dishwashers

Danny W said:

I was surprised to see that Plaza Lama carried only 1 model of dishwasher - a Frigidaire. It seemed fine and reasonably priced, but if feels strange not to have a choice.The salesman explained that not many people use them and my builder ditto'd that opinion.

There seem to be a decent selection of stoves and refrigerators in Dist. Coripio and Plaza Lama, but can someone please direct me to a good source of dishwashers and over-the-range microwaves in Santiago? I come in from NY for very short visits, so I don't have much time to explore. - D

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In Latin American countries dishwashers are rather known by the name of "Maria" or similar names instead of Frigidaire or Whirlpool... "Maria's" can't keep food cold nor thaw a pound of ground meat in 5 minutes so you do find fridges, micro waves and the sort of stuff offered more often in local stores.
What I am trying to say with this more humorous note is, that in house holds which could afford a dishwasher, besides fridges and micro waves, there is, or until recently still was, a tradition of having house hold employees... and it seems to have occurred only to a very few to acquire a dishwasher only to make "Maria's" life easier.
Additionally, some have found that it does not help much to try to confront house hold employees with too much technology, because some just plain won't use it anyway.

Btw: A little Spanish here: Some may say: "Ai, es que no se usar eto no". Literally translated this could be understood as: "Oh, I don't know (how to) you this". But in this and some other countries the verb "saber" (to know) can also mean "accustom"... so, the sentence may indeed mean: "Oh, I don't use to use this!"... in other words, little sense in trying to show HOW it's used.
I observed my house hold help using a "swappe" and a plain bucket to clean the floors. She would would wring out the "swappe" by hand. I felt bad about it, after all, it's dirty water, so I went and bought a bucket with a wringer basket insert. The next day I proudly presented to her my acquisition and all she said was: "Ai, pero es que no se usar de estos, no"... I tried to show her how easy and much cleaner it was to use it... but I soon discovered that she'd taken the little basket out and proceeded to use the buckets without them, wringing out the "swappe" by.... hand.


Things will change... but slowly.

... J-D.

I think we were one of the first 3 households in Puerto Plata to install a dishwasher in the house we built 7/8 years ago. Certainly the plumber had never installed one before, as rapidly became evident........... However it did serve as a demo model - the maestro would turn up with people interested in getting one & we would go through the 'how it works' routine, sometimes to some very disbelieving facial expressions.

Ours is a Whirlpool and came from Electroland (which has now had a name change) on the port end of Beller in Puerto Plata.

Mercedes has now got used to it. She doesn't operate it, we do that, she only needs to put the plates away. But she still has plenty of manual washing up - all the things we don't put in the dishwasher - so she doesn't feel deprived at all.

good luck with finding dishwasher and even more with installing the thing. minovio's mum has one (bought in santiago, i believe, as a part of the whole kitchen-appliances-to-be-built-in thingy) and it took more than a month to put it in so that it actually works. maid still never uses it.
JD how true... i demanded basket wringer and i am the only person using it. it is not only beyond our cleaning lady's imagination but also beyond imagination of minovio (i guess i should be grateful he does clean the floor at all...)

J D Sauser said:

I observed my house hold help using a "swappe" and a plain bucket to clean the floors. She would would wring out the "swappe" by hand. I felt bad about it, after all, it's dirty water, so I went and bought a bucket with a wringer basket insert. The next day I proudly presented to her my acquisition and all she said was: "Ai, pero es que no se usar de estos, no"... I tried to show her how easy and much cleaner it was to use it... but I soon discovered that she'd taken the little basket out and proceeded to use the buckets without them, wringing out the "swappe" by.... hand.


Things will change... but slowly.

... J-D.

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Did exactly the same thing last year after we arrived here to live, was not a cheap bucket either with its squeegy thing to get the water out of the mop but we thought it was worth it to save her hands (cost approx. 60 UK pounds, i.e. USD120) and what happened? Exactly as you said in that Margo doesn't like it or use it - still uses her hands to wring out the mop. I have doubts that it will change to be honest..... she does a fantastic job so I have no complaints. I do miss my dishwasher though!!