Dishsoap

It’s the Little Things in Life; Dish Soap in Ecuador!

When we first arrived, I spent so much time complaining and searching for ‘stuff’ that was readily available ‘back home’ that  I want to take a moment to praise something I am grateful for here in Ecuador; the DISH SOAP!

Randy( my husband) and I spent 6 months touring Ecuador prior to making the move. It was during this exploratory travel time that I had my first exposure to this solid tub of dish soap.

I spent many months confused and annoyed;  boiling tap water and ‘chipping’ the soap from the tub into the sink to do my dishes.

Some common comments over these months were: “My God have they not heard of liquid soap before?” “Jeez this is the stupidest set up I have ever seen”

I remember how smart we felt when we would add water to the tub, let it sink in and soften the slab so we could  easily scoop the softened paste into the sink with just our fingers.  Upon moving to each new rental unit, it was one of the first things we would do as part of settling in!

Near the end of our trip, I was explaining my frustration with the soap to a lady we had met.  I explained our initial chipping process and then our brilliant solution of softening the substance with water before using.

A world traveler and now friend Dawn B overheard me and after she stopped laughing; she explained the sponge, rub the tub and cold water rinse method. Doing dishes has never been the same since!

Numerous guests that have come to visit us, often return home with a tub or two.   It is truly ingenious and I have no idea why this didn’t catch on ‘back home’.

If I can add a bit of constructive criticism, it would have been helpful had it come with instructions……    just sayin’

3 Responses

  1. Our South American friends tend to use a water saturated sponge, which they swipe through the paste. This leaves quite a bit of water in the tub. When finished they leave the saturated sponge in the tub. However, this process tends to leave food particles behind in both the tub and the sponge. So, I modified the process using a less than saturated sponge, which I swipe though softened paste. When finished I rinse out the sponge which I set aside to dry and place some water (puddle) in the paste for the next time. I sometimes place the lid back on the tub to keep the paste moist, but more often than not I simply leave the lid off because we use the paste so much.

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