While living in Mexico from 1975-1985, I used or owned many "flies in aspic". I washed clothes on a rock in the river. I also used a portable washboard and zinc tub, a cement washboard stand with a refillable tank attached to one side, or sometimes between two stationary washboards. This is a very common accessory to most back porches or patios. Then, I got a wringer washer. A Wahoo moment. Silence please. The automatic washer has my vote as the most important invention in this galaxy.
I also had various ways of heating water for bathing, starting, of course, with the galvenized bucket on the woodstove, progressing to the wood-burning water heater, the electric shower head(woe be to them with a bad grounding!)and culminating in the ubiquitous gas water heater.
The kerosene lantern is also an important purchase as the electricity situation in Mexico can be doubtful. When it departs, it is generally gone for days. One misguided "modern landlord" installed an electric stove in a house we rented. I ended up cooking by campfire a lot. I also lived at one time in a town in the "quinta fregada" meaning BFN in Spanish. We had no electricity or running water. Thank God my brother-in-law came with us and took charge of carrying water from the river. I could go on and on. Adventure being my middle name has a basis in fact