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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Tintoreria

Bad news, our washing machine broke. 

Not really bad broken, but tiny-plastic-piece-that-is-really-important-to-the-functioning-of-the-machine broken.  The piece that broke keeps the door latch in place, and the fact that we have a front-load machine, latching the door is really important to the functioning of the machine. 

Even worse news, according to our building manager this teeny-tiny repair may take up to 4 months to complete.  That's right, apparently the Whirpool representative is swimming the new part here to fix the machine.  Let's all hope he swims quickly.

In the meantime, we get to explore the option of a tinoreria, Spanish for laundromat.  I had my first outsourcing laundry experience this week and it was pretty painless.
Our closest laundromat is only a block away, so that was nice and easy.  We were hoping for the best when the washer first broke so we waited a little too long before taking our clothes in, three enormous bags of clothes are heavy.  Our three bags translated into 4 "loads", each load costing $17pesos (~US$4.25).  The wash was done in less than 24 hours and it came bagged and folded - so all in all an OK deal.  The worst part of the whole experience was that today was the rainiest day EVER so I had to carry four bags of laundry across a flooded street while balancing an umbrella in the wind.  Not Fun.  The good news for next time, when I picked our clothes up today the nice laundromat woman mentioned their delivery service.  I wish I knew how to say "information more useful to me yesterday" in Spanish. 

Pros of Not Doing Laundry:
  • Not doing laundry
  • Our clothes came back folded and clean
  • I don't know what they use, but the clothes smell really good
Cons of Not Having a Washing Machine:
  • Unnecessary extra spending
  • It's weird toting dirty laundry down a busy city street
  • Now we have to plan in advance if we want to wear something, instead of throwing a load in when I needed some clean jeans
We're hoping for the best when it comes to fixing our washer, I imagine that the novelty of not doing laundry at home will quickly wear off.

2 comments:

  1. We've found in Palermo that the going rate for loads of laundry is about 9 pesos, so it might be worth it to shop around. Also, I think technically tintoreria translates as "dry cleaners" and lavanderia translates as "laundromat".

    -Scott

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  2. True, you found yourself at a "lavadero", which is your laundromat. Now, about the fee... as many things in this town, it can be different on different neighborhood, but honestly, I don't see you wondering around the city with a bunch of clothes. Anyway, when you have practise on spanish conditionals, "Me hubieras dicho ayer/antes/whenever" will be pretty handy :)

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