12/8/13
Roatan, Honduras
In Guatemala, at Mario's marina we had a laundry on the premises. It had 2 washing machines and 2 dryers. There is NO hot water anywhere that I have found in Central America to do your wash. It is cold water only and then the dryers work off of propane and the only way you know that the propane is out, is to wait the 45 minutes or so it takes to dry your clothes and then you open the dryer and low and behold, they are still wet. But, of course, if someone before you let's the marina know the propane is out they will switch over to a new tank, but this doesn't always happen or I was always the first to get the empty "dryer". The convenience of having the laundry near your boat was a great thing, though, plus I could have Judy do it for me for an extra few "Q's".
Now, I am in Roatan, staying at "Fantasy Island" Resort and Marina. Sounds great, sounds like this is the place to be, but NOT for laundry. There is no laundry available to cruisers at this marina, which is strange since there is a huge laundry facility for the resort. So, instead, we have a "laundry service". This too, sounds great, except you send your clothes out at 10:00 am and get them back at 10:00 am the next day. Then don't make the mistake of sending them out on Saturday, because then you have to wait for Monday. This particular service...I think the guys name is Steve....always returns my clothes semi dry (after being washed in cold water). The 3rd time I sent my laundry out and it came back even wetter than before, I sent it back the next day with a note, requesting that they only be dried, as they were still wet. Steve had plans on charging me for this drying service, but I was not about to dish out more lempiras for something that should have been done right the first time.
So, today, Charlie and I gathered up all our laundry and took the dingy to Brooksy Point, another marina "just around the corner". Brooksy Point, run by Mike and his family, is a lovely small marina and it has 2 washing machines and 2 dryers right next to the bar...how convenient is that! So, you can do your wash and have a beer at the same time. Again...no hot water and then after 2 loads of laundry, and one beer, I find out that one dryer is not working. This necessitates another beer as I wait for the second load to be dried. Charlie had a great time chewing the fat with Mike at the bar as I slaved to do our laundry, but he did learn some good things about sailing in Panama that will come in handy for us in the future. So, after about 3 hours, we loaded our laundry in the dingy and turned on the light, because now it is dark thirty...and made our way back to Island Sol.
So in conclusion, I hope all my friends and family in the states appreciate the task of doing the laundry in the comfort of their own homes with HOT water. I know that I certainly will when I return. No more bitching about the laundry, because, doing the laundry in Central America is a real effort...and that is my motto on my boat...."Everything is an effort"!
PS...after sleeping on this "rant", I decided that I had better humble myself and be glad I have a laundry to go to, even with cold water.
No comments:
Post a Comment