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Along the Natchez Trace

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Water, Water Everywhere...

In the nearby ocean, but for us..... Not a Drop to Drink....

Kind of the theme of my blog today...  the photos won't have a thing to do with the water situation...  they're just filler because pictures are fun to look at...

Now...  about that water situation...  seems that the condo complex across the street controls the water for the condos on this side of the street.  We aren't owned by the same company.  That company has some holding tanks (with pumps) at the top of the hill, just up and across where we live.  We found out within the first 24 hours we were here (guess how we found out?) that they turn off the water to our group of complexes at 10 pm every night and (if we're lucky) turn us back on at 6 am each morning.

A mother and son...  keeping the hot mid-day sun off them with a parasol.

Since Bill & I usually rise around 5:30 we found this out rather quickly.  We could adjust to that...  except...  sometimes the water wouldn't be turned on until...  well...  maybe 7:00...  maybe 9:00...  and one day it was noon.  


A new restaurant in town...  a VW Juice bar

We're low maintenance type people...  but ..... not having water ...  any water...  until noon just won't do.  We call our landlord.  We explain the situation.  He agrees it isn't acceptable, so he has his crew install an "emergency" water system on our upper deck.



Can you believe how big this Walking Stick insect is!  You could just about use him as the real thing!

This is a 50 gallon holding tank, which we fill when we have water from the "real" thing.  
However, this has it's drawbacks... 
What comes to our faucets is gravity fed...
Right!  Barely a dribble...  try taking a shower...  or better yet, shampoo your hair and try to rinse that off!
There's no pump...  so there's no pressure.

These oxen were at one of the volcanic parks.

We deal with this for several days.  Then...  last week the water from "next door" is turned off around 5pm...  and doesn't come on....  
Well...  maybe a dribble the next morning.  And since then water has been extremely scarce.
We're told that the well feeding these condos is dry....  and so they must shut off the pumps to allow it to recuperate.  The place next door fills up their holding tanks while the getting is good, but since we run directly off the well, we're out of luck.



A Preying Mantis...  on my lawn chair.

Again, I'll say...  We're low maintenance folks...  lived for years with a compost toilet...  a woodburning cookstove...  heated with wood (which Bill cut)...  had a huge cistern for water for our critters...  you get the picture...  we just don't require much.

But...  yeah...  we need water....


Water Apples...  don't know enough to write anything about them.

Today we walk back into Coco...  talk to our landlord....
He has plans to fix this situation...  
But, at the same time, he does let us know that he has some other rentals that will be available in a few days...  just in case....


 When we were in Liberia last week, we met these 2 nuns and their friend.  Had a fun conversation.

This afternoon he, and his crew arrive at our condo...  they check out the situation and decide to put in another holding tank...  with a pump!.....  And, (the situation as is, we don't have hot water coming from the existing holding tank), we'll have hot water as well.


This guy was about the size of the bottom of a tea cup...  he was in our outside drain area.  

We have written to the company where we made our reservations (AirBnB) so that they are aware of the situation...  and also to find out our options if this doesn't work out.....

Right now, it looks like our Landlord is honestly working on this...  the next few days will tell.
So.....

The Junk Yard Dog....
Right now...  this is pretty much my feelings about the whole thing....

Of course I'll let y'all know how this shakes out.

That's All For Today!

13 comments:

  1. That is such a basic need that I can imagine how frustrating this all is. I hope that they figure out a permanent solution for you guys immediately as your current situation seems unsustainable.

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  2. Your patience is greater than mine--I would have all ready moved.

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  3. Do you have drinking water? you buy bottles, I guess? dang...

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  4. Well, the water situation is quite disappointing! I think you have way more patience than I'd have! I hope you get it straightened out soon.

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  5. We, in the U.S., take potable water for granted. It isn't that way in a lot of the world.

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  6. An interesting post that I enjoyed reading. Glad you sorted your water out! And that is a big stick insect!

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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  7. Grrrrr....
    It's good you made the agency aware.

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  8. And that is exactly why I wonder if I can take living in Central America again, even for just a fe w months. We lived for two years with our only water being outside the house ...a sink and shower structure with only cold water. We also had an outhouse. There were times we went without water for days during the dry season. We got used to it, and like you, just adjusted. I didn't have a hot shower for two years! But I'm a lot older now...maybe we'll just go to Arizona.

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  9. That last photo could stand alone for your post. Maybe you should print it and stick it on your door as a goodbye message when you leave. That photo could be very useful.

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