Hot Water, What’s That?

Have you ever imagined how not having hot water would change your life? Well, here in Côte d’Ivoire, it is a luxury whenever I get to have hot water. It is also a rarity. (Heck, there is a scarcity of water, hot or cold, in this country!) When I first arrived, I missed hot showers and could not understand how people could possibly wash dishes without hot water. Then…you get used to it! You do everything with cold water. Besides, it is so blazing hot here that the notion of a hot shower would rarely cross one’s mind. I do not miss hot water anymore and I honestly wonder if I’ll ever use hot water as much as I did before coming to Africa once I return to the States.

Nevertheless…haphazardly, about two weeks ago, I found out how to have a hot shower (or hot water) if I so wanted it without heating buckets o’ buckets of water on the stove. By mistake, I had left a 5 liter container of water on my terrace instead of putting it in my bedroom as usual. Since there was no running water that day (which is the case on most days), I took the bottle of water and used it for my shower. It was so warm! The sun had heated the bottle and thus the water inside. Wow, it was unexpected and refreshing. Then I started thinking, why in the world had I not thought of this before!? Solar heating has long been known to be one of the most environmentally friendly (and free!) resources for heat. I have not tried the hot shower again but I now know when I need a hot shower, I only need to step out on my terrace to find the best source of heat!

You Don't Miss the Water 'Til...

the well runs dry. Well Folks, today, the well didn't run dry; the tap did. It happens that here in Cote d'Ivoire you will sometimes experience a lapse in water service that can last any where from a few hours to several days. Well, this morning I woke up to do the daily ritual and learned as I prepared to take my usual cold morning shower that there was no water to be had.

"Well by golly", you say, "that sucks!". Well, it doesn't. You wanna know why? Cause I have a back-up source - a have a well! That's right. Right here in my apartment complex, we have a good ol' old fashioned well.

Unlike our neighbors who must think ahead and conserve water in buckets long before the lines of H2o are cut, we simply go to the well when our taps run dry. Lucky scoundrels, yes we are.

To Get Rid of Lizards...

Well, I did not imagine that this would be my Ivorian introductory blog post but...hey, one never knows. Living on and off in Tampa,FL since 2003 has allowed me to become very accustomed to seeing lizards each day most while they are roaming freely outside. Despite lizard life in Tampa, nothing had yet prepared me for the considerably larger-sized lizards which call Cote d'Ivoire home. At my cozy little apartment, they lurk during the day and night and I have begun to see them as "snakes with legs". Amazing. I never had a big problem with them in Tampa but now that I have to encounter them day in and day out both inside and outside my home - I have developed a fear, so much so that last night, I had a horrible nightmare about one of them in my bed! Around 3am this morning, I hurriedly hit the light switch and almost tumbled out of bed trying to reach my glasses and have a good look under the sheets all at the same time. It took me forever to get back to sleep. Well, I can laugh now. Sort of.


Today after work, I knew I needed a plan. No more nightmares for me! I used the internet to search high and low on the following topic, "How to Get Rid of Lizards". To my surprise, there was a plethora of articles on just that subject! This one is my favorite; gotta love the author's humor. After reading this article, I felt less of a wimp - By golly, there are others too that suffer from lizard trauma. Whew! Times like these, I love feeling the sense of belonging. For you others lizard loathers out there, know that my thoughts are with you :)