Los Baños seeks world titles for mass shower

WITH hundreds of people sharing a shower, Los Baños town in Laguna province attempts to steal the world title for the most number of people bathing simultaneously in a public place. The shower festival was held on Sept. 19 as the town celebrated its 400th founding anniversary. ALBERT LARESMA/CONTRIBUTOR

THEY shed their privacy, gender, age and social inhibitions—except total nudity—when taking a bath on Saturday, standing behind one another to enjoy a 10-minute shower in Los Baños town in Laguna province.

The event drew nearly 400 participants as the municipality attempted to beat two world records for the most number of people bathing together in a public place and for the world’s biggest shower.

It coincided with the 14th weeklong Bañamos Festival that ended on Sunday and the 400th founding anniversary of the town known for its natural hot springs, which many believe contain natural minerals that heal illnesses, on Sept. 17. Los Baños in Spanish means “baths,” while Bañamos means “we bathe.”

With 373 bathers, municipal officials were confident that they could claim the Guinness World Record from Crawfordsville, Indiana, in the United States, which had 331 on June 27, 2015.

“It could have been 400 bathers (in line with the 400th anniversary) as targeted but many were disqualified because they weren’t in swimming attire as required by Guinness. They were perhaps embarrassed to wear swimsuits,” Robert Cereno, municipal tourism consultant and festival organizer, said in a phone interview on Sunday.

Los Baños also wanted to wrest the title of world’s largest shower, at 372 square meters, from Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Gurnee in Illinois, also in the United States, since July 9, 2009.

The Laguna Water District put up a maze of plastic pipes as bathing area, measuring 394 sqm, at the General Paciano Rizal Park. It was still

6 sqm short due to “technical limitations,” Cereno said.

Despite several minor glitches with the water pumps, fresh hot spring water finally flowed from the showers around 9:30 a.m. The bathers, mostly students from Laguna State Polytechnic College-Los Baños campus, beauty pageant contestants from the different towns in Laguna, village officials and even policemen, dared to come in skimpy shorts and trunks.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Chona Palacpac, 39, a resident. “It was fun, just like bathing under the rain,” she said.

Cereno said the shower lasted more than 10 minutes, but people were still yelling for more.

A full documentation of the event will be submitted this week to the Guinness World Records. “Our aim was to create and attract a global attention to the town’s business and tourism,” Cereno said. To do so, “we have to be consistent with our brand (Bañamos),” he said.

The municipality planned to share one world title with UK Derm Erase Placenta Soap, a Filipino company that provided the bathers with soap, and the second, with the Laguna Water District.