For we wash by hand, not by machine.

It's funny how quickly one can realize that one doesn't need even a fraction of all of the clothes that one has simply by washing an even smaller fraction of ones clothes by hand.

One of the most enlightening experiences I've had thus far in Bahia came from (and continually comes from) laundry days. Here in my neighborhood we do not have a laundromat nor even a washing machine. Come to think of it, I've traveled miles and miles around the area where I live and I have not seen anything even remotely resembling a laundromat.

Being the city boy that I am (but working very diligently at changing this), I had never needed to wash my clothes by hand, and have had no previous experience in doing such. Funnily enough I had to have one of the women that runs the possada that I live in show me the ropes on the whole process. I mean, who would have thought that filling up a sink with water, adding some detergent, and scrubbing 10 to 12 items of clothing on a washboard would be so tiring - not to mention time consuming. My first attempt at washing my clothes by hand was horrific. I mean HORRIFIC! I think it took me close to two hours just to wash a handful of T-shirts, shorts, underwear and socks as well as rinse all of the soap out of them. When I was finally finished, everything was a mess; the floor was soaked, my hands were blistered from wringing out wet clothes, and it looked like I had tried to eat a gigantic powdered donut in the process because I was sticky and covered in white powdery detergent.

If you guys really want to know why it appears that all Brazilian women are so fit... I can't be 100% sure, but I'd wager that washing clothes by hand has something to do with it. When I was done rinsing out all of the soap and started hanging the clothes up to dry it felt like I had just left the gym with my biceps bulging and my face glistening with sweat, or maybe it was just soapy water. The point is, this is very difficult work. What makes this story sort of humorous is that being ignorant of the business of washing clothes by hand, I happened to pick a rainy day to do my first load. With a sense of pride in what I had accomplished, I hung up my last couple of items to the clothing line and headed for the shower. I just knew that by the next day I'd have a bunch of my favorite stuff clean and ready to wear again. Boy was I wrong. Nothing actually dried completely and everything that I had washed the previous day smelled horribly of mildew. Realizing that I would have to do this all over again nearly made me shed a tear. I'm being serious. However I sucked it up and washed everything a second time. Another 2 hours of my precious time down the drain

All in all, I can say that after two months of this I've finally smartened up and decided to pay my friend's sister to do my laundry for me. However I can say that I've learned that I have WAY too many clothes at home, and when I get back I plan on donating a whole lot of what I have to a good charity. Seriously, If you wanna test this for yourself, do a load of what you would put in the laundry machine by hand. I guarantee that you will also be heading to your nearest Salvation Army drop off station (although the salvation army is a crappy organization, but that is a topic for another day and time).

In closing... Still loving it here, still having wonderful and new experiences, still growing, still being open to change.

and as always: (love life)









Boddie