Recent addition

The gentleman on the left is Nacho ( I swear that's his name- it's short for Ignacio) and on the right is one of his seven sons, Manolo. Nacho is the comisario of Santa Clara. This doesn't really mean too much, it's more of a title like Royal Rosarian Princess. What power do they really hold? but in Nachos case it involves a stipend, an illusion that you are somehow involved in monitoring criminal activities or local disputes and you occasionally ride around with three or four of your buddies in an older car with "Santa Clara Comisario" emblazoned proudly across the drivers door. We haven't quite established how one becomes the comisario but Nacho lost out to Chupy last year...prior to that he had held the position for around 13 years. One of the duties entrusted to the comisario is the turning on of Santa Clara's water supply each morning and turning it off each evening. As far as we can tell, these times, like many things in mexico, are left to whim. It depends on when the person in charge of said duty chooses to get up and do it and remembers/feels like doing it at night. Nacho is a practicing alcoholic so occasionally the water is left on all night, or perhaps isn't turned on until 10:00 some mornings, and some days it doesn't come on at all..."where does the water come from?" you may ask. There are cenotes everywhere in the Yucatan. They are underground, fresh water rivers. They sometimes surface as a sort of waterhole,pond, pool whathaveyou and sometimes just flow along underground. They even surface in the waters of the gulf where the fresh and salty waters mingle...must really freak out the fish. Anyway, this particular cenote near Santa Clara has been tapped into like a great keg and the pump, once turned on, sends the water through a very small pipe, sort of a cross between pvc pipe and a garden hose. At our house, it comes from the road underground and surfaces to be used as we see fit. Ours runs to a cistern, a large concrete well, into which another hose is submerged. On the roof of our house is the water tank that serves the house. All water tanks are on the roof here. In this tank is a floating device like a toilet. When the water level gets low, an automatic pump kicks on ( one of our many new upgrades...John used to have to get the pump going then climb up on the roof and put the hose in and wait for it to fill) and water from the cistern gets pumped up to the water tank...Now, John and I don't use a lot of water so we are happy with this system, however, water is a very hot topic among the gringos with pools, washing machines, tended yards that they actually set up sprinklers for ("wait...I thought you lived in a little fishing village?"....well, it's changing!) They are forming groups, signing petitions and generally getting very heated about why the water system isn't up to their standards. Don't even mention the word water unless you are prepared to listen to a tirade.... But back to Nacho...local rumor has it he is...how shall I say this..less than scrupulous. Manolo as well. They have in fact "borrowed" tools and things from us in the past. Some have found there way home while others....We paid Manolo to install screen doors and a year and a half later we were still waiting for one...but in his defense, that's our fault. This is a big no-no. Anyone who has been here for more than a week knows better. So upon our return to the house last week from our trip to the city, we discovered our large tool box and a couple of saws were gone. Screw drivers, tools for the truck, tape measure...you know, tools-gone. So the investigation proceeded...Nacho happened by and we told him. His response was we should get a dog (remember he's in charge of this sort of thing...the comisario...). We believe he is a bit unhappy with us because we used workers other than his sons. Who knows but it seems that all the gringos have a story involving something missing and Nacho....this is our little Peyton Place ( for my young readers that means a little town with soap opera tendencies). You see what happens when you have no television or newspapers? You discuss Nacho and the water situation.......
So speaking of water, these pictures were taken on the back of our property where it borders the mangrove swamp. Our friend who is a wildlife photographer went nuts when he realized our property bordered the swamp and asked if he could have a little dock put in. So a couple of weeks ago ( prior to the case of the missing tools ) Nacho and manolo and three of the other sons cut through the trees with machetes, some with shoes, some without, used a post hole digger and some logs and constructed this dock. The swamp doesn't look very interesting in this shot but it's full of a wide variety of birds and, remember? crocodiles. we are going to get a little tiny flat bottom boat to pole around in.

This is John and our friend Mark test driving the dock (Mark's the photographer).

So one last water related story and I'll take my leave. John and I were working on projects around the house. He was varnishing and I was constructing a wall out of bamboo. It was a very hot day and we were both sweating quite profusely so to replenish our systems, we were taking in a lot of water. John stopped to take a break and I heard him coughing, gagging, spewing..I thought he had some water " go down the wrong pipe" as they say. He held up his quivering hand and displayed a bottle that i thought (and so had he) was water but upon further inspection I realized with horror was the paint thinner. I asked "did you swallow it?" he nodded yes as the gagging and spitting continued. "Very much?"...another nod. several things went through my mind at once,,,where is the doctor again? we don't have insurance, will this require a hospital? do you throw up or not throw up paint thinner...I got him some milk and brought out a bottle of tums. "Here" I said thrusting them at him. Once he got some down I instructed him to make himself throw up which he proceeded to do for the next few minutes alternating with more milk/Tums intake. When I saw him shaking like a first time roller skater, I brought him a stool. Once he relaxed a bit he informed me "at least I had the where with all to throw my cigarette right away!" I could just see it...I turn to witness my husband with a ball of fire blazing around his head...oh sure, I know some of you are horrified and others ( my close friends..) are laughing hysterically by this time....I must say, the bottle did look like a beverage. I thought to myself the day we bought it "this isn't a good idea...." Needless to say, his throat was raw for the next several days and he felt poorly but came through it.

Nacho came by the other day to show us a giant crab (giant by local standards...it was average for Oregon). He was chatting with John who was holding down the hammock. He told him that in two or three years, John might be the comisario. "Wouldn't that be something? Me, the comisario?!" I had a vision of John rolling around in the truck investigating petty thefts and water thievery with "Santa Clara Comisario" emblazoned on the side and a bottle of cleaning solvent in his hand.......