I hate Mexican water.
I know its a bold and potentially offensive statement but its true.
The first time I was here I got sick from using the water to brush my teeth, and not being careful in the shower when water got on my face and lips. I'm smarter this time. More experienced. I've been using bottled water to brush my teeth which is not my favorite thing ever but its not difficult to do. I've also been making sure not to open my mouth in the shower and not lick my lips until my face is dry.
So far I'm sickness free.
The thing I hate this time is taking showers. In Mexico, unlike the U.S. and probably Canada and Europe, they do not have water heaters. Well, they have water heaters but they're not even close to the same thing. Here they call them boilers. Basically, from my understanding, there is a boiler that heats the water little by little. This boiler is not usually on and requires 15 to 20 minutes to heat the water. Now I'm sure you're thinking "but its Mexico, its hot there all the time how is the water not hot?" Well here's the thing most don't know, at night in the "winter" months it can get chilly... like 50 degrees or so. Which right now in the states is a welcomed temp because from what I've heard its cold and snowing. But when you want to take a hot shower and the water has been sitting in 50 degrees for 8 to 10 hours its pretty freaking cold.
The other problem is that the boilers are not the same as our standard water heaters that cycle and heat like 30 gallons at a time. From what I've seen the switch to turn it on is on a box the size of you're average circuit box in your house. I'm not sure what the gallon amount is for heating I just know the water is never hot for long.
I've been taking cold showers for a week.
I'm starting to work out a system though. Trial and error style.
So far I can wet my hair, use shampoo and rinse it before the heat runs out. Then I turn off the water, shave, lather up and turn it back on to rinse, wash my face and put in conditioner. By the time I'm finished with those the water is cold again which is fine cause there's nothing left to do.
Hotels and resorts may be different as well as apartment buildings.
So if you're one of those people who likes to take long hot showers with minimal wait time... don't move to Mexico. If you do move here be prepared to cut your shower time in half (at least) or to buy an American water heater that can do like 30 gallons at a time.
I'm not even sure they have those here... but probably.
Or you can learn from my experiments that sometimes its better to just turn off the water and deal with the air which is much warmer and easier to tolerate for certain things.
These are the breaks folks... you get the good with the bad here and you learn how to operate with the things you actually need instead of the things you are used to.
Sadly... it makes for a cranky girl when she has to shower with cold water.
I know its a bold and potentially offensive statement but its true.
The first time I was here I got sick from using the water to brush my teeth, and not being careful in the shower when water got on my face and lips. I'm smarter this time. More experienced. I've been using bottled water to brush my teeth which is not my favorite thing ever but its not difficult to do. I've also been making sure not to open my mouth in the shower and not lick my lips until my face is dry.
So far I'm sickness free.
The thing I hate this time is taking showers. In Mexico, unlike the U.S. and probably Canada and Europe, they do not have water heaters. Well, they have water heaters but they're not even close to the same thing. Here they call them boilers. Basically, from my understanding, there is a boiler that heats the water little by little. This boiler is not usually on and requires 15 to 20 minutes to heat the water. Now I'm sure you're thinking "but its Mexico, its hot there all the time how is the water not hot?" Well here's the thing most don't know, at night in the "winter" months it can get chilly... like 50 degrees or so. Which right now in the states is a welcomed temp because from what I've heard its cold and snowing. But when you want to take a hot shower and the water has been sitting in 50 degrees for 8 to 10 hours its pretty freaking cold.
The other problem is that the boilers are not the same as our standard water heaters that cycle and heat like 30 gallons at a time. From what I've seen the switch to turn it on is on a box the size of you're average circuit box in your house. I'm not sure what the gallon amount is for heating I just know the water is never hot for long.
I've been taking cold showers for a week.
I'm starting to work out a system though. Trial and error style.
So far I can wet my hair, use shampoo and rinse it before the heat runs out. Then I turn off the water, shave, lather up and turn it back on to rinse, wash my face and put in conditioner. By the time I'm finished with those the water is cold again which is fine cause there's nothing left to do.
Hotels and resorts may be different as well as apartment buildings.
So if you're one of those people who likes to take long hot showers with minimal wait time... don't move to Mexico. If you do move here be prepared to cut your shower time in half (at least) or to buy an American water heater that can do like 30 gallons at a time.
I'm not even sure they have those here... but probably.
Or you can learn from my experiments that sometimes its better to just turn off the water and deal with the air which is much warmer and easier to tolerate for certain things.
These are the breaks folks... you get the good with the bad here and you learn how to operate with the things you actually need instead of the things you are used to.
Sadly... it makes for a cranky girl when she has to shower with cold water.
No comments:
Post a Comment