La Lavanderia Lassen

Well, we have made it!! We didn't have internet for weeks...something about how foreigners can't own internet access...well, that has been solved, so Skype us!!

We are all settled in. We have a nice apartment. It came furnished with 2 beds, one in the bedroom for us and the other, well it's actually dual purpose, it's a couch and a bed in the living room. It even came with tie-dyed sheets, so we can't complain and all of you have a free place to sleep!!

But, we don't have a laundry machine...well, we do but it is the "Joe Lassen" muscle power brand and a concrete sink on the patio called a "pila" (pictured above). The pila is a concrete basin and a connected concrete washer board.

The following is a demonstration of how to use a pila, by Jen and Joe...

First, you have to stuff a sock into the hole in the bottom so that all of the water doesn't run out of the basin. Then you fill it with washing powder, water and clothes.

And then, well, you scrub, scrub, scrub, on the concrete washer board...

After that, all that is left is to rinse and ring it out...

And hang it to dry on the patio, wait at least 24 hours if there isn't any rain that night and your clothes are clean and as dry as is possible in the rain forest!!

Oh yeah, and there's Scarlet Macaws that fly through town and roost in the almond trees. Eating the almonds and then dropping the husks on the tin roof of your room at like 5 am...

Also, just to make you a little jealous, we are 1 block off the beach and the waters of the Gulfo Dulce!!

We love you all and miss you all!! We send our warmest wishes from probably one of the warmest places on earth!! Can't wait for you to visit!!