On our first full day at Hacienda Del Mar, I chose to shower in the main bathroom, while Señora Luvely used the shower in our bedroom (it was a 2 BR, 3 Bath condo). As I walked back into the bedroom, I heard miserable moans and groans echoing out of the shower stall. “What’s wrong” I asked Señora Luvely. She was able to eke out a pitiful, shivering reply that “there’s no hot water and I just took a cold shower!” How could that be, I just took a shower and there was plenty of hot water. I stepped out to the other room and asked Señora Frendli about her shower in the other bathroom … no problem she said. There was plenty of hot water. I went back to my shower, turned it on and steaming hot water again sprayed out in abundance. We were bumfuzzled about how the water supply could be so different to one shower and not the other two.
Prior to calling the office and complaining, I figured I should do a little analysis of my own. As history would have it, I had been learning Spanish for many years and knew that Señora Luvely was perfectly content using me as her personal translator. With this in mind, I returned to her shower, and stared down at the knobs. Suddenly the problem hit me right between the eyes. A few quick questions to the Señora confirmed that she had suffered such extreme consequences due to the absence of her interpreter. She was certain that “C” stands for “Cold” and “F” must mean “Fire” (“Fuego” in Spanish). A turn of the “C” knob confirmed that the “C” (Cold) line was somehow full of hot water!
Thus, at least 3 out of 4 of us got a huge chuckle for the next several days, as we repeatedly provided the following basic, yet critical Spanish lesson to Señora Luvely:
C = Caliente = Hot
F = Frio = Cold
Actually, even Señora Luvely got a chuckle out of it … she is such a good sport! Furthermore, she is a quick study, which allowed her to thoroughly enjoy the agua caliente for the remainder of the week.