If This Is A Test, I'm Gonna Fail

A funny little glimpse into daily life here in Guate.  Nothing works - the dryer, the fridge, or the hot water.  Living where we do, it is incredibly trivial to complain about such things when 99.9% of the people around us don't have any of the three.  But I find myself searching my soul to figure out why these things are so important to me and do I really need them to be happy? The answer to the hot water is a definite YES!  I need hot water, I love hot water, I can't live without hot water.  Many people have vices and a hot shower is mine.  There is nothing from the day that a hot shower can't wash away.  We don't have a water heater, we have something attached to the shower head called a "widow maker".  It's called that because if you touch it, you will die.  They work fine but when the water going into them is too cold, the water that comes out is lukewarm at best.  With the rainy season and cloudy, rainy days, the sun doesn't keep the water in the tank at a decent temp before going into the widow maker.  Not only that, but the air temperature is in the 60's and 70's so sometimes it just too cold to shower. 

Widow Maker

The fridge is just an inconvenience.  I could probably live without one but we like milk, cheese and yogurt which makes that difficult.  We bought a brand new one but it stopped getting cold about 2 weeks ago.  It's under warranty and all but we live in Guatemala and nothing is easy here when it comes to getting repairs done so we just have to wait.

Cloudy Day

As far as the dryer goes, I don't mind hanging my clothes on the line but we are in the rainy season.  It rains almost every day and we can go several days without ever seeing the sun.  We also live in the clouds and moisture and that makes it hard to dry clothes outside.  Since we have 3 boys who can't walk out the door without dirt attacking them, I have to wash almost every day.  In an effort to be frugal, we bought a used dryer from a missionary who flat out lied to us about it's condition. He said it needed a simple part and would work great.  We paid a repair guy to fix it and he did, but now it doesn't work and he has been back twice and can't seem to figure out what is wrong.  We aren't sure what to do now: pay more money and try to get it fixed or just buy a new one.  A new one will cost what we have already spent on the used one.  In the meantime, Gina has been gracious enough to let me use her dryer when my clothesline isn't working.  :)

With all that is going on here and in the world, these things seem trivial.  Even with that, some days, all I want to do is take my wet clothes and cheese and get on a plane, go somewhere, and take a hot shower.