We have now been without water for two days. Again. Yesterday morning I went and talked with the neighbors, and none of them have water. They said they suppose the water committee is doing a project. The water should come back eventually.
So, we are exercising patience. Thankfully, we had some filtered water in bottles. Unfortunately, we do not have other water for washing dishes, flushing toilets, or bathing bodies. The neighbors don’t have water either, so I asked Rafael if we could get water from them.
Rafael wanted to borrow my truck for the day to do a run into Cusco to collect stuff to sell at the store. The police are overly strict against large commercial trucks like his in Cusco. Since he was coming anyway, he brought five gallons of water.
We can make five gallons go a long way, anymore. Saturday night is bath time for all the children. This week it is sponge baths. Everyone looks and smells clean.
In other news, I was finishing up my studying this afternoon while the family napped (Nap times are great times for me to focus in silence.) when I heard a goat scream. They do that when they get tangled sometimes. I figured it could wait a bit.
We have had the goats up in the garden plot at the small house all this week. There was still standing corn and the husks of whatever had been planted last year. Also, the weeds had grown up for the past few months. The goats have done a good job of clearing it all out, even the corn stalks.
We’ve had them staked, but when the girls ran up to check on the goats this afternoon, one goat was missing. They immediately noticed the lid was off the well. Looking in, they found the goat.
It was He-who-must-not-be-named, our wether we’d been raising up to butcher. Apparently, today was butchering day!
Dane and I took the wheelbarrow up and pulled the goat out of the well. Its back end was hanging into the well, but he didn’t appear bloated. I dressed him and found a very bloody neck. When Steph and I were cutting up the meat, she agreed with me that it looked as if he’d broken his neck when he tumbled into the well.
It was a disappointment to have him die today, but it’s not really that great a loss as he was destined to be butchered in a few months, anyway. We got nearly 19 pounds of meat off of him and into the freezer. With the total cost of the animal, the meat will be about $1.60 per pound.
I put several heavy rocks on top on the well lid. The goat must have jumped up on the well because he was a goat, and goats jump up on everything. When he jumped off, he must have dragged the lid off. Then somehow, he hopped into the well and hung himself.
It’s been quite the few days.
Update: We just now got running water again! The children are bathed and in bed already, but we are tremendously thankful for water!
Juan David 