What's with the bottles of water?

jeffnd

Active Member

Time of past OR future Camino

March/April 2014

• Jul 15, 2014

• #1

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

Veteran Member

• Jul 15, 2014

• #2

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.

 

Last edited: Jul 15, 2014

ivar

Administrator

Staff member

Donating Member

• Jul 15, 2014

• #3

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

Active Member

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Sarria 2001,
Porto 2006,
Valenca 2008,
Finisterre 2010,
SJdPP 2012,
Tui 2014.

No plans to return, yet.

• Jul 15, 2014

• #4

very curious

I learn something bonkers every time I come on here!

 

bystander

Veteran Member

• Jul 15, 2014

• #5

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

Steve Nicholls, Suffolk, U.K.

Donating Member

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Too many caminos to list in the permitted 100 characters!!

• Jul 15, 2014

• #6

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

 

scruffy1

Veteran Member

Time of past OR future Camino

Holy Year from Pamplona 2010, SJPP 2011, Lisbon 2012, Le Puy 2013, Vezelay (partial watch this space!) 2014; 2015 Toulouse-Puenta la Reina (Arles)

• Jul 15, 2014

• #7

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

Veteran Member

Time of past OR future Camino

Holy Year from Pamplona 2010, SJPP 2011, Lisbon 2012, Le Puy 2013, Vezelay (partial watch this space!) 2014; 2015 Toulouse-Puenta la Reina (Arles)

• Jul 15, 2014

• #8

or

 

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Silvester

Member

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Camino del Salvador (2014)
Camino Primitivo (2014)
Camino Muxia (2014)
Camino Fisterra (2014)

• Jul 15, 2014

• #9

ivar said:

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!

Click to expand...

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

RIP 2024

Time of past OR future Camino

Part frances jun 07/rest frances may- jun 2008/Frances sept-oct 2009/ Sanabres Oct 2010/Frances sept-oct 2011/Aragones Sept-Oct 2012. Hospitalero Sept 2010, Amiga in Pilgrim's Office Oct 2013. Part Primitivo Oct 2013. Portugues from Porto June 2015.

• Jul 15, 2014

• #10

Correct, Ivar and Scruffy!

 

A

AJ

Guest

• Jul 15, 2014

• #11

annakappa said:

Correct, Ivar and Scruffy!

Click to expand...

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

 

OzAnnie

Veteran Member

Donating Member

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Oct/Nov 2022_Mozarabe from Almeria

• Jul 15, 2014

• #12

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

Active Member

Time of past OR future Camino

Vézelay/Francés 2011, Primitivo 2012, VdlP 2013, Via Domitia 2014, Inglés 2015, Francigena 2016

• Jul 15, 2014

• #13

jeffnd said:

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.

Click to expand...

They're to stop dogs peeing on the doorstep.

 

D

Deleted member 3000

Guest

• Jul 15, 2014

• #14

sirjohnharington said:

They're to stop dogs peeing on the doorstep.

Click to expand...

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

Active Member

Time of past OR future Camino

Camino Frances Sept. to Nov., 2013

• Jul 16, 2014

• #15

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.

 

J

jgray

New Member

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Sarria to Arzua(2013)
Ponferrada to Santiago (2014)
St. Jean to Burgos (2015)
In hopes of Irun to Santiago (2017 or 2018)

• Jul 19, 2014

• #16

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.