Clean Argentines

As I was waiting for word on my grant, I was frequently drafted to help clean El Bohío.

Argentines seem to love to clean. Cubans are notorious for being clean, but Argentines love TO clean. My host mom swept the kitchen floor at least daily, and my current roommates completely clean the kitchen (stove burners included) every time they cook anything. We have an extra room that's mostly used storage that's cleaned regularly, despite its lack of use.

El Bohío clients and the nurses (El Bohío nurses are more like caregivers than medical nurses) spend most mornings cleaning the building, a task the nurses usually continue all afternoon. When I first arrived, it seemed having 5 people spend about 10 hours each cleaning every week was a bit of overkill (the building is about the size of a medium house, probably similar to my parents'). But, I reasoned, the clients are learning rehabilitation skills, and learning to take pride in their work.

However, as we've continued gaining and losing clients, and now have no clients to help in the mornings, the nurses are still responsible for upholding the same cleaning schedule. All the staff takes great pride in the presentation of the building, although we rarely have visitors. Last week, when I was looking for something to do to keep busy, the head nurse, Cecilia, asked me to clean one of the rooms, including a television which hadn't been used since January. Maybe she was just really stressed, because the next day she asked me to clean the TV again.

Chemicals are used at large, which I try and ignore. Especially when the Raid spray comes out right before lunch, to drive away the flies circling our table! They have similar products to our household cleaners, which I personally avoid at all costs. (Disclaimer: I’m a die-hard EWG fan, and think chemicals are responsible for about half the problems in the world. I know some people would love such a “sterile” work environment.)

And, yeah...perfume. No disinfection is complete, without leaving the room heavily perfumed with the scent of flowers, baby powder, or a similar sugary sweet coating. They love perfume. I have to remind the laundromat not to perfume my clothes each week. Cecilia raved about an automatic perfume sprayer she saw in a store (every 15 minutes, it releases “air freshener” into the room, automatically), stating it'd be like having a personal assistant. If only Americans were so easy to please. =)