In the mountains of Peru it rains consistently from December through April, making life a bit difficult. Fortunately, Tembladera is located lower down the mountains in a valley where it does not rain as intensely nor as frequently. In fact, the rain is often a nice respite from the heat for us. But after several months of heavy rains further up the mountains, and a constant increase in our river flow, the waters washed away the town's water pipes. There is only one source of water to our town, located in some treatment facility further up the mountains. That water arrives to our town via one set of pipes, and if anything ever happens to those access pipes, the entire town is cut off from its water supply. Unfortunately, the water pipes are located precipitously close to the river. When the river floods, the pipes get washed away. And that’s exactly what happened.
So our town was without water for about 2 weeks, which made life a little more exciting. Every day people had to go to the river and fill buckets for their house. Clothes washing also had to be done in the river. Fortunately the local cement mining company sent around a truck twice a day which unloaded water into the waiting buckets which lined the town’s streets. On the plus side, we learned how incredibly refreshing it feels to bathe in a mountain stream instead of a shower. One tip for anyone who goes this route: always tie your soap to your wrist—several of our bars fell victim to slippery hands and a quick current.
More pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/nathanhaft/WithoutWaterInTembladera#
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