Cold Showers

It is generally warm in the Caribbean, or perhaps some would say it is hot. I find myself surprisingly chilly most of the time. Most of the time we are in air-conditioning. And perhaps most of the time that is good. However, there come times when you just need to be warm. Morning, for instance.

Tuesday evening we noticed there was no hot water. Rats. And of course, the next day was a holiday. We were looking forward to the day off, but that thrill was tempered by the sudden awareness that we weren't going to have hot water for a couple days - especially mornings. Repair people don't come on holidays. You're lucky if you can get them any time, but they especially don't come on holidays. 

I can work with dishes in cold water. I can wash my hands without hesitation. I even prefer brushing my teeth with cold water. However, the shower thing was really going to be a challenge.

This is the water heater. You probably can't tell by looking, but it is not working. Something is wrong. 

This is the shower: 

Under normal circumstances these two go together sort of like ham and cheese, Rocky and Bullwinkle, or hot water and showers.

However, when you suddenly realize your water heater is no longer functioning, things just aren't jolly with respect to anticipation of at least the next two mornings' showers.

We survived. Sherrie insists this is just another example of why we don't do camping and why we will NEVER do camping. Nevertheless, we managed. I must confess that a cold shower in the Caribbean is not quite as awful as the same experience would be in, say, Utah, where the water comes from a frigid mountain well. Our cold water here isn't really all that cold. Still, it was worse than I had prepared for. 

So, today, Thursday, after two cold shower days, we managed to get in touch with the landlady who got in touch with the repair people who told her about the batteries.

It never occurred to me that a water heater would require batteries. Have you ever had a cold shower two days in a row and only then realized all you had to do was change the batteries?

Still, this was another learning experience. We can survive (at least briefly) with no hot water. You campers probably already know all about this, but it was quite the adventure for us.