We have mentioned several times the creative way electricity is obtained for the work place in Mexico. We have seen the techniques used in Thailand as well, clearly an international standard exists. We thought we would let you see how it is done. We tried not to get too close. (Survival Camp starts to look like an CAL-OSHA training facility.)
If you are at a construction site and there is no power? Easy, the first photo shows how you connect bare wires into your neighbor's junction box. The neighbors place will be too far away, so you will have to have extensions. Also easy. The second picture shows how - just twist the bare wire ends together to make the cord the length you need. Ok, so now you have power in the construction site. Well, you may need to have a splitter, to direct your power to various places. Very easy. A piece of wood with two nails and the wires twisted around them. In this case you want to have the splitter act as a switch, so just disconnect one of the wires, like the white one in the third photo. The black wires leave the "splitter" and go to an extension cord. Oh wait, the extension cord isn't long enough to reach to the splitter. Again, an easy task. Just remove the plug and twist the bare wires together again as shown in the fourth photo. The fifth photo shows that it is, in fact, an extension cord. Orange for safety. And speaking of safety, be careful not to overload your new set-up...nothing more than a light bulb.... guess again... Viva la México!
You can see all of this for yourself in the attached photos. Do not attempt this at home.
By the way, we have seen welders take bare wire ends and hang them on the public power lines to power their arc welder. We have seen another welder insert two bare wires into the hot contacts of our spa breaker box. That's when we back away slowly, and disconnect the TV for a while. Just in case...
Saturday, September 8, 2007
The Arroyo
There is an arroyo next to our house. Most of the time it is just a way for 4 Mexican families to get to their houses; a narrow track of dirt and rocks. Now with the rains we see its real purpose. It is a path for the water in the saturated mountains to flow down to the lake. It comes out of the mountain like a creek, being joined by other water flows, including one very large one from some nearby waterfalls. At the entrance to our development all the arroyos join and pour down next to a church, normally a shortcut to the village. Today anyone using the shortcut will need boots.
For us, on the dry side of the fence, it is charming. It sounds like Rocky Creek, a favorite camping spot of my childhood. It even smells like Rocky Creek did, along the California coast past Carmel.
It can't be all that charming for the four families that live there. I watched their kids play in the torrent in their yards like we used to play in the creek. Kids are always going to be kids. But the mothers are careful not to drop their laundry in the mud when they hang it out. Babies must be carried, the puddles are very deep. Keeping the dirt outside is not possible. If it didn't come in on its own, the dogs would bring it inside. There is no pavement on the arroyo, and as the water rushes down, it carries big rocks and brush with it, making deep trenches. The people who live in those four houses have no other way to get to school or to work - there is only one entrance to the street. The kids wade through the arroyo to get to school. The old cars, radios playing loudly, drive over the rocks and through the water. None of them are four-wheel drive. Sometimes I hear them take a few attempts to get around the narrow curves between walls. One night, someone got stuck. I lay in my dry warm bed listening as over the fence his neighbors came outside to help. At moments like that I feel very gringo.
You can get a glimpse of the arroyo in some of the pictures .
For us, on the dry side of the fence, it is charming. It sounds like Rocky Creek, a favorite camping spot of my childhood. It even smells like Rocky Creek did, along the California coast past Carmel.
It can't be all that charming for the four families that live there. I watched their kids play in the torrent in their yards like we used to play in the creek. Kids are always going to be kids. But the mothers are careful not to drop their laundry in the mud when they hang it out. Babies must be carried, the puddles are very deep. Keeping the dirt outside is not possible. If it didn't come in on its own, the dogs would bring it inside. There is no pavement on the arroyo, and as the water rushes down, it carries big rocks and brush with it, making deep trenches. The people who live in those four houses have no other way to get to school or to work - there is only one entrance to the street. The kids wade through the arroyo to get to school. The old cars, radios playing loudly, drive over the rocks and through the water. None of them are four-wheel drive. Sometimes I hear them take a few attempts to get around the narrow curves between walls. One night, someone got stuck. I lay in my dry warm bed listening as over the fence his neighbors came outside to help. At moments like that I feel very gringo.
