a collection of mis-adventures, located in a room

The place we've been staying while here is a Catholic guesthouse specifically set up for people traveling through for the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas. Other people are also welcome obviously; besides us there are a trio of nuns who work at some of the local orphanages and I got to meet the guy who started The Gift of Water. Sister Mary, who runs the place, encourages people to talk about their work and an amazing amount of networking goes on over her kitchen table. I've been able to hear about clinic and school building projects, student sponsorships, water projects, community groups, women's groups, fair trade initiatives and coffee co-ops. They talk politics and economics and history and I'm going home with a long list of websites and books and reports to read and my head full of names to research.

The guesthouse itself was once the home of Antoine Izméry. I get the impression that some of the associated cement buildings are add-ons. We've been staying in a room that consists of basic wooden frame on top of a cement terrace at the back of the main building.

The first night we stayed here we were instructed in the basics of how to deal with the complications and limitations of the plumbing. The water is gravity fed, so when we want to take a shower Sister Mary has to turn on a pump that forces the water up to the terrace. The toilet operates by dumping a pail of water into the tank by hand. We have to take drinking water upstairs with us at night for toothbrushing and contact lens care.

On the second night, the pump broke.

On the third night some major tinkering resulted in a pump that was functioning, but the pressure wasn't adjusted properly so the pump wouldn't shut off and was in danger of over-heating. bcholmes got her shower in, but I got the "the water is going off in five minutes!" call the second I stepped into the shower stall so all I really got was a quick rinse.

On the fourth night the new parts showed up and everything was installed. It worked like a dream. I stepped into the bathroom with my towel, expecting to get a leisurely, long awaited shower.

Wait a minute. Where's all my soap and shampoo?

Turned out somebody had gone into the bathroom and cleaned out everything that was there. We borrowed some soap and shampoo from a very embarrassed Sister Mary and I finally got to have my shower. We laughed our heads off at the time, thinking that all that could possibly go wrong had pretty much happened while we were here.

Last night the septic system broke down.