Ducha Electronica

Finding new meaning in the "hot" shower. As many who have travelled know, in many countries of the world the device known as a "hot water heater" does not exist. This is definitely the case in Brasil, where if you are heaving a hot shower it is thanks to a device know as the "ducha electronica". The electronic shower heats water electrically, right over your head in the shower head. Installed correctly, you will not see any wiring and may never know why the water is hot. Of the 100 or so showers I´ve stepped into brasil, just one was installed correctly. In the rest of the cases you´ll see a few wires dangling from the ceiling or snaking from the wall, with (maybe) a lazily taped connection of stripped wire right at the shower head. Sometimes the whole breaker box will be conveniently located right in your shower! Don't forget we are talking about 220 volts here, and we are standing naked in a puddle of water! I remember vividly my discovery of this is Thailand. Me and Marshall had just checked into our beachside hovel and I was thrilled to be rinsing off some sweat. The shower stall was small for me (as were most things in Thailand) with a low ceiling. I was flipping my hair about getting clean when I bothered to look up. Barely a foot over my head, the ceiling was coated in water and dripping back down on to me. Also up there were the exposed wires of my electric shower. Yikes. I stopped flipping my hair.
Anyway now I am in beautiful Fernando De Noronha, an hour into the Brazilian ocean off the shore of Pernambuco. Here due to the island economy, you pay a lot for a little, but the beaches make up for it. When I checked in to my pousada, the charming old lady whose house it was turned on the sink fawcett with pride. The look in her eyes said, not only do you get to use this sink, but theres water too! I guess they had been having a shortage. As I was taking my first shower and washing my hair, I figured I would respect the apparent water shortage and turn off the water while I washed. I touched the handle to follow through with this thought. A new thought came into my head. It was the slow recognition of a familiar sensation. I've felt this before- yes, I am being electrocuted! I let go. What now? What would be the intelligent thing to do in this situation? What would you do in this situation? Well, this story is not about you its about me and, well, I grabbed it again just to make sure! Yes that is definitly electricity making my hand get all clenchy on the shower knob! I let go again. Dilemma, how to shut off the shower without dying? Oh look, there´s the handy breaker box right there. I flicked the switch, shut off the water, and finished washing, then repeated to rinse. I thought I would change rooms but, don´t worry ma, so far so good.