: To Panama and back by Byford Henry T Henry Turman - Panama Description and travel; Pan-American Medical Congress (4th : 1905 : Panama Panama)

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New Orleans, ten days previously, but had not had a convincing, conscience-quieting, fresh-water, hot bath; only cold salt ones. Perspiration and dust, rain and disease had all been at me and about me. In the streets and in the barber shop I had seen skin diseases and hairless patches on heads, faces and necks, and felt sure that, like tobacco smoke , some of the dust, or germs from diseased individuals, must have been wafted about me and into my hair, clothes and skin although I could not see them. There was only one way out of the difficulty and that was by means of baths, frequent, and uncompromising, soapy and scrubby. Plenty of soap and water outside, and alcohol and pop inside, seemed to be the only way to live out one's shortened life in Panama.

Not having a magic ring or an oriental lamp to rub, I scratched my head while I wished for a bath-tub--and immediately found a small wash-basin. I wished for fresh water, and found a large pitcherful. I wished for a portable shower bath, and found my hands, two of them. I preferred a pitcherful of cold fresh water and a wash-basin to a bath-tub full of cold brine. I also reflected that a cold sponge bath with plenty of soap could be made more cleansing than a shower or tub bath with cold water, because the sponge bath could be kept up indefinitely, or until one was clean; whereas the cold shower or tub bath was a chilling affair, and must necessarily be of brief duration and not very soapy. In order not to injure the ceiling of the room below, I spread newspapers on the floor before the washstand, poured the washbowl two thirds full of water and stood for a moment shivering before it, for the cool night air still lingered in the room. It was a delightful sensation to feel chilly within eight degrees of the equator and only a few hours after the all-day boiling spell of the day before.

I rapidly washed my face, neck and shoulders, then wet my head and lathered it thoroughly with soap. In order to get the soap and dirt all out of my hair without irritating or infecting my eyes, I stood on my head in the washbasin and soaked and washed out the soap. I then changed water, and stood my head and neck and shoulders up side down again in the basin to rinse them. After wiping them I began to feel warm and in a mood for more work. I soaped my left chest and arm, then put my left elbow in the bath-tub, leaned my body over it and splashed and soaked off the soap, using my hand as a movable shower bath. I then did the same to the other side. Not being a woman, I had neither washrag nor powder rag to wash and dry myself, but had two heavy bath towels. The towel was a great success as a washrag in holding water and soaking off the soap; the ordinary little feminine washrag is a miserable makeshift and does not deserve the favor it enjoys. After a long period of cold splashing with my washrag and another of dry scrubbing with my powder rag, I transferred my bath-tub to the floor and stood in it right side up, and was able to complete the bath to my joy and satisfaction with the bowl and water that had originally been intended for face and hands only. As a schoolboy I had been an amateur contortionist, and was not disabled like most of my friends by the fear of bursting a bloodvessel or straining my heart. But what pleased me most of all was that I had had an hour of active exercise, and felt strengthened and refreshed by it. I had found an antidote to the sun's deadly rays, a life-saving remedy. After getting my light tropical clothes on, I felt as if I wanted something more than the cup-of-coffee-and-half-a-roll-early-breakfast of the natives, and hurried down to the dining-room.

Early breakfast, called "coffee," was served from six to eight o'clock on a long table in a small dining-room. Near each end of the table were a dish of oranges and a large platter upon which were piled round water rolls, similar to our round Vienna rolls. Two waiters stood at a sideboard, each with a long-handled tin pot of coffee in one hand and a corresponding pot of hot, unskimmed, fresh milk in the other, ready to serve a mixture of strong coffee and hot milk in any proportion asked for.

"Where is that head waiter? Why doesn't he bring my eggs?"

The two waiters immediately rushed out of the room and back, and tried to say in broken English that the head waiter was not there. Since nothing but coffee, rolls and oranges belonged to the first breakfast, it was necessary to order the eggs and pay extra for them, and if one came down pretty early , there was apt to be some delay in getting them. Hot fires and head waiters were not usually going at so early an hour.

The old man glared at the waiters fiercely and they stared at him stupidly, not daring to drop their eyes. After a few moments he again broke out:

"Hasn't that head waiter been found yet? Where is the second head waiter--or the third head waiter? Telegraph to Spain for a live one. This is great service for eight dollars a day. Not even anything to eat when you pay extra for it. If you want an egg you've got to fight for it--nothing short of a revolution will make a hen lay, or an egg cook in this country."

"These waiters are native Panamanians and do not understand United States, and how to wait on Americans."

"I'll speak to them in Spanish. Perhaps it will start them up," I said. So I called to one of them in a loud voice:

The waiter seemed much relieved by this information and said in Spanish that waiters had to be smart men, but travelers who paid for the privilege, had the right to be fools; and went out smiling with polite rage. A moment later the eggs were brought in and the two old gentlemen were soon busy and better natured. The milder one who had allowed the other to do the talking said to me:

"I see that your Spanish did some good."

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