There are times in life when you are so into your daily routine and culture that you forget not everywhere in the world operates the same. Take water for instance. For many of us we simply turn on the facet and the water comes out as long as we pay our water bill and most parts in the United States, we are able to drink the tap water.
What about where Poncha and I are living? Most of the houses in this area of Baja have pilas; which are water containers. Pilas are either concrete tanks located underground and/or heavy plastic containters located above ground. Some houses have both. In this part of Mexico you have to order water which you store in the pila. Water is delivered to your home. This water is not for consumption. It's used for showering, washing clothes, doing laundry and such. You have to pay attention to how much water you use since there is no "endless" supply of water coming from the tap. It makes you very aware of just how much water one can conserve and still fully function. I must say Poncha and I do really well at water conservation.
Water delivery. Poncha helps fill the rooftop pilas on Mamacita's home.
A view of the concrete underground pila at our rental and Poncha checking the water level.
The water we use for drinking and cooking is bought from local water stores and is purchased in five gallon reusable plastic bottles.
The best deal appears to be at this one which charges $0.65 per five gallon container.
Poncha watching our water fill up.
Here's the water truck that supplies the water store.
WEENIES
We are keeping up our social calendar thanks to a bit of help from Poncha's Mamacita. This week we attended an annual weenie roast put on by two gracious hosts who supplied everything to their sixty guests, which included all the hot dogs and sausages you could roast with a variety of toppings from chili to roasted peppers to numerous types of mustard. They also supplied wine and beer and desert! You'd be crazy to pass up this kind of invite!
WAITING
As you know, we visited San Carlos and fell in love with the 32 foot Wetsail Sailboat. We made an offer, which was accepted and now we are in boat escrow and waiting for everything to clear. If all goes well, we will know in a few weeks if we have a new home aboard the 32 foot Westsail. If so, we will pack up what little belongings we have and move from Punta Banda, Baja to San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico where will we spend time learning about the boat and all that goes into her and sailing!
While we wait we tried our talent at recycle/reuse art! We went to a local artist's home and saw she had used bottles to surround some of her plants.
Now Mamacita has her own yard art!
