10 Commandments for House Guests

10 Commandments for House Guests

By Jackie Peterson

We who came from northern latitudes to settle in Mazatlán all have friends and family who visit us from time to time. Some even stay in our homes, and that´s when problems can occur.

Almost every facet of daily life in Mazatlán is different from the way things are back home in Topeka or Calgary. Blame it on the culture or climate, our homes may SEEM the same and kind of LOOK the same — but they´re not.

Take the tap water. A Mazatlán native once told me that every time she and her husband see a scene in an American movie in which somebody gets a glass of water straight from the kitchen facet, they gasp — and so does the entire audience.

Living in a tropical climate makes for even more extraordinary practices than boiling or filtering one´s drinking water. Not only do we have high humidity, we have bugs! And we fight an eternal war against both these plagues. For the benefit of visitors from north of the border, here are a few ground rules.

1. DO NOT drink the tap water unless your host says it´s okay. Anyhow, there´s probably a bottle of cold, safe drinking water in the fridge.

2. DO put a coaster — preferably one made of a liquid-absorbing material — under your glass any time you intend to set it down, summer or winter.

3. DO NOT open the refrigerator and stand there for five minutes deciding what you want to take out. In this climate, there are times when that might be long enough to melt all the ice cubes.

4. DO keep the drapes in your bedroom closed during times of day when the sun shines in. The sunlight here is glaring — strong enough to fade the rugs and bedspreads in just a few days.

5. DO NOT give the toilet handle a quick jiggle and expect it to flush. Whether it´s a matter of plumbing or water pressure, the handle almost always needs to be held down while you count from 1 to 6 to get the desired result.

6. DO take care to keep window screens closed. As for the screen door, we would really appreciate it if you don´t open it and stand there talking to somebody outside. That´s a cordial invitation for mosquitoes and other biting insects to come on in for dinner.

7. DO NOT scream if you see a cockroach. They thrive in this climate, no matter how clean our homes are. Hotels and homeowners alike, we have regular fumigations but the critters live in pipes and drains, and we know we´ll never get rid of them completely.

8. DO have some respect for energy use. Our electric bills are soaring. If you have an air conditioner in your room, you don´t need to run it on high power all day when you aren´t going to occupy the room until bedtime. Give your hosts a break!

9. DO NOT leave without providing a little gift or a tip to show your appreciation to our maid or housekeeper. She´s used to cleaning up after the normal number of people in the house, and your presence means extra laundry, extra work all around.

10. DO learn a couple of courtesy words in Spanish, no matter how poor your talent for languages. Please is Por Favor, thank you is Gracias. A smile is universally understood.