After having enjoyed the services of a hotel just over one week, I moved out to a small apartment, slightly out of the busy city centre. Even though still early in the day, the thermometer indicated we were close to 30 degrees already.

It goes without saying that once everything unpacked, I was nearly bathing in my own sweat and thus decided to try and cool off in the shower. Minor issue – as would turn out shortly after – this was no ordinary shower but an electric one.

Douche

Despite never having seen one before, I could no longer stand the temptation and just went for it. I turned on the water, pressed a couple of buttons here and there, and I eventually managed to get myself the perfect temperature. So far so good – this is until the moment I actually got under the water. The second I did so, the plastic ‘shower head’ fell off, leaving the red hot metal wires that are meant to heat the water in the ‘shower head’, fully exposed to the running water. In a split second, the thing caught fire and soon after a short circuit followed.

To be fair, the short circuit was a good thing as I was still standing soaking wet in the shower. The small fire I started luckily also extinguished itself, and I was able to get out alive and well, be it that the fright had increased my body temperature even more.

Having recovered from the shock, I finally left the apartment and saw an empty box reserved for a fire extinguisher hanging in the hallway. Ah well, who needs one anyway, fire luckily seems to extinguish itself in Brazil.