BLOG 29 Nov
Living skills at the San Vicente house
San Vicente 28Nov
Hey! Chris here. Well, I’ve been stuck in our house for a few days… sick, fever, coughing colours, unable to be out in the community.
Lori’s been busy with her women’s groups, doing many different sewing projects and helping to launch ‘front room businesses’ in the homes of women.
Being all stuck ‘at home’, I thought I’d put up a little picture of some of the living skills to be able to ‘make it’ in our San Vicente house.
Actually, it’s a bit like rough-it camping (a necessary missionary skill):
^^Cannot drink the tap water, not purified.
^^Drink only water BOUGHT from a purification plant, blue bottles ‘only’. Water filter purity checked by gov’t monthly (posted results).
^^Water bottle in the corner, on a spicket-stand.
^^Only one sink with (only cold) running water. Wash hands frequently.
^^Toilet flushes to a drain field, no TP to be flushed down. TP in trash. Trash to refuse pit daily to be burned.
^^Two buckets full in shower stall to flush toilets after dark. Village water (comes from well pump) goes out at dark, back at dawn.
^^Shower in the shower house. Warm water only during the day, has a solar panel. May obtain some warm water in evening to help wash dishes.
^^No sink, use dishpans. Dash of bleach in the rinse water (be sure to have apron on! Splashes can make for clothing spots!). Dishes done immediately after meal to reduce critters from coming for the left-overs.
^^Hot water via ‘hotpot’ for coffee/tea. Coffee is ‘instant’… sit down and have a cup!
^^Cooking via two plug-in hot-plate burners. Make sure to ‘power-down’ other lights in the house when cooking, only one electrical circuit!
^^Portable tables and plastic chairs can’t hold too much weight. Fill soup to ¾ level to avoid spills when tables shake.
^^House has 4 electrical outlets, light socket in each room with pull-cord.
^^Close up the windows mid-day to hold in a bit of the heat: plywood ceiling is the roof (rolled tar-paper over that) and it’s going to be a clear night tonight, meaning no clouds to hold in the desert heat, will get close to freezing here in Nov by 2am.
^^Don’t let the door sit open, creatures (four-legged, six-legged, winged, stingers and teeth included) will be glad to visit.
^^Food stored in the pantry (canned), fresh in the portable cooler. We’re deciding about getting a refridge soon, needs to be big enough to detract from being robbed.
^^Break-ins and robberies are a game-sport here in the Village, with zero chance of recovery. Know that everything left in the house when unoccupied is at risk.
^^We’re enjoying the bed-frame/platform constructed for our inflatable Queen mattress. Looking at getting a real mattress down here. Sleeping bag as quilt, it’s cold!
^^Hey! Muddy boots at the door! Yep, walk anywhere outside and they get pretty caked up!
^^No walking off the sidewalks after dark. Lot’s of scorpions and rattle-snakes around.
Lori told me to add that it’s a bit better than rustic camping: we have a flush toilet indoors, so no trekking out into the cold outside for the honeypit house…
[I can see it now… some of you are soooo like“I wanna be there!”… others of you are, “No Way!”]
Gotta go, time for scrubbing up the pots and pans…
Your bro, Chris
