Post date: Nov 9, 2013 6:48:04 PM
We had rain last evening and the night before. Nothing like the piddling, drizzling clouds of Seattle, but a real 20-minute drenching. The first time we were abed and could see the water running down the garden wall opposite us. Then the deluge suddenly grew on the wall, as the downspout from the roof gutter came apart. I got up and held the pipes together until the rain let up. No big deal, the plastic pipe was never glued together at the joints.
A woman mechanic (with a male assistant) came yesterday to glue the downspout to the gutter. The maid was amazed that the mechanic is a woman! During the rain today it held, so she must have done a good job.
Then yesterday we were returning from a walk into town (meaning about four blocks) and stopped for a drink at Hotel Darío. The day had been cloudy (meaning, not quite so hot as in direct sun), and a few drops of rain spat from the skies occasionally. But while we ate desert the skies opened again. Tourists under the umbrellas in the street mostly stayed - at least until some of the umbrellas collapsed around them!
I have been drinking the city water that is piped into the house. We have a bottle of filtered water that Carol uses for toothbrushing, but I have not yet had any problems with the water. Vendors come 'round on tricycle carts to sell the bottles, but we haven't needed a refill yet. We mostly drink tonic water, which is expensive (US$1.20/can vs. 50 cents/can for local soda) because it is imported from the US.
City water pressure fluctuates and fails occasionally. Many houses have a storage tank, either on a steel stand in the garden or mounted on the roof or (in the historic district, where it can't be seen from the street) up under the roof. Our house has two tanks mounted above the laundry and a water pump to raise the pressure - though the pump is unusual.
One of the houses I considered renting when I visited last March is on a stream. That makes for a nice green swath outside the back wall of the house. Of course, in the rainy season (9 months of the year here), it may also make for many mosquitos. Our maid warned us against the mosquitos in that particular house. I'll go and see for myself. This is the end of the rainy season, so would be a good time to test the prevalence of mosquitos.
Our house, along with many of the newly rebuilt houses in Granada, has a tiny swimming pool. It provides a means of low-impact exercise for Carol, but it seems too small to actually swim in. Perhaps the popularity of 'swimming' pools among the gringos is that it reduces the chance for mosquitos that live in the greenery of subtropical gardens. Our 'garden' is a little gravel at one end of the pool with a few potted plants.
We tend to drink a lot here. Since I almost never drink more than a mug of coffee at breakfast and a diet Pepsi at noon, 'more' does not mean very much. But we make smoothies from fresh fruit (mostly water) and drink soda water and tonic water and an occasional beer - at least a couple of cans (or equivalent) a day. I was buying soda water from the supermarket at US$1.20 per can. Found a distributor who comes from Managua weekly. He sold me a 12-pack of 1-liter bottles for US$6, or 50 cents per bottle.
Then there is the lake, which is on the edge of Granada (or vice versa). We have not visited the lake on this trip (yet), but wonder if the houses near the lake might be somewhat cooler than those in the center of town.