. The two of agreed that it might be time for a new shower head. It's been raining here since around noon today with few breaks here and there. Tomorrow there is likely to be another cold brown shower.