Sweet and Sour

I just returned from a week on the Membrillo River while Colleen, Kalea, and Joshua stayed in the city. We figured it best they not travel as the bugs are typically bad these months out there. They didn´t seem bad to me, so I fell asleep for a few minutes one day in a hammock without a shirt. That was dumb. Kalea was kind enough to pick the hundreds of blood pustules out of my skin last night so the bites would heal faster.

We weren´t quite ready to place the 400 lb. concrete lid on the well in Maach Pobor, so we sealed it with a tarp and rope and left for lunch. Fortunately, the guys we´re able to retrieve the dog and 6 toads that fell in while we ate before any of them died. One more well cleaning. They also managed to mount 2 tanks weighing 900 lbs apiece on an 18 ft platform with only a couple ropes and logs they cut with machetes. It´s amazing how resourceful these folks can be when given a difficult task. Maach Pobor is now pumping water.

Unfortunately, I have received a humbling lesson in water chemistry in the adjacent community. If you dig a well and the water is perfectly clear, and everyone drinks it and says it´s delicious, don´t trust it… Where is the orange sludge in the tank coming from? Fill a bottle half way with the perfectly clear water and agitate vigorously. Excessive natural  iron will oxidize and you´re holding what looks like diluted orange juice. Bad water. This won´t happen again. What will we learn in the bigger picture of things with the community? Perseverance I hope. They are gracious.

Four iguanas for soup…