Back to the river

Amy and I went to the river again this morning. This time, we took soap.

El Sembrador's water system stopped working this week. El Sembrador has it's own well that provides all the water for drinking, cooking, etc. When it breaks...oh, what a problem. It slowed down considerably on Thursday, but we were still able to take showers, etc, at night, when the crew turned it back on. But then, Friday, it stopped working altogether. No showers, no cooking water, no drinking water.

So what are you going to do with 120 boys who need to bathe? Send 'em to the river! After all, that's where they go on hot Saturday afternoons. Generally, this is verboten, but being an extreme circumstance, they now have permission to visit the river to take a bath and clean up a little bit. For all but the most finicky, this is not a hardship but a special occasion. They can spend all day at the river, and go back again after dinner! Woohoo!

As for us women-folk...we were not about to go down there when the river was full of teenage boys, some of whom swim in nothing but their tidy-whities. Amy and I decided that the best time to go take a bath would be while all the boys are in church, so as soon as we heard the service start this morning, we went out the door in the other direction, soap and towels in hand. I felt a little guilty about contributing to the water pollution, but wow did I stink! This is not a country in which to go without bathing.

Amy said, "this will be the first time I've ever bathed in a river." I corrected her, saying, "No, you've bathed in a river before. This is just the first time you haven't showered afterwards." I can't say I feel squeaky clean (we walked back to the house through a field full of cowpies), but I don't smell so bad anymore. The system won't be fixed until Monday at the earliest, so I guess we'll be back in the river tomorrow.

It's hard to complain, knowing the water problems in other parts of Honduras and the world. We have it good here, with clean water from the well (when it's working), and a decent river close by. It's amazing, though, how important it has become. I will certainly appreciate it more when everything is back to normal.