9 September

We are still trying to adjust to darkness, and thus bedtime, as early as 8 and waking up early to utilize the daylight. The sun goes down about 6:30 and by 7:00 it's too dark to do much. The sun rises a bit before 6:30 but we have light by 6:15.
This morning at 6:00, Doug went down to the gate to wait for the bread man. He comes by on his bicycle every morning and sells fresh bread. Mmmmm good.
Most of this morning for me was spent doing laundry. I used the kitchen sink (which is about the size you would find in the typical camp trailer) and boiled water on the stove. I could only do two or three garments at a time. I finally worked out a system where I used the rinse water from one load for the soapy water for the next. Water is quite precious here and all we have is what is in the tank mounted on a tower. Everything is gravity fed from there. I took things outside to put on the line. Between the first and second loads, Sanchez had added clothespins and brought us more to use.
Sanchez is so good to us. We asked him for a broom once, and he came in to sweep. While we were gone today, he cleaned the bathrooms and emptied the garbage. He always comes by in the evening to tell us the lights are on.
Much of Doug's morning was devoted to trying to modify a 20 liter water jug so we could use it with our water filtration system. The system is supposed to filter out biological, bacterial and viral contaminates in any water. Once filtered, we should be able to drink the water. He got everything hooked up but didn't have enough pressure to prime the system. Back to the drawing board!
Some men from Talara were suppose to arrive this afternoon to look at our property, but never showed. Luis, from El Refugio, did come and install some different batteries for the collection of solar power. So far tonight we've had lights for an hour!