Sunday, June 8, 2014

OK, take a couple stars off THAT hotel.

While here in Peru, we have so far had only two sets of visitors.  The first was our two sons, who came for Christmas while we were living in the small apartment.  They slept, bought stuff,
swam in waterfalls,
and climbed mountains.
In May, good friends from Utah came to visit for four days before heading with their friends to Machu Picchu.
They arrived just in time for the water system of the house to break down.
Lemme 'splain.  The municipal water supply doesn't.  At least not reliably.  For that reason, every dwelling has a big tank on top,
which fills when the city water is working, and supplies water pressure when it is not.
For aesthetic reasons, the mission home instead had it's 5,000-liter tank buried underground.
It fills when the city decides to send water, but the water is then sent to the three-story house from the tank by pumps.  Great idea until the pumps malfunction.
Which they did just as our guests arrived.  OK, we admit that the house has six toilets, but without the water working, each is good for only one flush.
Luckily, the garden hoses are directly on the city supply, so when it's on, one can fill buckets,
 carry them in,
 refill the toilets and provide water for sponge baths (no pictures of the latter).
Also luckily, our guests were good-humored.  Spence remarked, "This is just like camping, except with a better bed."
We really weren't trying to run them off.  It's just one of those Peru things.
We hope your water works when the guests show up.
Dave & Paula

1 comment:

Patti said...

I started imagining some patched together system to get the water to higher ground. Paula carrying a bucket up the stairs works too.