Michael: Outside Showers; Inside Showers

A day in the dark;
Rain then clouds then rain then clouds
Won’t persist for long.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

We expect it to rain outside everyday. We’re rarely caught off guard even if it rains hard. But taking a shower has always been an unpredictable experience.

I’ll use my mom’s shower in good old Santa Ana, California as a baseline. It always delivers hot water at hurricane force. First time; every time, from beginning to end.

Now at our little cabana. The pressure is a little stronger than a large watering pot, and that’s with the auxiliary pressure on. Sometimes we need it; sometimes we don’t.  We never touch the cold water faucet, but the water just from the hot is comfortably warm at best.

Recently, on our trip to Costa Rica we got to test out two more showers. At the Turugiro Lodge they had installed a water saver system where there’s only one faucet. You crank it all the way up then back down to bring in hot water. But even at a drizzle it was just slightly above luke warm.

At the Inca Real Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, it had three handles. Again we only touched what we presumed was the hot water handle. Truly though, that was a roulette wheel experience. The water pulsed from warm to cold and from a nasal drip to a comfortable force.

One of the reasons we stay at TYRP Hotel whenever we’ve been in Panama City is because it has a great shower. One of those ball and socket pivot joint deals that allows you to dial in perfect heat and pressure.

We would happily forego this haphazard testing for some modicum of consistency in this daily ritual we’re sure to continue throughout our travels, but I don’t see that happening in Central or South America.