Martes, 03 Julio 2012. Out the kitchen window,
Carmen saw a propane truck go by and told Dan to go see if it was
stopping nearby. Dan saw it pull into a side street a couple blocks
south and dashed after it. He asked the driver to please come to our
house, which they did. The two fellows working the truck, inspected
our whole system, and told us that our rusted tank of 300 liters has
probably five more years life in it. They tried to start the hot
water heater. Dan kept coming into the house and told Carmen there
was a gas smell. Nope she could not smell it, she was however
getting a headache. Finally they gave up on the hot water heater and
came inside to be sure the stove was connected properly. After
checking it all thoroughly, they started one burner and HUGE POOF of
flame from all six burners. Unbeknownst to any of us – the burners
were all turned on to full on. (Was this how it left the factory, or
was this a joke on the gringos?) Luckily no one got burned. Now
that the stove was no longer sucking up all the propane, the water
heater lit with no problem. Were they expecting a tip? They did not
charge for all their extra time of inspection. The propane cost the
equivalent of $1.79 a gallon US.
Now at this point we have
someone delivering our propane, large drinking water jugs, caring for
our garden. Bit different from the US. While the fuel truck was
here, we looked out front, and low and behold, there was Ania and
friend Lucy walking south past our house. Dashed out to say hi.
Later we saw them going north past our house. They go for several
long walks a week. This time we stopped them for a longer chat.
Ania had brought us a couple plants on Sunday and I knew the one was
spearmint, but I had forgotten the other name. It is a cilantro –
different from what we are familiar with. Nice to be able to chat in
English. A bit later Frank stopped by for a bit with some books.
Our house is but 9 blocks from the new house they are building.
Yes, Dan thrashed on the
bathroom sink again. Will it ever be leak free? Would be a real
shame to have to pull it out, as it is handmade and very much
complements the tile finish in the bathroom. We did indeed celebrate
the end of the day with our first hot shower (ducha) here.
More thunder showers. Actually earlier today, we saw a rainbow over
the banana field to the east. This morning Mt Orizaba was
magnificent!
