Hosepipe showers ... ain't so bad!

I tackle the palapero when he arrives about the roof – best not to beat around the bush ... or thatch in this case.

It appears no-one had mentioned the lower roof over the stair to the workers but the present design has more continuity and is more as I had originally intended it to look. This time I think I will leave things be. I called my builder for a bit of advice on the potential for hurricane damage with this present design. We ponder upsides and downsides – and agree to leave it be this time. Things always seem to come together on Cozumel. It is Saturday and the guys are all paid and leave at three.

Since we knew it was going to be a quiet afternoon my plumber and I had chosen to start work on the plumbing today. By evening he has the filter installed but the numerous joins and additional llaves (“yabbes” valves) have taken time and we are not yet ready to switch on … the guy has worked diligently and offers to return tomorrow to finish. I do have street water and a hose that can be carried into the paplapa studio so I can shower (see casaolivia.com for photos of the palapa studio). My past experience here told me what I was letting myself in for when we started …so I cant complain!

A brief diversion:
Water on Cozumel for Dummies

Our house is very well served with water. We have;

the usual cisterna/tinaco arrangement with a bomba/hydro – a large underground water storage tank in garden fed from the city water supply, a water tank on roof (tinaco), a pump (bomba) to get the water through the system and hydro to add pressure. This, of course, all requires power to work.

a well (yes, as in “a big deep hole in the ground” and in the well known nursery rhyme) used mainly for garden and cleaning purposes and,

two faucets (taps) in our garden plumbed directly from our city supply. The city supply has little pressure without the assistance of the pump system so this faucet is our last resort.

Point of interest: the tinaco (shown above) on our roof is of the older style. Most now are large cylindrical black containers of varying sizes. Despite its age, this one made it through Hurricane Wilma intact, unlike some of the newer counterparts. One up to the oldies!


All of the above offer very clean water for household use – but it is not advisable to drink or cook with it. Most now use bottled water for drinking and cooking. Bottled water is delivered regularly. I prefer the “Crystal” brand, which has a good reputation. We usually keep six bottles on hand.
Many have used city water for years for brushing teeth without problems (including my husband and I), others diligently use bottled only.

Bottled is best for cooking and a few drops of “Microdyn” in the water is good for washing vegetables. Microdyn is available in supermarkets here, I always some in my house. Some even use it when washing dishes … but I never have.

Regarding the well, many properties here have a well. Ours was built at a time when blasting with explosives was allowed, which probably made life much easier to get 18 feet down into the karst.

When we first bought our house it was a novelty. During the various work projects I have come to depend on it. I never envisioned I would hear myself say “Thank goodness we have a well”. Of course for safety it’s well covered (sorry, couldn’t resist again!), with a locked iron bar grill and a wooden cover on top of that. It also needs to be cleaned out at least once yearly … I’ll leave you with a thought on that…how would you clean out a 30” (90cm) diameter, 18 foot deep (5.5mtr), hole in the ground?

On Sunday the plumber arrives a little later than planned. His mother has arrived from Merida, a four/five hour journey from here. He still insists on finishing the work and a few hours later it is done. We switch on the water. The palapa studio house has water but the main house has none. This is hardly a surprise since we are sailing in uncharted waters. We work out where the problem is. We have missed a connection. I tell the plumber to go back home to spend time with his mother …I have one shower back in action now. We will finish mañana (tomorrow …sometime).

That evening I go into the studio palapa bathroom for my shower. The shower splutters out its last drop, coughs and dies, there is water in the kitchen and washbasin faucets (taps) but not in the shower! Oh well …its back to the hose and the city water.

A footnote of possible interest – a shower with city water is warmer than a shower with well water!