A central part of every house here is the pila. A pila is the house water reservoir, with a connected concrete slab used to wash dishes, wash clothes, hands, brush teeth, and store water in case the water gets turned off (or in some parts of the country, their running water is only hooked up one or two days a week so they fill up their reservoirs for the days the don't have running water.) It is VERY useful.
As I said, one of the things pilas are used for is to wash clothes. Most people do not have washing machines (and dryers are even less common -- they use too much gas to run!). In fact, having a washing machine has been used by the government as a marker of income level. At the beginning of this year, the government changed the way they did the gas subsidy. They used to subsidize the companies and all gas "tambores" were sold for about $5. However, in the surrounding countries, they cost $15. So, now the government gives a monthly subsidy of $8.75 to families you do not own more than one house and do not have a washing machine. In many ways, this makes a lot of sense -- it cuts (necessarily) on government spending and on the gas black market. However, it's been a real struggle for many families (especially large ones who use more than one tambor of gas a month) and some have begun to cook in the older way using fire wood in a "stove" like this one.
At any rate... pilas are very useful for washing clothes, and quite the exercise. (Even people who have washing machines tell me that they still wash the things that get really dirty, like socks, by hand because they get them cleaner.) Welcome to a part of my weekly life!
spread the dry dirty shirt out in the pila and get it wet!
roll on soap (both the front and back!)
scrub the shirt using...the shirt! (particularly the armpits!)
Rinse and wring out
Turn inside out and repeat ... and your done!
All that's left is to hang it out to dry!
1. As Frederick Douglass said, "Agitate!"
ReplyDelete2. Did you put Eva up on a chair and make her take pictures? :)
3. Te quiero muchoooo! (Y te extraño...)
2. Actually Ariel came over one evening and stood on the back of the pila and took pictures (and I've been slow about actually getting the blog up...)
ReplyDelete3. TO QUIERO MUUUUCHO (like a cow muuuuch!)
These are beautiful pictures Christy! And what an insight into the "little things" that give so much texture and richness to life in a new place. Thanks for sharing.
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