Water and Electricity

So, how exactly does one’s hot water arrive in his or her shower you may wonder from time to time. So glad you asked. First, the Mexican mechanics. The girls bunkhouse with Beth and Anna, as well as the Chica and Bain house, each have an underground tank of water. This tank has an electric pump that pumps water from the underground tank through a small pipe to a large black tank on the roof of the house. (Yes, I do realize the questions you may already have ... hang on). Once there, gravity takes the water from the big black tank down another small pipe to the water heater, all of this still outdoors mind you. The pilot light needs to be lit for heat, in which reading Spanish instructions is mildly helpful during this process. Now that the water is hot, when you turn it on in the house (bathroom, kitchen, etc.) gravity is how fast you can get it.

So exactly how big is the hot water tank? Thanks for asking. There are those of us with the privilege of finding out that the water tank holds exactly 8 1/2 showers ... give or take. What does it look like to find this seemingly trivial information out? Well, let’s walk through the process. After a long days activities and not enough sleep, it’s time to shower. Amidst a hot refreshing shower, shampoo nicely lathered up in your hair ... BAM! ... just like that, no water. Not just no hot water mind you. No water. Done. Nada. Yeah ... that sinking feeling that started up in your gut finally makes its way to your brain and you only then realize just how limited your options really are. You see, a call for help at that point becomes a rather delicate situation. Help can arrive in the form of involving others ... “Hey, did all the rest of you guys know what’s happened to ... ?” Or your help may involved your spouse handing you cold water from the sink, glass by glass (yes, this is not the fastest or most comfortable of processes) until you have sufficiently rinsed out enough shampoo to be “done.”

Now from here, we begin to ponder electricity. What does electricity have to do with an uncomfortable shower? Hey, so glad you wondered. Recall how the water gets pumped to the roof of the house, so that gravity can do it’s thing to get water into the tank? Right. So why not just turn on the switch and be done? There is nothing to stop the pump from continuing to pump once it’s full, so it manually needs to be turned off. You’re right ... you want to do this before 8 1/2 showers, give or take, have taken place. But it’s not that simple. The fuse box, previously mentioned by Carl’s small miracle in a blog, does not provide enough electricity for the fridge, lights, curling irons, iPod and phone and camera chargers, clocks we plugged in, coffee, and cooking griddles. Now understand that often the straw that breaks the camels back is that coffee maker (Laura), not that we’re mentioning any names (Laura) in order to protect the innocent (Laura). The situation is quite different for the one (Laura) in the kitchen. Fully clothed, able to freely walk about and make many of lifes trivial decisions such as, “hmmmm ... coffee really sounds good about now. I think I’ll turn it on.” Yes, this blows the fuse, stops the electricity, and becomes a frustration due to lack of coffee and lighting until the fuse (yes, a Mexican fuse and a Mexican fuse job) gets repaired. (I can only imagine just how much fun Pastor Justin might be able to have playing with the fuse box). But this frustration of the “trial” of patience waiting for hot coffee and lights differs just slightly from that of the sudsy shampoo-ridden unlucky shower number nine victim. Not being clothed, wet, shampoo dripping from your head, your options literally shrink right before your very eyes and you envy the options of, well let’s face it, anyone else in the house. So now you know and you don’t any longer need to wonder.