It’s Been a While . . .
Posted on August 10, 2010 - Filed Under Guatemala, Simple Life | 13 Comments
since I washed clothes in a washing machine. As in, almost a decade. To be perfectly honest, I have had someone else washing for me for the past six months or so. And way back when I lived in Antigua in a shared house, we had a teensy machine, which I used exactly once because there were eleven of us in the house and it was always in use.
But now . . .
I guess I should start at the beginning. We had a pila, a big concrete sink for washing outside. It worked, but since the levels are all wonky here, we had to install drainage and then lift the sucker up onto a concrete pad. Irving hired some very stupid people to build the pad. They came one evening after work, threw up a concrete block square, filled it loosely with assorted junk and a bit of dirt and smeared concrete on top.
I actually took photos when the guys returned the next morning, about 8 hours after doing all this and heaved the pila up onto the still soft concrete, gouging a big hole in it, but they are on the dead laptop.
After ignoring my polite suggestion that they wait until the concrete was actually hard, they shoved the pila into position, then proceeded to cover everything with more concrete. Oh, and they accidentally put the drainage pipe and holes too close to the wall, so they didn’t line up with the actual pila drainage. Hmmm, that seems familiar . . .
Anyway. Within a week, the concrete cracked and the pila began to sink. We lived with it for months. My maid mentioned one day that she could not wash clothes very well anymore because the pila was tilted so far forward, the water didn’t drain at all. We shoved a piece of wood under the front and decided to get a washing machine when there was more money. Meanwhile, the front wall fell down, the dirt and concrete chipped away until there wasn’t much left in front of the pila.
Fast forward to last week when we finally sold the car. Irving was in a panic when he examined the concrete base and realized that the pila was mashing the drainage pipe (which is also the pipe for the shower). We decided to speed up our plans, use the cash from the car to purchase the cheapest machine we could find and get rid of the pila. The plan was to remove the pila, put down another layer of concrete and install the washer.
The best laid plans, they say.
It was rapidly evident that this was going to be a serious endeavor and since we had planned originally for the washer to go in the corner by the bathroom . . . we decided to just fill that area in instead and put it in its permanent home right now.
Irving got our maid’s husband to help him out and put in the concrete pad.
Yesterday we went to buy the washing machine and at the last minute, Irving decided to irritate me and insisted on going to yet another store, even though we’d already found the cheapest washer in Antigua. Or so I thought! Turns out the place he wanted to go had capital prices! We ended up paying Q72 more for a washing machine that was considerably larger than the one we had intended to buy. 
This morning, my handy guy read the instruction manual, watched videos on YouTube and set to work fixing up the plumbing to work with the machine and installing it. As we speak, the very first load of wash is just finishing up!
And now the pila sits, awaiting its banishment to my mother-in-law’s house.
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13 Responses to “It’s Been a While . . .”
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Congrats – I remember washing clothes by hand the first 6 months or so I was in Peru, until we bought a washer. I think I’ve got the same LG as you, just an older model – all the buttons look the same, anyway.
I found I still had to wash socks by hand in hot water (I don’t know about y’all, we don’t have hot water for anything but the shower), the washer and the hard water just never seemed to get them clean enough.
Yeah, we don’t have hot water except in the shower either . . . but I was thinking you could probably fill the washer halfway and then pour in boiling water. I really, really, REALLY hate washing socks by hand!
Is your washer still going?
yes, I remember that pila. Couldn’t believe the horrid job they had done when we visited you. But I love your new washing machine, enjoy it
One thing I did think was strange though, the washing machines at HiperPaiz were plastic… hard plastic, but albeit plastic cover and stuff. My sister in law has one… the basic metal ones were much more expensive, but everything I saw was toploading… and wondered if they had frontloaders there too like mine are. Congrats on your new machine!
You got the right brand – as they say in the commercials “LG – life is good!”
I’d never want to give up my washer but I do covet a pila for my utility room. Haven’t figured out how to get one to the US, though!
The top of this one is plastic, actually, but the base is metal. It’s kind of weird . . . but the solid metal ones cost about Q1,000 more. I haven’t seen any front loading ones, though I’ve heard really good things about them.
Genesis…what is a pila…is it a wash station? I’ve never heard of one before.
Your new washing machine is beautiful…hope it gives you years and years of trouble free service.
Kimmie
Kimmie, a pila is a wash station. It’s usually concrete, with a central reservoir for the water and a section on each side for washing. One side is smooth, for dishes and the other is ribbed for clothes. You can see it in the last photo there . . . a bizarre looking thing, isn’t it?!
WooooHoooo!! Time to celebrate! What a beautiful thing! Looks like your little guys are ready to learn to wash.
Dante sure is! Dorian couldn’t care less that there’s something new in the house.
LG is a solid brand! What an awesome looking machine. Sorry your old pila was installed so badly. While it’s good you got it replaced, I can imagine such a wash station would be very handy!
I´ve always wondered how you wash mops without a pila??? I´m too Guatemalan to think of any alternative, and handwashing anything without a pila is much more labor intensive, I think.
Congratulations on your washing machine!
Kelly and Genesis, if you soak the socks for 15 to 20 minutes in detergent before you put them in the washing machine, it´ll be easier to get them clean.
Our washer is still going strong – it has a little lint trap sack in it that is completely useless and full of holes, but other than that it’s doing great.
Thanks for the tip Cristina – that’s really pretty much what I do – soak in boiling water with detergent, and squish’em good with an old hand potato masher! after that, they go in the washer.
Well, I tried washing the mops (rinsed out, of course) in the machine, but it, uh, didn’t like that much. :S So we’ll just be washing those in a bucket.
Thanks for the tip with socks! I just put in the first load of whites with the white socks, we’ll see how they come out. Most of our socks are black, so you can’t see the dirt, lol.