The Water Crew

We had a water leak under our new ramp in our new garage.

It wasn’t alot, but you know how much a dripping tap looses over time...well, we had it running down our road. It wasn’t hooked up to our house, but even so, somebody must be missing some water and in Mazatlan even unfiltered water is a waste.

We tried calling the City, but needless to say they didn’t understand Hub's broken Spanish and sign language on the phone, so our bilingual neighbour helped us. She was told ‘the crew’ would be out in two days. Hearing this Hub immediately took the car out of the garage and stored it elsewhere.

Two days later...no ‘crew’.

One week later...no ‘crew’.

He brought the car home and our neighbour called again. She was told they would call before they come out, in a few days.

Well after 4 days there was no reason not to go shopping, so off I went. When I pulled up I saw a City truck and 5 guys from the water department waving goodbye, indicating it was all fixed and they would come back the next day to cement the hole...hmmm no phone call to say they were coming in the first place, but who cares, it’s done...and be damned if they didn't show up the next day to re-cement the hole.

Four weeks has passed and I noticed we had weeds growing along the ramp to the garage. Big weeds. Weeds that need water to survive. Well, we had water running down the street, again. The neighbour called for us once more and was told they would be out ‘manana’...yeah right!

Well, it’s been almost 2 weeks and today during a very short, light rain we could hear banging from inside the house...banging that actually was shaking the house. I went up on the roof to investigate, to get a better look and there, down on the road, was ‘the crew’ waving back at me!


Yes, they had arrived, again without calling and with the car in the garage
they were digging a bigger hole in the re-cemented ramp again! They motioned for me to come down and upon coming face to face with them they indicated they would like some water.


Why not? They had been working for all of 15 minutes!!!

I went back into the house, got them some bottled water, took it out and then they asked for some copper pipe!!!


You see, in Mexico, it's common place for workers to arrive at a job without the tools they will need...be it tools, water, tarps, ladders or even plans! They either survey the site to see what they will need and then go away till they get it, or they ‘borrow’ your stuff.


Well sorry, I didn’t have any copper pipe on me.


Fearing they would be leaving to get a pipe only to return gawd knows when, I was plenty surprised to discover that in fact, they would just cut off part of the pipe they were working on and ram it into the end of the offending HOSE!


That’s right, the City waterline that was leaking down the road was not a pipe at all, but in fact looked like a frigg’n black garden hose!!!


So the guy in the water filled hole took the cut off pipe, rammed it into the ‘hose’ and the water stopped. They proceeded to fill in the hole and assured me they would return 'manana' to finish the pipe/hose and then re-cement the ramp again!

Now, you may have noticed I was dealing with ‘the crew.’ This was due to the fact that Hub is getting over the flu. He was upset not being able to be out there, directing in his own ‘special’ language. So, as the ‘crew’ waved goodbye I returned to the house knowing that they would return to finish the job ‘manana’...in Mexican that doesn't mean tomorrow...it just means not today!

Turns out the offending water line isn’t even hooked up to any house on the street. It’s an old line.


Well, that’s what I’m told today.


Just a couple of thoughts from 2 Canadians living and loving it in Mazatlan!
Linda and Hub.