To some people, joy is the smiling face of a newborn discovering
something for the first time. For others,
it’s the satisfaction of a long day of hard work followed by a cold beer and a
seat on the couch. For us, Yes Good Good is joy.
Many of you who have been following on the blog, or emailing
directly with us know that we were without hot water in our home from August 17
until, well today. When we first moved in and noticed the issue, we asked if we
could speak with the landlord. Apparently she’s living large sippin’ maple
syrup living in Canada and cannot be reached by us common folk paying her money
every month. So we spoke with our real estate agent who brokered the deal for
the apartment. She said she would talk to the guard/maintenance guy…the
infamous Jorge Lopez to take a look at it and fix it. Well that took about a
week. When Jorge finally came to our rescue like a caramel knight
riding his horse of Levi Jeans, black work boots, and enough hair gel to
sufficiently keep his hair in place until our next rent payment, he tinkered
with the hot water heater and turned some nozzles that allowed more gas and
more water to flow through our system. This was unsuccessful as I tried this a
few times on my own, but we applauded the effort and thanked our friend Jorge
Lopez.
Jorge told us our gas tank was empty. I don’t remember if I mentioned
this or not in a previous post but all of our gas comes from two small tanks in
our storage unit. Some tubes run through to our apartment to our hot water
heater which connects to our water pipes and bam we have hot water. In theory.
Jorge told us to change our tanks, which judging by the weight of one of the
tanks in comparison to the other, needed to be done. We gave him our $3.50 and
after another 5 days or so the tanks were changed. (Note: now that we have figured out the system, it should be a same day change in the future)
On the day our tanks came, Shannon and I practically
sprinted home from work choking down some of Quito’s finest pollution as we
went. It’s a beautiful place, but in certain areas the industrial diesel trucks
spew out enough black exhaust to make anyone breathing feel like they are
sucking on the dirty sock of a coal miner. Anyway, we ran home and found that
our gas had finally arrived…and we still didn't have hot water. This was a low point for us. There may have
been some tears shed on one of our parts and the discouragement was
overwhelming.
When we regrouped we called the real estate woman again and
she arranged for an electrician to come and see if he could fix our hot water
heater. He was scheduled to come in a few days and all the while Shannon and I are
boiling water, putting it in a bowl, carrying said bowl to the side of the
shower and doing the cold water hokey pokey. You put your right leg in you take
your right leg out, you lather it all up, and you shiver until you pout, etc…
When the electrician finally came, we recognized him as the
same guy who fixed our door, our toilets, and every other problem we’ve had so
far. Juan was back baby! Sweater vest and all! Juan looked at our hot water
heater from about 5 feet away, turned on the water in the bathroom, walked back
and looked again and proclaimed that we needed a new hot water heater. We called
the real estate agent again and told her the news. She contacted the landlord
and purchased a new hot water heater. Only, it would be a few days until
someone could come in and install it. By now, our “few days” of being without
hot water was about 3 weeks, but again it’s part of the culture. Problems can
take a while to fix. You just have to be willing to roll with the punches when
you are living in another country.
When the day came for our scheduled install of our hot water
heater, a man arrived at the door carrying his small box and when I greeted him
at the door and asked him in Spanish what his name was, he said “Si, bien bien.”
My Spanish certainly needs work and I’ve been doing everything in my power to
work on it, and it’s been largely successful. As a result, I feel confident in
saying that I properly greeted him, introduced myself, and asked his name. He
said, Yes Good Good. This is not in question. The only logical conclusion one can draw is that this man’s
name was in fact Yes Good Good.
Well Yes Good Good installed the new hot water heater and
there was still no hot water. He said it must be the valve cap on the gas tank
and it would only cost another $37 since he already had the part in his truck. Yes
Good Good went to his truck and got a new valve and surprise surprise, still no
hot water. Let’s recap:
·
Move in, no hot water
·
Maintenance guy comes after about a week and
tinkers with the knobs, no hot water
·
We get gas delivered, no hot water
·
We get an electrician to come fix our heater, no
hot water
·
We get a new hot water heater, no one to install
it, no hot water
·
We finally get someone to install it, no hot
water
·
We get a new valve for the gas tank, no hot
water
That brings us to the point where Yes Good Good goes out to
our storage bodega and brings the gas tank to our patio. He hooked it up to the
heater and…no hot water. Are you *&^&^$^#^%$&^%&*% kidding me?
It was an inconvenience, then a frustration, then we resigned to it and it
became a point of depression, then it became a point of hope, then a point of
resolution, and STILL no hot water?!
Shannon and I were about ready to break at this point. We were
imagining the next two years spent huddled together on the couch for warmth
with dirt stained cheeks and stink lines coming from our bodies like Pig-Pen
from Peanuts breathing out frost air.
Luckily for us Yes Good Good chuckled to himself, cut the
existing gas line, fed some new tubing from the tank to the heater and presto!
There was an obstruction in the pipe the whole time. We now had hot water. We would
have paid Yes Good Good anything. I would have promised him my first born child
like in Rumpelstiltskin. He waved us off and told us our total would be $2.45
and then he was on his way.
Tonight I took my first hot shower in our apartment. It was
glorious. It was the best shower I have ever taken in my life. People are so
busy with their jobs, lives, social lives, families, iPads, phones, games, tv
shows, movies, and life to realize how the smallest things in their lives make
the biggest difference in happiness and morale. Having water hot enough to
create a tiny bit of steam on the shower felt like a life changing experience
for me. I actually just got out of the shower, got dressed, and immediately
picked up my laptop to type this story. It seems corny but this whole ordeal
made me just a little bit more perceptive about the little things. You can take
your cold beer and a couch, take your birthday cake, take your shopping trip or
whatever else makes you happy. All I need is a little hot water, Shannon, and
my man Yes Good Good.
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