Here at the Center for Sustainable Development, the community sets goals of how to be more sustainable and students and faculty strive to reach goals individually. One of my goals was not to use the dryer because as a group we decided people should do their laundry in the morning so that it can dry on the lines in the sun. Here in Atenas, our first two months of weather did not permit us to dry clothes in the afternoon because it rained almost every day so whenever I had to do laundry, I woke up early so my clothes could be drying after breakfast. Now, near the end of this season, we had a week of rain where it rained all morning and all night and I really had to do laundry because we were going away so I had to use the dryer! After the 50-minute cycle, I could not have fathomed what would come next. I grabbed my clothes out of the machine and thought I was never going to let them go. My sheets were warm, my shirts were warm and my shorts were warm! I never thought that something like using a dryer would be so monumental because when I didn’t use it– it’s not like I missed it. Well I am back to drying my clothes on the line and now it is the transition into the dry season so that is the one time I will use the dryer in Costa Rica. However, because it is getting so hot, my clothes come off the line crisp and warm!

Location: Atenas, Costa Rica