Water, and Puppy

Luna Puppy

Catching up on the last few days.

A bit of work was done on Saturday morning then off on Sunday and then Monday was a big busy day here, with a relative surprising me and much other stuff tugging at me.

On Friday, we had gotten to the point where access water was necessary in order to mix cement. In the afternoon a neighbor had walked over and introduced himself to Jorge, telling him that we could use his water with a hose brought to the site. Jorge came to me with the option and a cost of 2000 pesos which is not nothing (about $100). I wanted to know if this was going to be a permanent arrangement or just while we built. Jorge went back to the gentleman to enquire and I walked over because well… it’s my 2000 pesos and I always want to know what’s going on.

Get this: the guy never once looked at me. Most likely because I do not have a penis. It was actually really fun for me to stand there and for all purposes be invisible. I am continually wanting to learn and understand more about how this country works and wow… this was a perfect machismo learning moment. So I stood there, looking at both men, and waited. Once the conversation was over, Jorge and I walked away and Jorge confirmed that this would be just while we built but would be hugely helpful. So we agreed to go for it.

We would get a hose connected to his water the next day or Monday and have the convenience of water at our fingertips.

After a busy personal day, I finally went over there on Monday night after the crew had finished and it seemed to me that all that had been done was the setting up of a few lines of string. Seemed weird to me but we were blessed with the company of Luna the Puppy and so all was pretty good, really. I saw no hose.

As the sun was setting we took a walk past my place and further into the country than I had ever been before. It was so beautiful and made me fall in love with the area even more. Somehow, this feels right. A little crazy, but right.

The next morning I came back and asked where the hose was. I was told that “the gentleman did not get up early” and we would most likely hear from him later on. I was not surprised that the answer to my “did we already pay him?” was yes. I am familiar with this chronology.

A sweet little lean-to was built to give some shade to what was going to become the cement mixing spot and all we needed was water.

Meanwhile, I had told them that I would bring them a speaker so they could work to music and so started to set up the little speaker I had bought the night before. Everyone was excited – maybe me the most – but when we turned it on LOUD it was terrible. Crackly, staticky, no way this was going to accompany the building of my house. So I went home and picked up my tiny speaker, brought it to them, and then headed out to another town to find something better. The crew was in good spirits.

Speaker #3 is the winner.

When we returned in the late afternoon – equipped with a better speaker – we arrived at the same time as one of the workers’ truck was rolling up the dirt road, two guys in the back laughing and balancing two huge vats of river water.
The gentleman was apparently still not awake and so they had decided to take matters into their own hands. There was laughter and energy as Anselmo started to throw buckets of water on the dirt to get it ready to mix.

I set up the new speaker and as we got ready to leave, our water-supplying neighbor was walking toward the crew.

I made sure to wave and smile and by golly he smiled back.
March was up to a good start.