Strange Ayacucho Aparatment

We are spending three weeks in Ayacucho Peru in an old and strange apartment with dogs that pee and poop everywhere, bucket flushing and a shower that can electrocute you, sounds strange huh?

The apartment has three dogs and four puppies. Two of the dogs pee and poop at the bottom of the stair. They can not get up the stairs because a metal sheeting blocks the way. The other dog is nice and proper. Every day when we come back from doing stuff out and about two of the dogs are outside the gate on the sidewalk and the proper one is inside. The dogs outside of the gate always bark at us and then step back because Ryan scares them away. At night when we come back and the dogs are back inside the gate because the owner lets them in for the night, we find poop or pee at the bottom of the stairs that we have to step around.

One of the puppies

The toilet in the apartment is very unusual. If it doesn't flush the first time try bucket-flushing. To do this you take a bucket, fill it with water and quickly dump it into the toilet. This flushes the toilet water away because gravity pulls it down. There is a sign above the toilet that tells you how to bucket-flush.

Our instructions.

The shower is dangerous but also popular around Peru. The name of this murdering shower is called the Widow Maker. It's a small instant hot water heater installed on top of the shower head. The wires are not in the wall like in the U.S. but instead they are stapled onto the wall. They hook up with switch to turn it on. Before you get into the shower you turn on the switch. When you do this the bathroom light dims because the widow maker uses some of the power to heat the water. Then you get in the shower and turn the water on and hope you don't fry yourself.

The Widow Maker hot water heater.
Notice the electrical tape connecting the wires.

The switch we had to turn on before we got into the shower.

Even though it was a bit strange it was a good place to stay for three weeks.