Monday, October 22, 2007

No Water....Wha?!?!?

No Water…Wha?!?!

So after returning home last week from Cruzinha and a long day spent fondling turtles, handling fish, painting boats and being dusty, stinky, sandy, sweaty and all over dirty, I tossed my clothes into the hamper and made my way to the casa di bano (bathroom) to get clean in a nice cold shower. I stepped in the tub, pulled the shower curtain and finally turned the valve to start the water. Nothing. Not even a drip.

Turns out that I need to check this big concrete tank every day to see if I have water, and when it gets real low, I have to arrange for some rain/run-off water to be diverted (via a series of little canals) from la d’cima (way the hell up top of the mountain) to my house. Apparently there is a schedule for which days I’m able to do that. Apparently there is also a schedule for the guy who is able to do this water diverting. Unfortunately, those schedules coincide about as often as the perfect alignment of Jupiter and Pluto and Uranus. (By the way, Pluto is not actually a planet anymore.)

As such, I spent much of the last week peeing off the roof (so as not to have to flush), eating at the neighbors’ houses (so as not to have to do dishes), not shaving (so as not to have to shave), and “showering” by standing in a small bucket of water (which I hauled in from a lady across the street) and awkwardly trying to splash myself. I bought bottled water to drink. It all sounds worse than it actually was. Mostly I do not smell very good, and am covered in a pretty gross filmy substance manufactured by my own self. All is well agrinhasin (right now) though, as the planets have aligned and the two uncoordinated schedules managed to cross paths the other day, and the guy, and the water were both available. Today my tank is lovely with the sound of the water as it slowly fills. Looking forward to getting clean again.

Lastly, for your enjoyment, here are some (older) random pictures of me jumping off a real big rock wall, some kids from my town after school the other day, and one of the Peace Corps nurse, dressed as Captain Condom (“You Never See Him Coming!”), as she explained to proper installation, use, and disposal of prophylactic devices.

1 comment:

CuteNQueer John said...

Wow there's nothing better than the natural scent of a man. Of course week old funk is a different matter. So was it expensive to have the water replenished or is it a free municipal service? And how's everything going with you know who?