Mi Primera Ducha en Mexico

En Mexico, no hay duchas. Todos esperan para ducharse en la lluvia.

"In Mexico, there an not showers. Everyone waits to shower in the rain." This is how my friend suggested I start my post regarding my first shower in Mexico, four days after arriving. We are sitting near the lake on plastic lawn chairs in our swimming suits with our toiletries standing in waiting between us. The only thing lacking is the rain, but the clouds and angering sky promise that soon our waiting will not be in vain. The rain is on its way.

Of course, there are showers and bathrooms in Mexico and the general population has only the best hygiene. But we are living the traveling life of hippies and hygiene takes a second to price of accomodations. While camping, we have no bathrooms, showers or mirrors aside from that which nature decides to provide. For the sake of my tent mate and all those that come in contact with my increasingly strong stench, I hope that today nature provides me with a shower.

The clouds are grey and boiling in the sky across the lake. Dusk has arrived and everything is cast in the eery yellow light of a fading day. Night ís good for us. We can shower in the privacy of dark speckled with flickering fireflies. Now we have night, toiletries, and swimming suits all ready and waiting for the rain.

A bolt of lightening followed by a peal of earsplitting thunder roll across the lake. The rain starts not in the gentle sprinkle of "Hey, you should probably take cover now and thanks for waiting" but in the sudden downpour of "I hate the earth and here is your stupid water." Thank you, rain.

My friend and I jump into action, starting with a swim in the lake. The water is as warm as bathwater and I wonder why I waited four days to dip into the gloriousness of full body emersed in water. Shampoo and soap rinsed by the rain, warmed by the lake. Surely this is paradise. Another bolt of lightening and peal of thunder light the lake. Perhaps this is not paradise afterall and my well educated senses suggest that perhaps I should not be swimming in a lake in the midst of a lightening storm.

We finish, thank the world for providing us with a much needed cleansing, and head to the tents to dry our ourselves under the trees, squeaky clean and happy. This is my primera ducha en Mexico, and it was more than worth the four day wait.