Washing My Clothes in the River

My clothes have just started to dry and its been 3 days since I washed them. Normally washing clothes would not be something that someone would write about I'm guessing and if they did I'm sure it would be pretty boring. This case is different. I've never hand washed anything and especially not in a river so I was going to need help. I enlisted the 12 year old girl living in the house since it was part of her daily activities anyway.

The process of washing your clothes in the river is not too difficult. At least not here. In the house/hut I'm living in we happen to have a small stream running just below us which makes a perfect washing area. For others, washing clothes in the larger river is not uncommon. I see it pretty much every day. I'm sure the process can be changed and is different around the world where people wash clothes in rivers or streams or any running water so I guess it would be interesting to know how they do it here. It's pretty simple. First, you throw your piece of clothing in the river to get it wet, then you take your bar of washing soap and rub it on your clothes as much as you desire. Then, you take the piece of clothing and slap it against a rock or piece of wood until its thoroughly beaten. You also rinse your newly beaten article of clothing and put it in a bucket to be hung up.

There is also the method of kneading your clothes while dipping it back into the river regularly to get all the soap out. I chose this method because I had been warned that the other would stretch my clothes and put holes in them. This was pretty obvious to me but I guess some volunteers had to try it out.

I have about one full travel/hiking backpack full of clothes which isn't much compared to what people usually have. What is in my backpack is all that I own more or less. It took me about 3 hours to smash and pull the dirt out of them and hang them up. It just so happened that it rained for two days straight after that so they are still wet.

In relation to this. I have developed a rash where my clothes are staying wet. Or at least that is what I believe it is. At first I thought it was hives. I used to get hives all the time as a kid and remember what they look like so I was pretty dead set on them being just that. After talking to some people here though I now believe its from being wet all the time. After taking the hour and a half trip to the doctor and realizing that non of them were open because it was Sunday, I ended up buying some cream that is supposed to help. I can at least sleep now without waking up from the itching pain.

Health Report:

As I said before I've got some weird jungle rash throughout my body that many o soldier in Vietnam probably got and can tell me exactly how to get rid of. I'm still coughing which makes this sickness probably one of the longest ones I've ever had. I can hear now which is awesome. My foot started to hurt a little the other day and it caused a little alarm but I think it's going to be fine. I went the craziest hike ever today and it didn't bother me. Might be a different story when I start playing soccer here. My allergies are always going to bother me and I've given up trying to defeat them. There are about 1k different species of plants here and I think I'm allergic to half of them. Other than that I seem to be good. I haven't eaten meat in a while except for some barracuda the other night. They tried to feed me chicken necks today for lunch but I declined. It mostly been rice and plantains and I'm hoping this diet will be OK for the couple months that I will be staying host families. I've tried to become more active so I don't pack on any pounds from the extra carbs.