My Laundry is in Limbo

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the maid comes to George's house to cook, clean, and do laundry. Having a maid or a nanny is a very popular thing is this country. I can safely say that EVERYONE has a maid or a nanny, or both, and sometimes a chauffeur too. Hired help like this is super, super cheap in the DR, as are visits to the salon, spa, etc. It is a country of comforts among so many other discomforts.

Yesterday the maid was here, so I thought it would be a great idea to wash some of my clothes since I haven't done laundry since last Wednesday when I was preparing to move out of my apartment. I still had clean clothes left, but I figured having the rest of them washed would give me more options. Plus, I still haven't decided what I am going to wear on the plane home.

George has a washing machine, but not a dryer since electricity is extremely expensive and not so plentiful. At George's house, they usually they wash their clothes and hang them out to dry in the hot caribbean sun, which is quick, free, and easy. I had a dryer at my apartment. I guess my EX-boss thought that we foreign hires would go nuts-o without "the basics" that we are accustomed to.

Anyways, the point here is that most of my clothes got washed yesterday. But it also rained heavily yesterday, which means that my clothes are still wet 24 hours later. Now really, this isn't a big deal except for the fact that clothes get this "rain" smell if they get rained on, or stay wet for too long. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's all the mirco-organisms living in the water that you shouldn't drink straight from the tap. Whatever the cause, the smell really is unpleasant. And my clothes were getting there. Something needed to be done, fast.

First we hung everything around George's room and turned the fan on full blast. Then we peeked outside and saw that the skies were oscillating between cloudy and clear, so we decided to chance it and put the clothes out on the roof to dry. Big mistake. Out of the blue, literally, it began pouring buckets and there was not a clear patch of sky in sight. All the clothes got even more wet---and stinky. 15 minutes later, the skies cleared and now there is not a cloud in sight. Figures.

The clothes are back in the washing machine now since the only way to kill the smell is to re-wash them. Hopefully the weather holds out, or I'll be coming home in my knickers.