I figured it was about time to head to El Norte to dig my house out of the snow in Boston and oh my, there is a lot of it. I know I missed most of it and everyone says, "You shoulda seen it a month ago. It has gone down so much." Well, there is still a good three feet most everywhere and some very serious major league mounds from the plows. It will take weeks or months to melt. Oh well...
The house, built in 1895, came through just fine. However, upon taking a wonderful shower with lots of water pressure, I discovered that the shower faucet was leaking badly. It's a type I didn't know and immediately thought of what a drag it would be to have to call a plumber. I am spoiled by the three Juans from San Gabriel Etla, Don Juan, Don Juan and Don Juanito, who do such great work at one twentieth of what a plumber would charge here.
You may not know this, but every Mexican can fix almost everything with a paper clip and some duct tape. Well, not really, but they can damn near fix whatever needs to be fixed. It is called "self sufficiency" and I have been a good student and learned by watching. Having an 1895 house was pretty good training and living out in the campo for a few years, well, I can fix almost anything now, even some car stuff.
At any rate, "we don't need no stinkin' plumbers" - I fixed the leak myself. Didn't even need duct tape.
Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo
The hereafter re me
- Christopher Stowens
- Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
- Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler
4 comments:
Did you remember to spring ahead, while you were at it?
Your Mexican life is such a wonderful learning experience! Now it is time to fix the world! You are ready!!!
Yes, I jumped two hours into the future compared to Oaxaca.
And yes, I have learned so much living in Oaxaca. You can see in in my eyes and on my face, but...
A quote from Conrad's "heart of Darkness":
"The old doctor felt my pulse, evidently thinking of something else the while. `Good, good for there,' he mumbled, and then with a certain eagerness asked me whether I would let him measure my head. Rather surprised, I said Yes, when he produced a thing like calipers and got the dimensions back and front and every way, taking notes carefully. He was an unshaven little man in a threadbare coat like a gaberdine, with his feet in slippers, and I thought him a harmless fool. `I always ask leave, in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there,' he said. `And when they come back, too?' I asked. `Oh, I never see them,' he remarked; `and, moreover, the changes take place inside, you know.'He smiled, as if at some quiet joke.
In return I have a quote for you:
What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it. –
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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