Bucket Showers

While my fellow interns and I are trying to stay as hygienic as possible, el campo does not make it easy for us. From mud to animal feces, my poor hiking boots trek through some unsightly things everyday here in Pulingui… but, while learning to deal with that dirt and stench I have also learned the art of the bucket shower (because the animals smell bad enough and I do not need to contribute to that).

As there is no indoor toilet, there is of course no hot water or shower, so every few days my host mother brings out her largest soup pot and boils me water. Now you may be thinking “every few days...?” or you may be asking “why is she never showering…?” well contrary to your judgments, I am currently the cleanest girl in Pulingui (meaning I have showered the most in the past two weeks). While this may be shocking news, it is only because most of the people that live in el campo shower at most once a week. Somehow though…no one smells bad…

This hygiene routine here in el campo has had me quite perplexed: how can they shower less than I do and I still smell worse after a few days…? Well, after some further investigation, this is either due to the 20 layers that each person wears to stay warm, or the cold which doesn’t even permit them to sweat. (I know this blog is a lot grosser than you expected, but after living here for a week and a half I have gotten extremely used to grossness…)

So back to bucket showers… In this 30 degree weather the 10 minutes that I can spread my shower out for are so heavenly (even though my first shower was in the pitch black and my last one I was surrounded by spiders). I also forgot my sandals in Cuenca, so to avoid further diseases I have created Ziploc bag shower shoes (I think this is my entrepreneurial side coming out). But besides all the things that have gone wrong, I have mastered the bucket shower, and am offering tips for anyone who needs them.

Now that I actually enjoy showers, let me tell you about something I don’t like… FLEAS! I guess being clean and hygienic does not exempt you from getting a bed full of fleas…because that is the wonderful way my bed greeted me on Tuesday night. Needing to get up at 3:30 am for work, I thought it would be responsible to go to bed early and get some sleep, but instead my night was filled with biting and scratching (the fleas were biting and I was scratching… just to clarify). Now before you judge me for the second time in this post, let me explain.

In Pulingui (and all of Ecuador) there are more stray dogs than there are people. While most people claim that the dogs are pets, none of the dogs are taken care of, and therefore have diseases and of course, fleas. After being warned about this during our first week in Ecuador, I was determined to avoid these dogs at all costs… but, while some of my fellow interns were enamored by the “cuteness” of the dogs and could not keep their hands off of the dogs the fleas decided to find refuge on their clothing and then later mine… So that is how you can be clean and careful and still end up miserable with fleas…

Oh the joys of living in el campo…

Lots of love from Ecuador,

Jen (who doesn’t have fleas anymore)