What's with the bottles of water?

[jeffnd]

Did anyone else notice the bottles of water? I always saw them in little villages by people's front doors. I thought they might be left for pilgrims who needed a drink, but that didn't make much sense. Most towns have a water fountain so why drink tepid water that has been sitting out in the sun all day when fresh water was readily available? Second thing that made me think the water wasn't for drinking was that a lot of it didn't look very clean.

A person I walked with said they might be used for bug repellant, but I don't see how a bottle of water would keep bugs away.

 

[Felipe]

Yes, your kind informant is right. Not only in Spain, in many countries it is quite customary to hang plastic bags (the bottles are apparently a modernization of this idea) filled with water to repel flies and mosquitoes. It is a practice popular with some restaurant owners, and they swear for it. I heard somewhere a (seudo?)scientific theory about difraction of sunlight and bugs becoming disoriented. Sounds as material for a"Mythbusters" program...and who knows? It could even work.

 

[ivar]

I see this in my neighborhood as well... bottles of water in front of garage doors and doors leading out to the street. Why? Dogs will not pee on these bottles (=will not pee on the door). With no bottles, dogs would leave their mark... and then the next one comes along and will leave its mark and so on.. It actually works!

 

[Finisterre]

very curious

I learn something bonkers every time I come on here!

 

[bystander]

Ivar, apparently they also keep cats away. It is said if you put half filled bottles in your garden on their normal path it will frighten them off - supposedly by seeing some sort of distorted reflection of themselves.

Oops, must get my camera - just seen a pig circling overhead.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

It's an old English custom worth following - tie bottles of water to your knees, and apparently it keeps blisters away, too.....

 

[scruffy1]

Ivar got it absolutely correct. Many doors along the Camino stand behind another half door easily opened and when shut is a comfortable place to lean and gossip. It is also there to keep dogs, cats, rabbits, and other varmints from entering the house. Many houses along the Camino are made from something like stucco or even adobe, materials which readily absorb dog urine which will dry however the odor will persist for decades! Are the bottles effective? Can't argue with tradition.

 

[scruffy1]

or

 

[Silvester]

I see this in my neighborhood as well... bottles of water in front of garage doors and doors leading out to the street. Why? Dogs will not pee on these bottles (=will not pee on the door). With no bottles, dogs would leave their mark... and then the next one comes along and will leave its mark and so on.. It actually works!

Leaving 2 litre plastic bottles of water on the lawn used to be quite common if you had no boundary fence at the street. People told me that dogs were seriously impressed at the prospective size of the resident dog if it had droppings that big so didn't dare mark the lawn. However I haven't noticed many bottles lately - maybe the dogs smelled a rat. Besides the bottles rolled all over the verge when you tried mowing the lawn.

 

[annakappa]

Correct, Ivar and Scruffy!

 

[AJ]

Correct, Ivar and Scruffy!

They won´t foul a water supply is what I have heard.

 

[OzAnnie]

Same 'but different', it was explained to me that it was a deterrent for dogs 'going' in that area, because dogs wouldn't soil in their drinking area. (Water bottles ). That's my story ! Maybe Ozzie dogs !

 

[Harington]

Did anyone else notice the bottles of water? I always saw them in little villages by people's front doors. I thought they might be left for pilgrims who needed a drink, but that didn't make much sense. Most towns have a water fountain so why drink tepid water that has been sitting out in the sun all day when fresh water was readily available? Second thing that made me think the water wasn't for drinking was that a lot of it didn't look very clean.

A person I walked with said they might be used for bug repellant, but I don't see how a bottle of water would keep bugs away.

They're to stop dogs peeing on the doorstep.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

They're to stop dogs peeing on the doorstep.

That is what I was told. Dogs use the bottle instead of fire hydrants and doors. Since I have seen dogs lifting a leg on the bottles, I am not sure it is a deterrant.

 

[tploomis]

Jars of water are very popular in yards in Hawaii to keep dogs off the lawn. The custom persists, despite a lack of empirical support for the practice.

 

[jgray]

i asked my albergue owner. he said it wards off dogs and flies. something about the visual distortion caused by the water. in louisiana you'll see baggies full of water at cafes for the same reason.