August 9, 2011

The Mexican Washcloth

It puzzled me when I first started traveling to Mexico. How is it that the hotels did not have wash cloths for their guests? Now, after owning lodging for several years, I have some insight.
If you are here in the heat, you will see part of the answer: Workers outside wear them on their heads to break the sun and keep the perspiration close, so as not to get heat stroke. And those washcloths get a workout, day in and day it. A yucky thought.
Demure ladies carrying parasols dab at themselves with washcloths. Hardly a lady leaves home without one! Sometimes, a handkerchief will be clutched instead. But really, in this heat, it's a washcloth's job.
Because of those sweaty reasons, it is unfathomable to Mexicans that we would want one of those things in the shower while we are trying to get clean! Yuck!
Then, because they aren't so aesthetically appealing, cleaners and maids latch onto them and clean! Corners of counter tops, inside the shower where green things grow. Same for refrigerator spaces. Apply some bleach and rub hard. Oh, the acrylic glasses you don't want scratched with a fiber sponge? A washcloth! Cotton! Those wash clothes don't stand a chance. They are rags before you know it and have never made it into the shower!
So that dozen I pack in my suitcase. the 24 pack from Sam's Club, the occasional larger individual ones at the SuperXpress, they are all gone. They found other uses! Actually other uses and users found them.
Here, sisal and heartier fibers rule. You want to get clean in the shower? Grab something that will exfoliate you! And hang on to it so no one reappropriates it!

3 comments:

texusrhed said...

Love this blurb!

kateyb said...

<3 you write so well you have me giggling about bath linens! aaah! a few more weeks and were there... i cant wait!

krisla said...

So True! Just returned from Merida with a friend, and we both had washcloths out all the time, mopping our faces, and I've decided microfiber holds up the best! :)