laundry.

i really hated doing laundry in the states. i have been known to wait an entire month just to go to the laundromat and do it all at one time. my way of ripping off the band-aid.

in honduras, laundry is washed by hand. the process starts by soaking laundry for 15 minutes, scrubbing very hard just until you can't scrub any more, rinsing out the soap, wringing out as much water as possible and then hanging to dry in the hot sun. and repeat. for each item of clothing down to the individual sock. the method varies on individuals but there are some constants that are absolutely not variable: the soaking and the hot sun.

fatal mistake #1: i'm not sure why i thought i was smarter than generations of women who have been doing this process for years, but i did. it started by letting my laundry soak during the first part of the day then scrubbing during lunch. my soaking period got longer as my scrubbing period got shorter. until i left my darks to soak and left for the weekend. my black shirts? some weird purple. apparently, the soak phase only has a maximum time of 2 hours. good to know.

fatal mistake #2: i ran out of space on my outside clothesline and thought, hey, i have an extra bathroom, i'll hang my laundry to dry there. it took three days longer to dry and had a horrendous smell. it turns out that the hot sun kills the bacteria that live in the water. if you don't put the clothing in the sun the bacteria mulitply. gross.

i don't think i'll ever hate washing laundry in one of those fancy machines ever again.