Having toured a bunch of rental places in the last weeks, I’m getting a sense of the difference between ‘Gringo’ and Mexican standards when it comes to housing, if only here on Isla and in Maz (based on what friends have told me about house hunting on that side of the channel). One thing we Gringos expect is running hot water throughout the house. I’ve learned over the last year that hot water isn’t common in the average Isla/Maz residence and if a house has it, it’s just at the shower, with an on-demand heater installed right into the shower head (regadera electrica).

My house was built with an attempt to provide the Gringo standard of running hot water throughout the house, but the person who did the plumbing screwed up royally (my landlady’s judgement, not mine, although, knowing more than a thing or two about plumbing, I agree!). The house has an ancient propane water heater that is nearly as temperamental as my water heater at home. It’s a joke between my landlady and me that I have a water heater curse. But not only is the water heater unreliable, so is the water pressure in the hot water lines. Right now, I have zero water coming out of the hot side in the shower.

Because running water, never mind running hot water, has been something of a luxury most of my adult life, having spent so many winters in housing where keeping water running wasn’t an option, I’m very tolerant of my situation. The woman who was in the little suite last year wasn’t and so they installed a regadera electrica for her that runs off the cold water line, which has plenty of pressure.

Early last week, I brought up the subject of the no hot shower thing in my suite and my landlady said that she would have a regadera electrica installed for me ASAP because it was time to stop fighting the decrepit hot water heater and badly plumbed hot water line.

As an interim solution, I have the key to the little suite so I can have a warm shower there. Warm rather than hot since you can only set the shower head to the lower setting. This is something Wandering Mike discovered after blowing a breaker and which I completely forgot. So there I was in the shower last night when the lights went out and the water got freezing very quickly! You should have heard me laughing as I fumbled around in the dark to get myself presentable enough for the quick dash back to my suite!

Oh, and guess where the breaker is for the little suite? In my kitchen. That’s another thing I have to get used to here in Mexico. There are apparently no electrical building codes!

Maybe it’s because I’m used to living in places that don’t meet Gringo standards or because I am aware that clean running water and a flush toilet are something only a small percentage of the world has, but I just can’t get upset about the situation. My landlady is doing what she can and has given me a solution. And, of course, the longer I have to use the little suite for a shower, the longer I’m guaranteed not to have a tenant in it! Having Mike here was, of course, not an issue, but what if I end up with a horrible person like I did last year, even if only for a week or two?! Really, this is for the best!