Laundry

There are quite a few things that change when you travel but there will always be those essential tasks that need to be done. Laundry has become something that I have to plan out, it is no longer the easy walk downstairs to get it done. Since leaving home I have had quite a few "laundry experiences"...who knew getting clean clothes could be such an adventure!

While staying at the orphanage we would have to go down to the baby house and guard our clothes while they washed because otherwise the children would steal them. We would then have to either hang them outside (this time keeping an even closer watch) or hang them in our room.

On the ship we usually did laundry on passage. We would often end up wearing the same thing for days at a time (I know that sounds gross but for those of you who have lived on a ship you will understand) so there wouldnt be too much to do at one time. First, we would take one of the buckets and fill it halfway with fresh water and add soap. We washed our clothes in that, then used the deck as a washboard, then soap again before rinsing in another bucket. Leaving our clothing to hang on the life lines was always a bit risky with the wind...there were more then a few t-shirts and other articles of clothing that were lost to the ocean.

While we were in port we could always try and find a laundry place but this also was at our clothings risk. Often times we would not be allowed to do it ourselves so we would have to drop it at a laundry place and pray that it was done in time for when we left (the ship would not wait for laundry to come back!). One of my favorites was when we were in Forteleza, Brazil. Cat and I decided we were going to do laundry so we got in a cab and he began driving. Turns out our cabbie was a typical Brazilain (no English whatsoever and very little Spanish) so we basically played this giant game of miming things out to him. We would take out an atricle of clothing and pinch our noses and then pretend to start washing it. He finally understood and about twenty minutes later we pulled up to a laundry mat. The next obsticle was trying to figure out how much we pay, how long it would take etc. Luckily there was a man with a bit of English so between us we managed to figure it all out. Once we had finished the washing we figured we might as well get them dried as. We placed our clothing into the dryer and the lady walks up with a lighter and lights something on fire in the machine, which started roaring to life. I was convinced I would never get my clothes back in one piece but turns out the fire also had incense so it was one of our best laundry experiences! One of our worst was in Antigua when we took our laundry to a private home to have it done and picked it up the next day to find all of our clothes tinted blue.

Since being on St. Maarten I have taken to doing laundry in a different way. I have discovered something very important...if you act like you are supposed to be somewhere, usually, no one will question you. I have taken to walking into one of the fancier hotels in Simpsons Bay, the Royal Palm Beach Resort, putting my laundry in the wash and going for a swim in their pool. After about thirty minutes I borrow one of their towels and make my way back to put the wash in to the dryer. Next I go lay out in the sun for a bit...one day I even got a free drink! The only problem to all of this was on my first time I was asked by a security guard which room I was staying in. I said 316...turns out they have four digit room numbers so I was kicked out. So since then I have had to be careful not to go when he is on shift. I have been asked twice more and my answer has been "room 8010" followed by a big smile. After collecting my laundry (which for wash and dry I pay $4 for compared to the $12 it costs anywhere else) I make my way out the back entrance and walk home.

Who knew I could write a full blog entry on doing laundry!