After the 15 minutes it took me to pick out a detergent (side note: options are wildly different in Costa Rica and the choice is spectacular; imagine an entire aisle dedicated to laundry detergent, with 14 different scents and 45 different properties1), I can’t figure out the washing machine. One of the premises of traveling light is being able to launder your clothes so I was elated when I settled into a complex that offers laundry on site. Excited to get the sweat, dust, sunscreen, and dog drool out of my clothes, imagine my puzzlement when I checked the load I had put on “gentle cycle” only to find it dripping wet. As in, sopping-pile-of-clothes, “what happened to the spin cycle?” dripping wet. I gave it another spin (pun intended), only to end up with the same result. Is this how clothes come out of the washer here? Do I need to adjust my expectations?
I repeated this internal dialogue out loud with my best friend (she’s in Canada and long-distance troubleshooting a washer left her equally puzzled) and my cousin, now my neighbour and resident expert on all things Costa Rica. He offered that the “gentle cycle” might not be a thing with this washer and to use the regular cycle. He even showed me exactly what option to choose and I put another load in, full of hope and optimism. 30 minutes later… same result. Many unanswered questions later, I wrung out my drippy clothes as best I could and called upon the dryer to work its magic. I hung up the non-dryer items on the shower curtain rod, silently praying that it wouldn’t come tumbling down – as it had in past travels, not once but twice, on different continents.
Fast forward a few days later, when my cousin casually mentions “oh by the way, they replaced the washer, it was broken”.
This makes me think about the quirks of travel that are often not discussed, but in my opinion make the experience rich and memorable. My best friend is afflicted by “bad travel juju” and try as we might (including having liquid smudge on hand at all times), it rears its head wherever we go.
On our last trip to Costa Rica, we were plagued by bathroom troubles. Lest you think I am about to launch into some diatribe about gastrointestinal issues, let me assure you that I mean mechanical bathroom troubles. As in, the toilet doesn’t flush, so let’s use a container – aka garbage can – to flush it (my idea and I’m very proud of it. My best friend looked at me like I had sprouted another head). I then somehow managed to block the sink in the same bathroom, which meant that using the toilet required pouring a garbage can full of water to flush the toilet then washing your hands in the shower. The next day our sink plug had been confiscated, proof that we couldn’t be trusted with such advanced tools. At least we were able to wash our hands in the sink again, and we also figured out that we could get the toiled to flush if we wiggled the thingamajig inside the tank.
In another bathroom the light went out. It took 4 people about 40 minutes to change the lightbulb and they told us it was a wiring issue – and to leave the light on at all times. When we asked what would happen if the light went out again we got shrugs. Phone flashlights came in handy for that one.
Each bathroom in each accommodation had a quirk, but the most epic was our toilet in Monteverde. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so tell me how many words am I saving with the video below? Sound on, and please watch until the end.
The key to facing all these challenges/quirks is laughter. I truly believe it keeps us sane, healthy, balanced. It would be easy to fall into negative thinking and diminish your experience, but I offer you an alternative – laugh about it, put it down as a memorable anecdote, and enjoy the heck out of your trip and your life. Go ahead, flush the singing toilet, wring out your clothes – and use uncontrollable laughter as the antidote to bad juju.
Life is full of quirks – laugh to smooth out their sharp edges and transform them into the precious memories that will make you smile years down the road.
What travel quirks (or life quirks) have you encountered? How many of them sent you into peals of laughter? Let me know in the comments – and let me know if you liked this post and want to read about more shenanigans like these! I’m off to do another load of laundry.
- Not actual numbers ↩︎
Postcards and shenanigans 
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