The Hayes Zoo

Our Purpose


- to know God and use our entire lives in service to Him.

- to stand in the gap through prayer, giving and service to viable ministries in Latin America.

- to be transparent helpers of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, using our resources and skills that through the Holy Spirit, we might encourage and equip those who have less.

- to share a living perspective from Latin America to our churches, friends and family in the states and beyond.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Pilas and Widomakers - oh my..........


Yes, I wrote WidowMaker up there! Here is a picture................

Here is an explanation - this is how we have hot (semi) water for showers. There are ways to get propane hook ups but that would involve buying a big tank and spending money and time we don't feel we have. We'll go with the local version.



You know those electric tea kettles you can buy these days? Same technology. But they are called widow makers for a reason. The kids and I know not to TOUCH IT. Especially wet. Alan installed a switch so we can have it 'loaded' or 'safe'. :) Alan had to basically rewire the house to get it set up though. He's so amazing...and I'm so grateful. The only drawback is that you can't have much water pressure going if you want the water past frigid. Oh well...

Pila - this needs a definition.

A pila is a GIANT water reservoir that is a necessary here. There are two washboards on either side and this huge tub. You fill it with water and that's your emergency. Actually - it's where most people just have their laundry water come from. THANKS to the Lord, I have a washing machine...I've used the pila to do laundry the long way and it's really time consuming and hard on the clothes. Helpful though! Here are a few pictures in me getting ours ready to use. Yes, I am IN the pila cleaning it. It's SO helpful though when we don't have water in the house! Trish Sowers did a longer explanation on her blog about the REAL uses and ettiquete. http://sowers4pastors.blogspot.com/2008/11/pila-etiquette.html I'll let her do the BIG lowdown on it for you.....at least I have the visual aids! :)

2 comments:

Jamie Jo said...

Wow. That's one deep pila. Makes me remember the good ol' days before washing machines when I had to do laundry in one. No thanks! Glad you have a machine, too.

I'm praying for your continued adjustment. It's not like a once-forever thing, you know. It's ongoing, sorry to say.

I hate widowmakers! Can you get a gas hot water heater installed?

Unknown said...

Great picture of you inside of the pila. And as far as widowmakers, I was always a bit nervous with my showerhead in Comayagua. Now I live in Tegu, and I have a hot water tank. I also used to wash all my clothes by hand in Comayagua until I got lazy and occasionally paid for the wash at the local washateria. It's good exercise!