Washing Day!

Oh my gosh you guys. Today was so amazing I’m not evening going to wait until tomorrow to write about it, lest I forget anything.

I got up pretty late this morning, I think about 9am. I had slept in but then the birds and construction going on over our heads on the second floor of the building finally convinced me to leave my warm bed and head out into the freshness of the morning. Several of the kids were already at work cleaning, preparing food, and doing laundry. Others were being lazy like me. After getting ready and fully awake, I asked Hernan (you’ll see him in the videos in a minute) what I could help with.

(((((get photo of Hernan))))))

He pointed toward the kitchen and said I could help Humberto peel potatoes. Humberto was hunched over a bucket of red potatoes with a potato peeler (it takes a lot to feed ~30 people) and a strainer to throw the peels into. He was silently and without complaint completing his work, but was certainly happy to have some help, even if I was only doing one to his like 10 potatoes. The knives here are the equivalent to what you might buy at a dollar store, dull and not terribly well-made, so it took me awhile to get into the rhythm of it. You know, spoiled as I am back home. Esteyci joined up pretty quickly, but had the same trouble as I. We had a good time of it, though!

Alcides showed up right at the end of the peel-a-thon (he lives in Cusco with his family, but comes out almost every day and sometimes stays the night). We cleaned everything up, left the potatoes in a giant bowl of water for later, and went out to chat. He ended up asking us “computer wizzes” to put together a standardized document for each kid here that includes his name, a photo, important information, and a personal history, mainly for when the State comes to check things out so he can produce all of the important stuff on-the-spot in an easy-to-read format. Which we are happy to do. I have since created a template and one copy for each kid (that’s not one of Anastacia’s) here. I just now have to get a photo of each one, and wait for Alcides to come back with the rest of the information.

After that, I went to the other side of the property where half of the kids were knee-deep in washing day. Saturdays are automatically the day to do laundry, so a lot of the kids just go ahead and get it over with early. They’re all responsible for their own laundry, and sometimes help each other out. When I asked if he’d be willing to teach me, one of the younger ones laughed, pointed, and said Hernan would teach me. Thankfully Hernan was willing to teach me, or I’d have ended up doing my own all wrong!

I documented the experience as best I could for you guys, since everything is so very different here. There are no machines — it is all done by hand. And let me tell you, it’s not easy! My poor little arthritic hands almost fell off. But amidst the pain was a certain brilliance to the simplicity of it.

Okay, first off I should explain that they do laundry in two places — one is the designated laundry sink area, and the other (right next to the lines) are in equivalent round wash bins. They do it this way because there are so many clothes to wash and not enough time, so they split up the work areas. They just choose which they prefer. The sinks are a more organized method, but about 30–40 paces from the lines, and when you’re carrying dripping and heavy clothes, that’s a consideration. I chose the sinks, or Hernan did, rather.

So the first thing you do is turn on the water and begin filling the sink to about halfway. Given the water pressure at those faucets, that takes about 10 minutes. You’re basically just soaking the clothes, so you can poke at them, but that’s all that’s required. I can now see that it’s hard to tell, but this “load” would be considered between small and medium for a washing machine in the States. I was washing 2 jeans, 2 leggings, 2 t-shirts, 1 undershirt, 1 beach towel, a thin pullover, and some delicates and socks.

After soaking, you wring out the water in each piece of clothing and set it to the side. Drain the water and refill. Then pull out the bag of “detergente”. As you can see, even though it’s in a bag, it’s still the same as our powdered detergent back home.

Once you pour in roughly a large handful of detergente, agitate slightly.

Once all of the soup has dissolved into a nice big pile of bubbles, add in your whites. They go in order of lightest to darkest so 1) if anything bleeds you’re not dying your whites later on down the lines and 2) the water will inherently get dirtier as more clothes pass through, and your darks can take that better.

However many pieces of clothing go in your first pass, you wash/scrub them by hand like this:

If you’re washing something heavy duty that will hurt your hands to scrub or is particularly dirty, you use a brush:

Then one more dip in the water, and wring all of the water and soap out possible:

Repeat until you’ve done all of your clothes. Drain and rinse the sink. Refill (another 10 minute wait). Then throw all of your clothes back in the clean water, agitate, wring out, and set to the side again.

Drain. Refill. Repeat 1 more time to get all of the soap out. Then you’re ready to hang! Total time: about 1 1/2 hours.

It was super sunny out when I hung them, but of course within about two hours it clouded up and the wind picked up. I came back from a walk to the market to half of my clothes laying on the ground. One of my t-shirts had even been pooped on by a chicken. So yeah, I got to do this wash cycle all over again.

Even though it was tough, it was super gratifying. It was also fun explaining how dryers work back home, to the amazement of even the older kids.

When Esteyci and I got back from the market for some fruit and juice, after I rewashed that t-shirt, I went back to the kitchen where Alcides had started cooking up lunch since Anastacia hadn’t yet returned from her trip to Cusco. I wish I had gotten a picture, but was too busy helping cook and making memories (sorry, not sorry). I think you’ll be able to picture this delicious soup though. Alcides was being nice and going against his better judgement to make a vegetarian soup so I could eat more than just rice and bread today. He’s one of those “God says we should eat meat so it’s practically a sin to be vegetarian” types, so that made the gesture that more meaningful. I’ll write the recipe below (at least for those who understand recipes without measurements). Since they only have one solid meal a day, they seem to do a soup for the first course and rice and something the second, at least so far. Today it was this soup then rice with a fried egg and fried plantains. I wish I could eat like this everyday!

Sopa de tallerín (Noodle Soup)

Water (base)
Carrots
Green Onions
White Onions
Tomatoes
Celery
Potatoes
Noodles (they were kind of in between ramen and spaghetti; any will do)
A chile seasoning of your choice. She used a local one that looks like paprika called sibarita. I guess back home I’d probably use Adobo and throw in a pepper
Eggs
Oil
Salt

1. Put water on to boil. Peel and chunk potatoes. Peel and chop carrots. Chop celery and green onions. Chop tomato(es) and white onions.
2. Throw potatoes, carrots, celery, and green onions into the pot to cook. When potatoes get about 3/4 of the way cooked, start your flavor sauce.
3. For flavor sauce, throw some oil in a sauce pan with 1–2 chopped tomatoes and a chopped onion. Sauté for a few minutes (flip if you can, stir if you’re not cool) and then add a bit of the stock from the pot and your chile flavorings. Let it continue cooking and bubbling for a few minutes, then throw it in the brew. Add the noodles, wait a minute or two, and crack the eggs straight in (however many feels good). Salt to taste. After a few minutes, check that the potatoes and noodles are done. If they’re not, there’s no timing rush here. It can literally sit on the heat for hours.

If anyone actually tries this, please let me know how I can better my recipe! I know it’s super… well… not specific. But so basic and easy and delicious it’s worth a try!

After a late lunch we just hung out with the kids, checked the laundry again, read, wrote, and worked on Alcides’ project. For supper we had the usual pan y mate (bread and tea), but today was a treat! Anastacia brought out the chocolate syrup and we had chocolate bread! For my beloved family members, it tasted a lot like latino biscuits and chocolate gravy. For the rest of you, it tasted like Hershey’s syrup on day-old bread. And it was delicious dunked in the cinnamon mate, too.

After dinner the kids all go and draw, read, or watch a movie on one of the few good channels they get out here. Esteyci and I will probably turn in early again. It’s just so hard to sit out in the open with them when it’s so cold out here and so warm with a good book in bed! Maybe I’ll pull off the after-dark quality time soon.

And okay, I was totally planning on this photo not ever making a public appearance, because my attire is the epitomy of “laundry day and got nothing to wear once the temps hit 45F” but since it’s otherwise pretty cool, I’m sucking it up. Once you stop laughing at my fashion sense, you’ll notice a macaw on my arm. Her name is Laura. She’s a terror. But she’s also my friend. All she does all day is invent new ways to get into the kitchen and eat everything in sight. But we have a special relationship now that I’ve had to chase her out 18 billion million times, and I’m convinced she loves me.