Cleaning Revelations

I now know why my Mother in Law washes the dishes AS SOON as a meal is finished. In NC there was a grace period; you could let a couple of meals go by without having to do all the dishes. Nothing smelled no flies were attracted; people wouldn’t be appalled by the way you kept your home. Not any more! These flies don’t let you rest for a second! Walking in my kitchen you would have thought I hadn’t done the dishes or taken out the trash in a month. No, I do the dishes every day. The trash is taken out every couple of days but by then there are fruit flies everywhere.


I can’t stand it, but I also can’t just stop everything to wash the dishes. More often than not I have 1 hand to work with, so those dishes are just going to have to wait. Yuck.

I have also realized since coming to PR that keeping a clean house in the Caribbean is a full time job. The floor must be constantly swept and moped, the dishes must be done after every meal, then there’s laundry (I’m washing 5 days a week), and the regular cleaning, and the cooking, and the list goes on (I didn’t mention the yard). I know why so many people on the islands have a helper, maid, whatever you want to call it. When am I going to have the time/energy to enjoy paradise? I’m tired and I just got here. I just know I’m neglecting some crucial household chore while writing this…

Shopping in a Time Warp

I walk into the grocery store and (this has happened at a couple of different places) it’s like stepping into 1995. Back when nothing was bad for you and the more complex the scent the better - You know, before organic and natural foods/items became popular. The food selection is not what I left in North Carolina. I never realized how fortunate I was to be able to choose what brand of whole wheat bread I wanted to buy. Here there are 15 different varieties of white bread and maybe 2 of wheat bread – and only one whole wheat bread. Organic dairy? Forget about it. Unscented wipes? I don’t think so. Why wouldn’t you want your baby to smell like a fresh spring morning?

There are a few “organic/green” health stores in town, but they are more like health convenience stores – a little bit of everything, but no good variety of anything. I was able to pick up a bottle of mosquito replant that didn’t have the warning “hazardous to humans” listed on the back. We won’t talk about how much it cost.

Tropical fruit on the other hand is in abundance! Yay for mangos, bananas, pineapples, star fruit and papayas!!! These are not purchased in the grocery store, but directly from farmers along the side of the road. We’ve also driven by a free range grass fed cattle pasture and are determined to find out where those cows end up… hopefully in my freezer ;)