Laundry Day!

We all knew the day was coming... the day I would have to eventually wash all of our dirty clothes.  Again, more muscles in places I never knew could have muscles.

 

Washing here is almost always done by hand.  The few 'washers' I have seen are more like agitators. They don't drain/rinse/spin.  You just fill them up with a hose and then they swish back and forth until the timer stops.

 

Every house has one of these cement sink type things outside.  It's a pretty neat idea when you consider how it needs to be all-purpose.  The bottom is ridged like a washboard and the edge has a drain hole.  Whether it's dishes or clothes... this is your washer!

 

Papi's Mom was nice enough to show me each step and not laugh too much (she has now realized that she pretty much has to show me everything... the first time, at least... because nothing resembles the U.S.).  In addition to washing with powdered soap in the water, each piece is taken out and examined for any remaining stains, which are treated and scrubbed with a big bar of laundry soap.  After it comes out, the little bucket is used to dip water out of the drum and rinse it as it run against the washboard again until the water comes clear.

 

 

If it is white, it goes into another bucket with bleach water.  If it is colored, it goes into a bucket with water and a little fabric softener.  Then, my least favorite part, wringing it out.  I'm really, really, bad at this part.  I pretty much gave up and started letting them sit in a plastic crate with holes to let the water drip a while before even trying to hang them up.

 

Finally, they are hung up to dry.  All the houses have their clotheslines out and most days they have clothes on them.  I have seen everything from old phone cords, to fences, to barbed wire fencing used as clotheslines.  I did ask if I am supposed to hang my underwear and bras, too, or would that not be kosher.  Her response was, "they have to dry, too."  Good thing is, everything dries very fast here (except when it is raining).

 

The only American that most people here know personally (unless they have been to the U.S. themselves) is one that came a few years ago and didn't stay long.  What people remember about her is that she didn't talk to anyone, took her laundry to the city to have it washed, and ate out instead of cooking.  Maybe she wasn't Southern.  I wave and talk to everyone, even if I have to ask later who in the world it was.  I love to cook, even if sometimes it doesn't come out right.  And when it comes out right, I have to share and say "try this!"  And I do my own laundry, not only because I can't afford to pay someone right now for that, but I don't want someone else washing my undies, you know?  Word spread quick, and some people came to peek just to see if it was true.

 

It is definitely work, but obviously not impossible.  We now have clean undies.  And, I earned my street cred.