Apparently the Spaniards didn't bathe when they first came to the Americas. I was shocked to learn this fact in one of the recent excursions I went on during my study abroad in Mexico. Apparently the Maya, who usually bathed three times a day, agreed with me because the refused to go to an indoor Mass with those stinky Spaniards. Schockingly, the Spaniards thought the remedy for this was not to cool off in a stream before mass, but rather to build an open chapel. I guess it solved the problem, but to me the idea of not showering in a place that's 100 degrees is a bigger culture shock than finding out one of the other students found a cockroach in one of her tamales. Either way...Gross!