You can get a glimpse of the arroyo in some of the pictures .
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Exploring with Eric
We had the fortune of having Eric and Kirsty visit us over Labor Day weekend. Kirsty was here for almost three days and Eric for almost five. Since Kirsty primarily wanted to check the place out for her wedding next year (September 27, 2008), we didn't spend much time exploring areas that we had not been to yet. However, her assessment was an emphatic "Yes" that our garden and the local area will be perfect for the wedding. And we found the most delicious cake for the wedding, and also had an open house, so our friends could meet the kids. (Nancy believes it to be the first party she has ever thrown for adults) We still have some work being done in the house, and will post pictures when it is all done. But the painters have finished, and we are totally impressed with their talents - we miss them already!
We took advantage of Eric being here a bit longer to explore some other areas and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. After dropping Kirsty off at the airport dad and Eric decided to hike up to a shrine in the mountains behind our house that has a fantastic view of the lake. Ten minutes walking distance from our house is the trail head to some local waterfalls but not to the shrine. It had rained most of the night before, and the road leading to the trail head for the falls was actually a river pouring all the way past the highway. We thought a water main had broken. But Eric and dad found out that it actually was that the waterfalls had overflowed. We took photos of the river running down the road and then the waterfalls. In these pictures you can see the "road river" and the three waterfalls we got to see. The climb up the trail from the trail head is only about half hour and not a very strenuous climb at all. The only problem was that the water crossed the path several times and it became tricky trying to "stone-step" across. Dad gave up first and just started wading through the water. The waterfalls are so close to our house and it is a very beautiful hike up to them. Now that the rain season is approaching its' end, you can see how sparkly blue the sky is becoming again.
Then the next day we decided to see what it was like on the other side of the lake. From our terrace it always reminds us of Kauai, our favorite family vacation spot and "almost" retirement spot. So we drove over to the other side and found, as we drove down the highway, it reminded us even more of Kauai. Now we have seen some of the other villages first hand. You can see a church from our terrace and in one of the pictures, you can see part of the church. We didn't actually go all that far around, the lake is much bigger than it seems. Plus we were hungry, and had a craving for real Angus hamburgers and rock and roll music, so we headed to "60's In Paradise" in Ajijic. As we continue our explorations of this incredible area we will keep you posted.
We took advantage of Eric being here a bit longer to explore some other areas and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. After dropping Kirsty off at the airport dad and Eric decided to hike up to a shrine in the mountains behind our house that has a fantastic view of the lake. Ten minutes walking distance from our house is the trail head to some local waterfalls but not to the shrine. It had rained most of the night before, and the road leading to the trail head for the falls was actually a river pouring all the way past the highway. We thought a water main had broken. But Eric and dad found out that it actually was that the waterfalls had overflowed. We took photos of the river running down the road and then the waterfalls. In these pictures you can see the "road river" and the three waterfalls we got to see. The climb up the trail from the trail head is only about half hour and not a very strenuous climb at all. The only problem was that the water crossed the path several times and it became tricky trying to "stone-step" across. Dad gave up first and just started wading through the water. The waterfalls are so close to our house and it is a very beautiful hike up to them. Now that the rain season is approaching its' end, you can see how sparkly blue the sky is becoming again.
Then the next day we decided to see what it was like on the other side of the lake. From our terrace it always reminds us of Kauai, our favorite family vacation spot and "almost" retirement spot. So we drove over to the other side and found, as we drove down the highway, it reminded us even more of Kauai. Now we have seen some of the other villages first hand. You can see a church from our terrace and in one of the pictures, you can see part of the church. We didn't actually go all that far around, the lake is much bigger than it seems. Plus we were hungry, and had a craving for real Angus hamburgers and rock and roll music, so we headed to "60's In Paradise" in Ajijic. As we continue our explorations of this incredible area we will keep you posted.
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