Well since I already broke my rule, let me just share one really cool thing with you. While I was thinking about the pros and cons of living without electricity, I was running down the checklist of what that would mean. No lights. No problem, I can use oil lamps at night (though I'd have to calculate long term cost effectiveness). No electric tools. Not an issue, I'm excited by the idea of just hand or gas powered tools, and a generator can be used for big stuff. Water pump. I don't think it would be too hard to rig up a hand pump system, and then I would have continuous access to water without depending on an automatic pump to bring it to me. The bottom line with all of this is that it's been done before. People lived for hundreds of years without electricity and while the idea might seem unthinkable to some people, after some initial adjustment I think I could be quite comfortable, especially considering I plan on having a very small home. But then I started thinking about refrigeration. Winter refrigeration isn't a huge problem, for years my family has used our outside porch as an extended, walk-in fridge/freezer during the colder seasons and I know I could easily make something to help with day/night temperature regulation. That leaves the summertime though. How do you keep food cool without electricity? I had a hunch because of some backpacking experience. To keep perishable food from rotting or our drinks cold we simply put them in a waterproof container and plopped them in a stream with a few rocks or rope to keep them from floating away. Well, turns out that before electricity folks used the same idea. They built what's called a spring house. A spring house is basically a small shed that's constructed over a mountain fed stream. The water runs through a trough on the floor of the shed and out the other side. The cold water helps to cool the air, which basically turns the entire shed into a fridge. You can build shelves inside and keep vegetables/fruits on the walls. For things that need to be kept very cold (like milk or butter) you can put them in waterproof containers and place them directly in the trough of water on the floor. The cold water will keep them from spoiling just like a refrigerator would! If you aren't lucky enough to have a natural spring on your property you can also rig up a similar set up by diverting a small creek or part of a river.
Another option is an old fashioned ice box, but my initial reaction is that it wouldn't be effective since they rely on a steady supply of ice to keep foods cool. Still, I like the look of them! Maybe I can use the design for part of a pantry or something
Okay, I'll stop now. This stuff just gets me all worked up :) Back to the real world now (if living in Guatemala can be considered the real world). Things here have been going really well. I've been plugging away at my charlas, turns out writing them in English got me over the major roadblock I was facing. I'm hoping to wrap up my Childhood Development one today and then start the translating later this afternoon/this weekend. In other news, remember that little kid I told you about a few weeks ago, the one with the amniotic band syndrome? Well let me give you a little update! Two weeks ago I brought him to the orthopedic clinic in the city. I was a little nervous because this was an appointment with a hand surgeon to discuss what our options were. I was worried that he would say something to me that I wouldn't be able to understand enough to accurately relay the information to the medical team at NPH. To help matters along, the kid was puking in the waiting room because of the three hour car ride we had just taken. We're called in relatively quickly (hooray for vomit!) and take a seat across from the doctor. He's a young dude, maybe 35. He looks at me and asks if I'm from the United States, then proceeds to do the rest of the appointment in English! Woohoo!! He explains that he wants to do a pretty intricate surgery for the kid, but unfortunately their surgery center doesn't have electricity right now because they're in bankruptcy. They're trying to arrange more donations to get the power back on but he doesn't expect that it'll happen anytime before May, so we'll have to wait until then. No prob, I tell him, we're not in a rush. I reach up to rub the kids head which flashs my tattoo. I see the doctor notice it and brace myself for the inevitable question to follow. Here is the rest of our conversation:
Doctor: Hmmm. So, where are you from in the US?
Me: New York City
D: Ah. I did my residency in Minneapolis. I loved it there, but I also loved NYC.
M: Yeah, Minneapolis is great. That must have been a big adjustment for you.
D: Yup, but it was great, I loved it because it's much more liberal than here. It was a good fit for me [wink]
I should add here that he DID ACTUALLY wink at me. I was like, whooooa. This appointment is taking a very different turn than I expected.
M: Yeah, that's why I like NY too. It's nice to be able to be myself. That's a lot more difficult here. [attempted wink which was more like a prolonged eye twitch]
D: How long are you here for?
M: One year. I don't leave until next February
D: Oh, that's great. [moment of thoughtful silence] Hey, I just remembered that there's a group of Americans from the Mayo clinic here right now. They're doing hand surgeries for kid's with congenital anomalies. I'm volunteering with them next week, let me make a phone call.
So he calls the head of this program, explains this kids case and that's that. They agree to do the surgery and we just need to call to set up a date. All I can say is hooray for family connections.
So this little dude had his surgery on Wednesday. It's pretty amazing, they removed his thumb (he didn't really have much of a thumb, just a knob where the first knuckle was), opened up his whole hand and slid his index finger down to where his thumb was. They didn't have to cut anything off, just slide it all down internally, so they don't have to worry about the tissue dying and him losing the finger. We just have to wait for everything to heal up now, and then we can start doing physical therapy to strengthen it all up. I can't wait to see it! Right now he's all wrapped up in a cast, so I'm doing what I love best, entertaining him with movies and cartoons on my comp. I'll have to download something new this weekend in Antigua because we've already blown through all the cartoons I have saved.
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