So this is the patio area outside the living room. Behind me as I'm taking this picture is a driveway that usually contains a large white jeep-y type vehicle. (Can you tell I know nothing about cars?) On the right is the sink that I use to brush my teeth and wash my hands. If you take a left at the garden the bathroom is around the corner.
This is my tooth brushing/hand washing sink. Every place I have been in Guatemala has a sink like this. It is usually outside, but the other day I saw one inside. It is made of painted concrete and there are always 3 parts. I have to be honest that I have never seen all 3 parts in action, but basically the middle part is really deep and I'm not sure that it has a drain and the sides are shallow and covered with ridges I assume for scrubbing cloths and things.
I basically get water from that tap on the right and then actually do the spitting of tooth paste or washing of hands in the left side with the drain. The sink is not totally open to the outside. The roof of the house actually covers the sink so you don't get wet if you are standing right in front of it but if you step a few feet back...
Then the roof ends and you are just brushing your teeth under the stars or the sun (well, clouds) or this beautiful plant that I was told was a hydrangea, but I may have misunderstood that. It is nice scenery for teeth cleaning.
Taking a left at the garden brings us to the bathroom. Yes you have to walk where there is no covering, which is not always fun in the rainy season (like now) especially if you are sick like I was the first weekend I was here. Don't worry it wasn't that bad. Everyone gets sick here for a few days, but then you get used to it. Anyway, you can see the light switch is that little white button on the right near the top. The brown paper is the daily cleaning schedule, which does not include me. :) When you look in the door of the bathroom the shower is on your left and the toilet is on the right behind the open door. The whole room is about 3.5ft X 8ft
This is the toilet. It is pretty western except that it does not have a seat, you just sit on the bowl or squat and you can not throw paper in the toilet bowl anywhere in Guatemala (that I have been). Instead you deposit it in that trash can on the left of the picture. This can lead to some pretty smelly bathrooms especially at my school where the bathrooms have no ventilation and the students are often sick from the Guatemalan cuisine. I guess that is the good thing about how open it is. My bathroom is very well ventilated :).
The other annoying thing is that the shower door does not close all the way so the floor of the bathroom is almost always wet which means you have to roll up your pants to use the toilet. However, it is often wet outside too so it serves dual purposes. Oh, and there is no toilet paper in the bathroom so you have to remember to bring it with you from inside the house or you are SOL.
This is my shower. Isn't is lovely? That brown box lightly encloses the very exposed wires for the electric water heater, but it is pretty high so I have faith that I won't be electrocuted. The water gets hotter the slower it goes through the heater so you have to put it on a low level for it to be hot, but if you wait a minute it usually gets pretty hot (sometimes even too hot) and it really has nice water pressure. I now think this shower is better than my mostly hot, but almost pressureless shower in med school.
Do you see the rack for the soap and shampoo under the nozzle? Yeah, we are fancy.
This is the floor of my shower. I am used to it now, but let's just say I am glad I brought flip flops with me. The worst part is that the whole bathroom is not really sealed. I mean it doesn't leak, but the roof and the walls have a gap so in the mornings when it is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit any part of your body that gets outside the stream of water is covered in goose bumps. I do manage to shave my legs every once in a while though, but I sometimes wonder why I bother.
This is the sink outside the bathroom. Occasionally people will be washing their dishes or clothes here when I have to use the bathroom that is about 5 feet away and I feel a little uncomfortable, but I am mostly over it. Because everybody poops. But not everybody poops in an outdoor toilet next to a garden in Guatemala, so I am special.
Okay no more bathroom posts...for now. :) After two weeks my Spanish is almost understandable, but my verb conjugations are all over the place. I start the medical Spanish program tomorrow. The first week we have a really interesting cultural competency class that involves learning about the cultural, political, and religious history of Guatemala and how it impacts the people and their health today. The class is given in Spanish so I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for reading!
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