Washing Machine

As many of you know, my main complaint about my accommodations in Astypalaia is that I have to wash all of my clothes by hand and then hang them out to dry. The process goes something like this.

We fill a bin with water and soap and wash and wring each piece by hand, but the bin does not fit in the sink well and we slosh water all over the floor. Since we are dirty from working on the archaeology project and because of the constant wind that blows dust everywhere, our wet floor turns muddy.  It is also extremely slippery.  So you skate across the muddy floor clean clothes in hand hoping to make it to the balcony without falling down.

Since we are working on a bioarchaeology project in the 90 degree heat 6 days a week, our clothes are filthy and stinky.  And since we hate doing laundry we often wear our gross clothes for several days in a row. I know, try not to judge us too harshly. Our clothes are not the only dirty things, the dirt gets ground into the soles of our feet.  We sand our feet with sandpaper to get rid of the dirt.  It does not always work. Andrea's Astypalaia name is Andrea Blackfoot.

To our utter amazement, this year there is a coin operated laundry very close to our studio! It is an absolute miracle, and now I feel as if I am living in the lap of luxury.

This island has come a long way in terms of luxury since I first started coming here eight years ago.  The first time I came there was limited internet, it is better now. Then there was the year we got on demand hot water for the shower, before the water was stone cold. The most miraculous innovation was last year when an ATM was installed near our apartment, before it was a 2 mile hike up and down the mountain.

However, the laundromat will forever be the best improvement to my living conditions.  I'm not sure Andrea would agree, she was a big fan of on demand hot water.