Come on in! The water’s fine!

One of the most common pieces of advice we’ve had when people hear about our move is, “Don’t drink the water!” Considering all of the other issues that go along with an international move, the water is probably a minor one, but the effects of drinking bad water can be debilitating – at least temporarily.

When Ben and I went to Zanzibar during our 5-week camping trip from Nairobi to Johannesburg, I made the mistake of ordering a frozen drink. I didn’t think about the ice, and that decision resulted in 2 days spent in the bathroom, wondering how long I should sit there holding the trash can before I needed to go to the hospital. Our 3 nights in Zanzibar were the only nights of the trip (besides the first and last) that we were not in a tent, so I guess if it was going to happen, that was the best time.

In Morocco we never drink the tap water, but there’s something about the food or the spices they use that always gives us some “digestional irregularities.” Our pediatrician told me a long time ago to pack fiber gummies and that would help to free up the bathroom. We’ve never gotten really sick there, but my brother and sister-in-law did and it was not pretty.

The house we rented last time we were here in Mexico has a water filtration system, but I had no intention of drinking the water from the tap. We were only here for a month, so we could make do with bottled water. I don’t know what caused that plan to go out the window but we threw caution to the wind and drank the tap water from Day 1 with no problems.

Our current house also has a water filtration system, but when we arrived there was an empty giant water bottle with a spigot (like the office water cooler without the cooler). Adela told me that for 25 pesos ($1.50), Fernando could get us a new bottle. The tap water is probably fine, but for that price, it seemed like a good investment. Plus they re-fill the bottles so we’re not contributing to the plastic water bottle problem.  And…we can buy new bottles from Miguel at la papeleria (yes – water from the paper store) so it’s close by and gives us another excuse to chat with our neighbors.

We do use the tap water for everything else, including washing the dishes and brushing our teeth. Fruits and vegetables have to be soaked for 10 minutes in an antibacterial solution (there’s a lot of information about that here). I don’t know how I would have figured that out if it hadn’t been in the printed instructions that came with our first house here. It wasn’t mentioned by our current landlord or property manager, and there wasn’t a bottle of the stuff under the sink or a plastic tub dedicated to that purpose like we had last time. I guess everyone just knows that it’s a requirement.

The other water issue in some of the houses here is low water pressure. I’m very happy to say that our house has great water pressure and the shower in the master bath is fabulous. The washer and dryer work great too, and so far the laundry pile hasn’t gotten out of control. One thing to get used to has been washing dishes by hand (no dishwasher) but the kids are on a rotating schedule – 1 clears the table and puts away any leftovers, 1 washes, and 1 dries, while I have a glass of wine and supervise.

I can’t believe we’ve been here for a week already!  And Ben caught the cat!