El Jefe is really dreaming now

Clothes drying on the rocks by the river

Before going to get the washing machine repairman, El Jefe was at his brother's house borrowing his car.

He told his family that if this guy couldn't fix the washer, he was going to take me down to the river to wash clothes. (Yes, many women in Honduras still wash clothes on the rocks on the river banks.)

Well, needless to say the whole family started rolling on the floor laughing picturing La Gringa washing clothes in the river. Haha. His mother said "How are you going to do that?" (as in: you can lead a horse to the river, but you can't make them wash.) Haha. They took turns imagining me down there standing in the river washing my clothes. Haha. His brother said that El Jefe would have to get me a 5-gallon bucket to balance on my head when carrying the laundry. Haha. His sister-in-law pictured me arranging the wet clothes on the gravel and waiting all day for it to dry. Haha.

Actually, when he told me about it later, I laughed as hard as they did because that ain't gonna happen, nor will I be washing this mountain of laundry by hand in the pila. ;-)

I told him that the worst that I imagined was carrying our laundry baskets a half a mile down the road to the highway and waiting beside the road for a taxi to come by. That would be bad enough. I can't imagine what our neighbors would think.

Another reason that I could laugh is that both of the women now have their own washing machines and were pretty disappointed that both machines were broken. It is hard − for anyone − to go back to the old ways once you have experienced modern conveniences. Haha.