Humid Hygiene

Living in a humid jungle surrounded by sandy oceans easily creates plenty of hygiene issues to deal with. Bacterial infections, skin diseases, parasites and infected wounds are commonplace. The stifling heat squeezes pounds of sweat out of your pores on a daily basis and leaves a stinky grime coating your body. The constant rains transform the dirt roads into muddy quagmires that are unavoidable and will eventually cake your ankles and feet with gunk.
       The way to avoid being disgusting all the time is to take a lot of showers. Almost everybody takes at least 2 showers a day. The most common insult that kids spout at their enemies is, “kese tutu nessosor! (you didn’t shower this morning)”. Everybody showers all the time.
          Showering means dumping a few buckets of cold water over your head from the tub of tank water. It’s a cold shocking experience that takes all the fun out of showering. Contrary to my experiences in America, showering is a laborious task not a relaxing rest. When I shower in Chuuk, I clean myself like a maniac. I scour my feet with a laundry brush, use my abrasive washcloth to scrub every inch of my body, and rid my skin of all the tropical germs that have accumulate during a long day.
            When I go to the main island of Weno, I often expect to relish in the luxuries of a clean and slightly more prosperous environment. Running water, flushing toilets, and air conditioning. But often these things are not readily at my disposable. The showers at hotels are usually cold and often clog. The air conditioning units at our office are broken. And last week the septic tank filled up in our office. So now when you flush the toilet, poop squirts up through the drain hole and covers the bathroom floor.