bajalera - 7-17-2004 at 10:43 PM
There weren't any laundromats in La Paz in 1963. Although grungy Gringos pulled up in front of the Perla several times a week, having made it down the
old Carretera Transpeninsular and obviously in need of a good scrubbing for both their clothes and themselves, there weren't yet enough of us to make
a laundry facility profitable.
Mexican families had their own designated laundresses--young girls who needed to be trained for one of their major roles in life, older women who
needed to feel they were still of some use in the world, aunts who had never managed to find a husband, mothers who didn't have a daughter old enough
for laundry duty.
Nearly every house had a lavandera somewhere out in back, as many still do. These low-tech concrete appliances have a water reservoir on one side, and
on the other a slanted, waist-high scrub-board with horizontal ridges. If carelessly done, the ridges can be quite rough. (This was convenient for
women who, in a moment of pique, happened to feel like shredding the clothes of someone whose laundry they were expected to do.)
The house we moved into after a couple of weeks at the Perla lacked a lavandera but the price was right--$40 a month for a place on the Malecon. The
marine terrace behind it had eroded sand down to the level of the bedroom windows, plaster was falling off the lower part of the walls and there were
six bullet holes in the door of the hall closet. (The site deserved a better house, and now has a great one.)
The only outside water faucet was at the front corner of the house, six or seven feet from the sidewalk. I didn't want to be washing clothes this
close to a well-traveled street, so we bought a washboard, a couple of tinas--galvanized tubs just like those I used to see at my grandma's house--and
a hose. Placed on a bench, the tubs worked out okay, but to turn the water on and off I had to sprint back and forth between the tap and the tubs.
Doing laps got to be a drag, so I eventually moved the tubs out to the faucet. There was a great view here--fishing pangas with their lateen sails, El
Mogote, pelicans, frigate birds, an occasional yacht.
While scrubbing away one morning I heard a strange little click and looked up to see a couple of somewhat-beyond-middle-age Americans standing on the
sidewalk. The man, who had just taken my picture, had apparently been told that some of the natives don't like this, because he started trying to
apologize in Spanish.
I was about to tell him I wasn't offended in my fluent English, but he turned to his wife and said, "MONEY!" She reached into her purse and pulled out
50 pesos, which he gave to me.
I knew enough family terms in Spanish to be able to thank him profusely--on behalf of my children, my husband, my father and mother, my brothers. When
I finally stopped babbling we all said Adios and exchanged phony smiles. I've always wondered whether my picture is in somebody's photo album:
"Mexican woman doing laundry in La Paz. Oct '63."
Photographer's models, I've heard, are well paid, and my brief career was profitable. For 50 pesos you could get a big jug of not-too-awfully-bad rum
at Aramburo's. And I did.
bajalera
David K - 7-17-2004 at 11:21 PM
Lee, that is a priceless story... Please share more!
I think I saw your photo in a 1964 National Geographic article about Third World laundering methods??? 
Wonderful Post Bajalera
Mike Humfreville - 7-17-2004 at 11:28 PM
What a touching memory. Too bad about the money but nevertheless true. Your experience was so close to the mark I was watching the Bougainvillea
intertwining with the wrought iron.
It would be interesting to know more about your experiences: why were you there then? More importantly, how many more stories can you share?
AAAHHHH BAJA
Capt. George - 7-18-2004 at 03:48 AM
Thanks,
what a great story!
el vikingo
The Lavendera
Juan - 7-18-2004 at 07:27 AM
I enjoyed your story too Lera. Please post more of your early experiences in Baja Sur.
Juan
Fantastic
Keri - 7-18-2004 at 07:51 AM
You paint such beautiful pictures with your words. I was right there with you. I could feel the La Paz sun on my face, then laughing enjoyably.
Please write more. This is what this board is all about ,sharing experiences new and old. k
BajaGrrls - 7-19-2004 at 10:03 AM
That's hilarious. What a great story!
Bajalera
Baja Bernie - 7-21-2004 at 05:35 PM
Okay, I have come back at least a dozen times to re-read this story that can only take place in Baja. You directed my eyes and thought to many thing
that were not mentioned in your capturing of the event.
Excellent writing.
I've have stolen it and hidden it in my very special file so I don't lose it.
Thank you very much,
Nice....!!!
BajaCactus - 7-21-2004 at 06:08 PM
Very nice and warm story.... have any more???
Thank you so much for inviting us to this feast of words and feelings.....
Thanks . . .
bajalera - 7-23-2004 at 09:56 PM
. . . for all the kind words. Most of my time is taken up with working on a book about the peninsula's Indians, but I'll try to post some lighter
things once in a while. They're a nice change from writing that requires doing translations.
Mike H--I was in La Paz because my husband, an archaeologist, had a National Science Foundation grant to work in the Cape Region.
Lera
Woops!!
Baja Bernie - 7-23-2004 at 10:53 PM
Bajalera,
Confused you can color this guy! My husband is a____. What does that tell me?? I really do not know. I respect your writing and was very pleased
that you referred one of your friends to be about the Indians in Baja to me. I would hope that you would share/ or at least give us a clue about the
real people of Baja. They have been done dirt in th past.
[Edited on 7-24-2004 by Baja Bernie]
good--enjoyed reading
baja rooster - 7-23-2004 at 11:02 PM
Kinda reminds me of our first home in Guaymas!
bajalera - 7-24-2004 at 03:20 PM
Bernie, that explanation was addressed to Mike Humfreyville (sp?), who asked why I was in La Paz in '63.
I'm giving a whole chapter to the 2nd Harvest of the pitahayas, which according to Miguel del Barco--and my own experience with pigging out on
pitahayas--was nowhere near the crappy deal it has been said to be.
If that isn't doing right by the Indians, I don't know what is.
Lera
[Edited on 7-24-2004 by bajalera]
[Edited on 7-24-2004 by bajalera]