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That daily shower scramble - a different viewpoint

A good Spanish born and bred friend told me that one is meant to suffer walking a Camino.
And my response to that is that there is already plenty of suffering in the world. No need to intentionally add more!

Cold showers remind me of the 6 weeks that I spent in Guatemala taking Spanish lessons and staying with local families. Most homes didn't have water heaters, and hot water for the shower came from an electric shower head, aka suicide shower for obvious reasons, though properly installed they didn't pose a huge risk. Properly installed being the important factor! The greater the volume of water going through the shower head the cooler the shower would be, it was a delicate balance between enough water to clean yourself and temperature. One of my teachers told me that they didn't heat any water in her home and that she preferred cold showers.
 
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All this talk of cold showers is making me smile. A cold shower is relative; it depends where one is in the world. Where I live now, a cold shower is frigid; I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Where I lived when I was growing up in the tropics, the water pipes were above ground and the sun could heat the water in the pipes to a temperature where ‘cold’ water coming out of the shower head was hotter than was comfortable in the tropical heat.

The coldest water I encountered in a shower on the camino was still pretty tepid; not much to complain about, really.
 
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My only cold shower was in San Anton, and I loved the place so much that the chill of the water was insignificant.
 
My father used to say 'only dirty people wash'. He would then go on to quote one of Queen Elizabeth the First's courtiers who reported, in tones of some wonder that 'her majesty baths once a month, whether she needs it or no'. My mother, however, was more concerned with the proprieties and insisted that we wash 'up, down and round the corners' every day. You do not need to shower every day. But it helps if you wear merino.
 
Observation:
  • Hundreds of years ago, when bathing was very infrequent, people had 6, 8, or 10 children (that survived!).
  • Nowadays, when bathing is daily, people have 1 or 2 children.
Conclusion:
  • ?
Co-occurrence is no proof of causality. It may be that with 6, 8, or 10 children, people didn't have time for baths - and wouldn't have been able to get in the bathroom anyway - I found it hard enough with just two offspring.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
My mother, however, was more concerned with the proprieties and insisted that we wash 'up, down and round the corners' every day.
Love your mother's words!
Growing up my mom always said "Make sure you wash behind your ears" but we only bathed once a week so must have been dirtier than you. We were 5 children and even used the same bathwater...ahhh, the good old days.
 
When I was involved with a student exchange program we recognised that cultural norms can be very different, and there are many unwritten rules. We would have to explain some of the Australian unwritten rules to incoming students. One of those was that in Australia people shower daily. I recall the horror from a Thai student, who thought it revolting that we only showered once a day. She was used to showering two, three or four times every day.

Which leads me to the view that "it depends on the weather". I feel very uncomfortable not to shower if I have been sweating. Which is usually the case when I walk 20 kilometres. Even in the cold - and more so if it is raining and I am encased in plastic.

If you sweat, please wash. Not many of us have the courage to tell someone they smell bad.
 
One of those was that in Australia people shower daily. I recall the horror from a Thai student, who thought it revolting that we only showered once a day. She was used to showering two, three or four times every day
Here (right next door to Thailand) we share the Thai custom. To cool down if nothing else.

Yes...cultural norms definitely differ!
I grew up in Hawai'i. When a friend was about to leave home to go to university, his mom told him not to be shocked that people on the mainland didn't bathe as much as we did (every day, sometimes twice a day). I thought she was just poking fun at Texans, and only realized later that she wasn't when it was my turn to go to university. When people went to bed without bathing first, or only showered every other day, I was shocked.

On the camino? It really stinks when people do that. Literally.
 
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Anyone who has lived in a tropical country, particularly in SEAsia, understands the powerful negative stigma attached to not bathing or showering frequently enough. When I taught ESL in Bangkok many years ago I once asked my students -- just for fun -- how often they thought farangs bathed. "Once a week?" someone ventured. "Once a month?" suggested another. "Oh, but not YOU, teacher!" LOL
 
My parents improved their standard of living by the time I was about ten years old. We had a bigger house with a shower, so I began bathing/showering every day.
Many years ago I was part of a traveling ministry where everyone lived in campers, and many of them had no AC unit. It was sweltering hot one summer in Texas and I recall one couple telling us they had to take showers and immediately flop into bed dripping wet just to be able to sleep.
 
Without a doubt I advise all pilgrims who have made the decision to stay in albergues to bathe everyday. It is just plain the polite and considerate thing to do when communal living. Even the busiest, most crowded albergue on the Camino has empty showers and no queue's just a couple of hours after the initial rush (1300-1600). If one can hold out that long one has the facilities to one's self. Of course most, myself included, shower during the rush so as to get laundry on the line. I do not mind the cold water in a shower, especially on warm summertime Caminos and I do the "ship shower" routine anyway. Rinse, turn off water, soap up...rinse. Takes less than ten minutes maximum (rude albergue water hogs take note).
 
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