H2 Oh?



My Mama says that alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush.

The familiar smell of water can take you back to just about anywhere –but only if that locale has water with an odor.  And this is not exactly a good thing, but at the same time it ain’t exactly all bad either.



This is not an excuse for my absence from eD.  Okay, it is.  I was on a business trip to South America and I failed my 31 followers.  No soy culpable.  I am back.

On this trip, I was reminded that water in developing countries generally smells different than what we likely grew up with.  I’m not sure if it is hydrogen sulphide, heavy levels of bacteria, or just maybe the lack of chlorine and other chemicals.  I have no idea – I drink the stuff, I don’t study it. 

But what I do know is that in most developing countries the water has an odor and it isn’t exactly good, yet it ain’t exactly bad.  It ain’t bad because in these countries, travellers do not necessarily drink the stuff, so the only way to identify the clear (hopefully) liquid is by smell.

I was lucky to grow up in Southern California with a family that spent a lot of time in Mexico.  As a young kid, it wasn’t the beach or sun that told me I had arrived.  Rather, it was the smell of the water.  It’s not the cleanest analogy, but I would walk right into the hotel room bathroom and run the single spigot to wash my hands, and there it was, the smell of Mexican water. 

And I drank it in, without the revenge from Montezuma. 

Now in my adulthood (arguably), I am blessed with great memories when I smell less than pleasant water.  Strange, I know.  But cool, as well.  This memory trigger tends to happen when I am in other developing countries – which is even better – as I can think back to my childhood and be grateful for my family and our wonderful times in Mexico while I see other parts of our growing world.