You know.. things like clean water. Because.. Mexico isn't exactly known for it.
Well, clearly. I mean, we've all seen Sex And The City.
No, this didn't happen to me (or anyone else).. but we all definitely had some encounters with our respective bathrooms at some point or another. A really wonderful, awesome bit of advice? Stock up on probiotics. They do wonders if your stomach's feeling a bit.. grumbly. You know what I mean.
Anyhoot, my point in even mentioning this is that there was no filtered water where we stayed (is there usually any at resorts??). We got our drinking water from our fridge via this immaculate set up we had going on in the closet behind it:
It not only served as our drinking water, but our "cleaning" water as well. Almost everything fresh that we put in our mouths - whether it would eventually be cooked or not - needed to soak for a good 15 minutes in a solution of filtered water and iodine. Think: apples, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, shrimp, etc.
Time consuming, for sure, but you definitely knew if you didn't soak something long enough or well enough. (Like I said.. probiotics are your best friend!)
Lucky for us, the owner of the house we stayed at would supply us with more water when it was necessary. Where he got it from, though, was pretty interesting - there were these men who consistently rode around on the streets on these bike/tram things selling bottles full of freshly filtered water, and then they would take back the empty ones to later be refilled. They rang their little bike bells at all hours of the day (starting around 7am.. not so cool) and were honestly almost sold out of water every time we saw them come by our place. It may have been a process, but they have that system down to a tee - and it's undoubtedly necessary. Especially when you consider the fact that you need to also use said filtered water to wet your toothbrush and brush your teeth, lest you want to spend the next five hours on the toilet. That shit cray.
So staying on the topic of water.. let's talk about warm water. Or the lack there of, when it's crappy and not sunny out. You know, like it was for half of our trip.
Since we had a rooftop area higher than most of the surrounding buildings, we were able to see that every house had at least one black metal silo thingy on top of it (so technical, I know).
We eventually came to realize that those thingys were actually water tanks - more specifically, heated water tanks. The thing is, they only get heated when they absorb heat during the day from the sun. So on the days that you actually need the warmth - you know, on the cool and rainy days - you don't have it. That shit is also cray.
Alas, as much as I'm apparently whining right now, I really kind of got used to it all. The cool water in the shower actually felt good with all the humidity. A bottle of water next to the sink solved the toothbrush issue. Massive amounts of bottled water ensured plenty of hydration. So it really wasn't that bad, it just put everything into perspective, you know? Well, except for the whole throw-your-toilet-paper-into-the-garbage-and-not-the-toilet-because-of-bad-plumbing thing. I wasn't a fan of that. I was so excited to finally use a "normal" bathroom in Charlotte for our layover back to DC, you have no idea. It was like heaven. In the form of a public toilet. I never thought I would utter those words.
So there you have it! A brief overview of the Foxy Friendymoon. With these out of the way, I'm hoping to start on some pre-caps and recaps soon enough!
Have you ever had to adjust and adapt to something when in another country? What was it and how'd it go for you?
Time consuming, for sure, but you definitely knew if you didn't soak something long enough or well enough. (Like I said.. probiotics are your best friend!)
Lucky for us, the owner of the house we stayed at would supply us with more water when it was necessary. Where he got it from, though, was pretty interesting - there were these men who consistently rode around on the streets on these bike/tram things selling bottles full of freshly filtered water, and then they would take back the empty ones to later be refilled. They rang their little bike bells at all hours of the day (starting around 7am.. not so cool) and were honestly almost sold out of water every time we saw them come by our place. It may have been a process, but they have that system down to a tee - and it's undoubtedly necessary. Especially when you consider the fact that you need to also use said filtered water to wet your toothbrush and brush your teeth, lest you want to spend the next five hours on the toilet. That shit cray.
So staying on the topic of water.. let's talk about warm water. Or the lack there of, when it's crappy and not sunny out. You know, like it was for half of our trip.
Since we had a rooftop area higher than most of the surrounding buildings, we were able to see that every house had at least one black metal silo thingy on top of it (so technical, I know).
We eventually came to realize that those thingys were actually water tanks - more specifically, heated water tanks. The thing is, they only get heated when they absorb heat during the day from the sun. So on the days that you actually need the warmth - you know, on the cool and rainy days - you don't have it. That shit is also cray.
Alas, as much as I'm apparently whining right now, I really kind of got used to it all. The cool water in the shower actually felt good with all the humidity. A bottle of water next to the sink solved the toothbrush issue. Massive amounts of bottled water ensured plenty of hydration. So it really wasn't that bad, it just put everything into perspective, you know? Well, except for the whole throw-your-toilet-paper-into-the-garbage-and-not-the-toilet-because-of-bad-plumbing thing. I wasn't a fan of that. I was so excited to finally use a "normal" bathroom in Charlotte for our layover back to DC, you have no idea. It was like heaven. In the form of a public toilet. I never thought I would utter those words.
So there you have it! A brief overview of the Foxy Friendymoon. With these out of the way, I'm hoping to start on some pre-caps and recaps soon enough!
Have you ever had to adjust and adapt to something when in another country? What was it and how'd it go for you?
