A seemingly obligatory part of backpacking in these parts of the world is that things don’t always work the way you expect. I may be a spoiled first-world kid but I do love my hot shower in the morning. In the three days I have been staying at the ‘Casa del Parque’ hostel in San Jose, the first day the thermoducha (electric shower) didn’t work and the next two days the power went off for hours (and therefore again no hot water and no WiFi either).

Noooo, don’t touch it!

Thermoduchas have been fascinating me ever since I started traveling across Latin America. Basically, it’s two electric wires connected with the shower head to warm up the water as it flows through. Some people call it the suicide shower. One of my Tico friends got a shock once. But hey, I’m willing to accept some risk to get a hot shower.

He’s smiling because he’s still alive.

The guys from the hostel called an electrician to fix the thing and I had the honor to witness the dissection of the shower head. The electrician seemed flattered by my interest and admiration of his bravery. He unscrewed the shower head, took out the plastic switch which seemed to have gotten stuck, broke it apart, put it back in – and that was it. I was impressed and grateful for the hot water.

For those of you, who missed it, here’s my review of the thermoducha from two years ago: