“Fantastic!”; “That was incredible!”; “I feel like a different person!”
These might be the excited exclamations that you would expect after a great whale watching outing, but actually these are the rewarding comments that guests share with me when they emerge from their hot afternoon showers. Of course I love the whale-watching, the birds, the intertidal life and the stars, but an unexpectedly rewarding part of my job as assistant guide at Campo Cortez is my daily role as “Showermaster”. A hot shower in Baja California is hard to come by, and in the remote desert of San Ignacio Lagoon it is a true and unexpected luxury. As Showermaster I prepare the showers and let our guests know when their turn has come. “Hot, warm-hot, warm or cold?”, I ask as part of the orientation. “There is a changing room, and then in the shower you just flip the switch and you’re off. Give a yell if you need it a little hotter or colder, but don’t say anything that you don’t want us to hear outside the shower! You can sing commercial jingles but no arias, in the interest of water conservation.
Any problems, just holler.”“Ooooh“, “Perfect”, “Wow!”. “Heavenly!” . . . These are the comments I love to hear when the water begins to flow. And you wouldn’t think of it, but Showermaster is a very sociable job, with a lot of nice one-on-one conversation with guests about the day, the whale-watching, and their time at the camp. And when they emerge from the showers with satisfied smiles and hugging their towels, well, that’s the kind of gratification that keeps us all going here at Campo Cortez.
By Tom O’Brien, Assistant Naturalist Guide, Campo Cortez
Photo A: “Hot Shower Anyone?”
Photo B: Shower Sign Up
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