Okay this is just getting funny now. My poor poor host here in Monteverde. He put in an entirely new beautiful modern bathroom right before I arrived. It even has (had) a hot water heater instead of the typical "widow-maker" or "suicide shower" type of instant-on in the showerhead itself. He was pretty proud of it. Rightly so until I had to take a shower. No hot water.

On recommendation of his plumber, I turned on the sink hot water to get hot water into the shower pipes, then turn on the shower hot water. Nope, as soon as the sink hot water ran out, it was only cold. I could get just enough hot water to soap up and quick rinse. Then I'd jump out of the shower, run the sink again, and get a few more seconds of hot water so I didn't freeze.

This went on for days. My host would tell me "don't worry, we have a Plan B." The electrical / plumber guy would come, look for something, replace the hot water heater entirely (!), redo some plumbing, then finally Plan D was to put in a widow-maker. I felt so bad the problems he was having and that he had to un-do his nice hot water tank. Such is the rental business i suppose, but I am all too familiar with the headaches and stress this sort of thing causes.

So brand new widow-maker. Well, um, that didn't hold either. I would get like 30 seconds of hot water, then it would freeze! Sometimes I could get my hair washed before it got cold, sometimes not. I followed the instructions and ran it strong for a minute, then backed off to very little water pressure because that's the point where the water gets hot.

As this was going on, Vanessa the live-in maid offered for me to use her shower. My host actually offered for me to use the one in their home too which was super gracious but I just felt more comfortable using hers.

So I had to coordinate with her when I needed to shower, texting in Spanish. She'd let me into her small room and I was finally able to get clean. OMG it felt so good. :)

Over the last 2 weeks it's been on again, off again. I'll get enough warm/hot water to eke out a shower or sometimes just take a cold shower, but it's never been quite right. Chino comes back to spread more mud and check the electricity, etc. I have a feeling they think I'm just an idiot and don't know how to use it. I got to thinking that too!

Last night the new cleaning gal came over because she has the exact same one at home. She tired it out. Nope, she declared it broken. OMG poor host.

Back over across the courtyard in the rain this morning to Vanessa's place. But she's back in the city now and the key is left in the door so I can use it whenever I want. It's working out fine.