As we mentioned before, hot showers are a rarity here. We still aren't sure whether this is due to a lack of resources or a lack of will. We do know that most Ecuadorians take pride in not caring about hot showers and telling stories about how cold the showers were when they were kids. It's their version of the "uphill both ways in snow" story.
In some homes people have installed a "calefaccion" ( I think ) which runs on natural gas and heats only the water lines it is hooked up to. This is considered the higher end of water heating systems.
In our house, and much more commonly, each bathroom is equipped with the device pictured above. These are referred to as "electric showers" because they heat the water right before it hits your head through the magic of electricity. Some people also refer to these as "suicide" showers. I think (hope) this name is based solely on appearance. If you look closely, that is indeed a 40 amp breaker inside the shower and yes those are wires with electricity in them.
This crazy thing is that it actually works some of the time. The only real problem is that they are very sensitive to water pressure and flickering lights which are both commonplace here. You have to be ready to adjust at any moment.
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