bucket shower

going on our fourth day without water in the house/office, i thought i'd talk a bit about bucket showers.  yes, bucket showers.

(to be fair, i haven't had to take one in a while.  my gym membership is really starting to pay off... thanks to good management and my $200 a month fee, they somehow keep that shower pumping every day.)

in beni, you may remember, i had running water less than 25% of the time.  but i also had a well.  and a system.  systems are important.  every morning the gardener filled 6 big buckets with water and refilled them after morning showers, laundry or whatever else needed doing during the day.

while it wasn't running out of the tap, we never ran out of water.

in this house, however, the water sometimes just stops and there is no well.  given that we've got 3 people minimum living here, and sometimes up to 6, it's easy to run out completely.  let me tell you, there is a unique type of panic that sets in when the toilets can't be flushed and hands can't be washed in a house full of men.  

to prevent nervous breakdowns and cholera, each day, the driver takes the 6 bidons (big plastic yellow jerrycans) to a public tap somewhere in town where there is water and fill them up.  we then use that water for everything from washing bodies to washing dishes to flushing toilets.  that is until its the weekend and the driver is at home and the rest of us flounder helplessly... but that's another issue.

in this context, i have had to take many bucket showers over the past few years, as have the majority of people living around the world with little or no running water.   

so in the spirit of lots of helpful how-to blog posts on everything from preparing couscous to making a french knot, i thought i'd do a how-to on the essential skill of taking a bucket shower.  bucket showers are a vital part of life and a good, hot bucket shower is nearly as satisfying as a regular shower.  (ok, that's a lie but one i like to tell myself.)  and, when you are water-limited, it's important to know how to get the most shower out of the least water.  

(and to those of you in the developed world: you just never know when the infrastruture will collapse under the strain of one more lawn sprinkler or the libertarians will cut funding for pipe maintenence, and you'll be living like the rest of us!  mwah ha ha ha!)

so without further ado...

how to take a bucket shower 

what you'll need:

• water in a jerry can or some other source
• one large plastic bucket
• a large plastic cup (e.g. a camping cup, nesquick container, large plastic water bottle with the neck cut off...)
• a large pot (optional, for hot water)
• a stove/campfire (optional, for hot water)

how to do it:

1. fill your bucket up about 2/3.  it doesn't look like a lot of water, but trust me.

2. if you want a hot bucket shower (hmm... that sounds like a band name or some sort of obscene euphemism) dip your big pot into your bucket until it fills.  this will probably be about 1/3 of the water you've got.  stick it on the stove, covered to save water, until it's just starting to boil.  pour it back in to your bucket.  (test your water to make it's not too hot.)

3. use one big cupful to just get your hair wet and splash a little water on the rest of you.  shampoo.

4. use two big cupfuls to rinse out the shampoo.  apply conditioner.

5. using the water that's on you from washing your hair, soap yourself.

6. use three big cupfuls to rinse out conditioner and rinse yourself.  remember to switch hands so you can wash both arms.

7. be amazed at how little water you actually used.  consider whether you should save the rest for a later shower or hand washing.  if you have ample supply or are feeling sorry for yourself because you hate bucket showers, even hot ones, pick up the bucket and slowly pour the rest of the water over your head with your eyes closed, pretending like it's coming from a showerhead.

you are clean!  bucket shower success.

Comments

[Onur]

Bah hahahahahahahahaha Uncle! Great list. Can I add *Take more shewors because my astronaut diaper is stinking more as the election nears*Visit Iraq again & get out checkbook to pay US soldiers to come see me*Visit Osama bin Laden at the Kennebunkport Bush Compound*Give George H.W. Bush a blowjob to thank him for having Little Georgie*Destroy Vietnam service records 'cause the damn liberals are asking too many questionsBah hahahahahahaha!Molly, I think Obama is right about gas prices. The Oil Maggots (starting with Cheney's secret energy policy) have screwed us. Now if Obama says on his first day as president, I'm going to bomb the shit out of Saudi Arabia to make the King and his family run in terror , I'd be happy with that! LOLBah hahahahaha! Great video Grant. Can you imagine if Johnny McTeleprompter did that? His dentures would go flying! Also Grant, I think TRUE progressives make up a much smaller amount than 46%. There are some Democrats who would love to call themselves that but their record surely doesn't reflect it! I agree that many are probably more in the middle (as far as I'm concerned this is the dangerous area of the road by the way LOL).Hi Clif! How's your vacation going? I hope good. Oh yes, 20 hours of actual combat is exactly the qualification one needs to be president (and then spending the rest of your combat service living in a cage). I bet McTeleprompter's 20 hours of service is equal to the amount of time George Bush was sober during his service to the country! Bah hahahahahaha! I love Bill Maher sometimes. Yep. Johnny McTeleprompter will be peeing at 3am just about every day!

[liza myers]

LOL!
Reminds me of when I lived in the NM desert for 6 years. We didn't have running water either- had to catch it off the roof during the rare rains, melt snow or hire a neighbor with a water truck to bring it up from a spring next to the Rio Grande.
Moving to Paraguay after that was moving into the lap of luxury...
Running water AND electricity!

Working in a developing country for at least 6 months should be MANDATORY for young Americans.
Imagine how much more appreciative we would be of our daily comforts, and how much more eager we'd be to SAVE THE PLANET AND ALL ITS CREATURES!
What an amazing experience you are having!!!!
Again, thanks SO MUCH for sharing.
Wish I could come visit!

[justin bieber shoes]

I feel mostly on top of things when we all burst through the door.

[Putra]

You were right about hotter! We slept dtrasoniws on the futon. Guess we are going to have to get with the program and get some of those air conditioning window inserts. They look so ugly. But I'll do anything after last night. We're such rubes! Oh well. We're learning. This afternoon a lovely rain. But I'm not sure that helped the humidity. At least I took a break from the upstairs painting/etc. and went shopping. Herberger's is an amazing store. I can't believe the bargains. I got two pants, two t-shirts and a dressy top all for $57-! Also some glasses, bowls, and two bamboo tv trays. XXXXXXOOOOOOO Diane

[Simplelivinghamilton.wordpress.com]

great post! I used bucket showers while living in Manila this past summer; my wife and I took them home to Canada.

I just posted about this on

http://simplelivinghamilton.wordpress.com/