Rain ≠ Water

Wednesday was a sad night for Honduras. After playing what was rumored to be their worst game of the season, Honduras lost 1-0 against Jamaica. All of their World Cup hopes now rest on next month’s game against Mexico. Now, I must admit that I did not actually watch the game. My energy was focused on something far more trivial than soccer: the final presidential debate. Braving the rain, Graham and I made our way downtown to Jim’s Pizza, the only business establishment in town where the game was not playing (Jim, as you have probably guessed, is a gringo), and joined a crowd of other Americans watching the debate. Of course, if you saw the debate, or read the coverage afterwards, you already know that the heavily pro-Obama audience, left the pizza joint happy. And then the rain really started to come down.

It rained Wednesday. It rained Thursday. It rained Friday. It rained Saturday. I was happy. For days, I could actually wear long-sleeve shirts and pretend it was fall (a season that does not exist in Copan). The cool weather was a welcome change to an upstate New Yorker like me. Suddenly, I had an excuse to make lentil soup and track down some cheddar (a near impossible feat here) for grilled cheese sandwiches. Unfortunately, as I was reveling in the chilly damp October air, most of Copan Ruinas was suffering.

As I have said many times, we have a sweet house here in Copan. One of the things that makes it wonderful is the water tank above our house. The water system* in Copan is antiquated. Designed years ago, before the town exploded as a tourist destination, the slender pipes cannot take much abuse. Toilet paper, for example, does not EVER belong in the commode, instead, all bathrooms are outfitted with small basureros (trashcans) lined with plastic bags. These nifty little receptacles are the recipients of all non-bodily waste, a fact that may cause us from the States to wrinkle our noses, but one quickly gets used to the system.

Back to the tank. Like I said, the water system in Copan is delicate. And, when it rains (especially when it rains a lot), the town frequently loses its running water supply. Now, this initially seemed counter-intuitive to me. Why, I asked myself, does the town lose access to running water, when water is falling in such abundance from the sky? The answer, as it turns out, is fairly simple. When it rains, the system gets flooded. The pipes cannot handle the excess water and they burst, cutting off the town’s water supply until someone can get them repaired. You would think that an intelligent person such as myself would think to herself, “Hmmm . . . there has been a lot of rain, the town is probably without water, I am probably operating on tank water and should conserve.” Instead I thought “I’m muddy and cold, I should take really long hot showers and go on baking sprees that create lots of dishes to be washed.” I’m embarrassed to admit that I was surprised when yesterday morning the water barely trickled out of the faucet. By the evening, the drippy faucets had dried up completely, and we joined the rest of Copan in life without water.

Luckily, Doña Berta, our landlady, experienced with the challenges of the water system, had both been conserving her tank water and collecting rain water in buckets and basins. Doña Berta is wonderful, not only did she share water with us last night, but she also gave us a lesson in tortilla making! They are really easy to make. All it takes is corn flour, water, and a flat frying pan.

Step 1: Mix water and corn flour.
Step 2: Make little balls out of the dough.
Step 3: Pat the dough into a pancake.
Step 4: Put on frying pan (no oil necessary).
Step 5: Flip twice and remove from heat when slightly browned on each side.

After our lesson, which produced about ten small tortillas, Doña Berta brought us beans from her kitchen and a special cheese (it’s like goat cheese – so much better than anything else we’ve had here!) that her sister had brought her from one of the villages outside of Copan. We uncorked the $8 bottle of wine we picked up on Friday and enjoyed one of the best meals we’ve had since we arrived in Copan nearly two months ago.

Doña Berta came back after dinner with a bag of oranges picked from her yard and insisted that Graham borrow more water from her stash, so we’d have enough. She brings us food, teaches us how to make typical Honduran dishes, and gives us good advice about conserving water, hand-washing clothes, and other Honduran life essentials. We are really in good hands.

It’s Sunday now, and though we are still without water, there is only one thing that I feel could really improve our life here today: an outhouse.


* It is not safe to drink water from the tap in Copan under any circumstances. We wash all vegetables and fruits in water we treat with bleach. We purchase our drinking water in five-gallon re-usable jugs.