Once a Plumber, Always a Plumber ... Even in a Foreign Country

Before we left on our trip to Nicaragua, our son TK had asked me in advance to help him install a toilet at their remote homestead.   They only have an outhouse pit, which is a long walk from the house where they live. 

So I agreed, in advance, and set about this task.  I was somewhat familiar with their house, and knew there was a small well-built shed close to their back door that would serve as a good bathroom. 

On our drive home from a tour of the country, we procured the proper fixtures, pipe, and fittings.  At least that's what we thought.  A trip to a foreign plumbing supply house can be a challenge, trying to bridge the cross cultural gap in language, methods, and equipment.  

As an example: we were discussing parts using the common plumbing phrase "male and female" to describe  fittings.  (If you don't know what that means, I'll have to address that in a future blogpost!).  We weren't getting anywhere until the sales clerk said "macho" - okay, now we're getting somewhere.

We  arrived home in the evening and commenced pounding away at the concrete with a sledge hammer and chisel. Lacking any power tools, you have to do this work by hand, using a solar lantern.  They don't have electricity at their house.  It was not that fun, but at least we were making progress.  


The next day was a big work day and we started out early, like 6:30 am.   Fortunately TK had a local guy who helped work around the homestead, named David (pronounced in Spanish as Dah-VEED).  He was a hard worker and helped to dig the trenches in the ground to lay drain pipe.

Things went well.  I was able to tap into their water line, get the pipe run under the concrete floor, knock holes in the concrete walls to runs pipes, and even knock out a window to let in some light. 

I was surprised how well things were going.  This kind of construction project can be fraught with disaster, especially since they live 20 kilometers out of town and there is a shortage of decent tools.  In other words, you can't just run down to the hardware store and pick up a few more things.  You have to make do.

The second day looked promising, with most of the hard work completed the day before.  But then major problems ensued with basically bad parts.  As I installed the fixtures, none of the stuff fit together, and there were several missing pieces - it was very frustrating.  

I did my best, and it took a long time, and when I finished and turned the water on, everything leaked.  Bummer dude!  This was going to be a hassle.  The quality of the parts and pieces, and even the fixtures (toilet, sink, faucet, hose bibb, valves, etc.) were very "poor" - although "terrible" is probably a better word.  

This called for extra time, effort, and creativity to get done because we didn't have a whole lot more time here.  Like this was the day to finish.  I took a break for a cup of coffee.  I needed to rally my internal resources, and have a talk with myself "come on Kevin, you have to find a way to get this done!"  Ha! Ha!

I started over with the fixtures and parts and pieces and basically took everything apart down to ground zero and rebuilt everything all over again.  There may have been some bailing wire and duct tape involved, but lo and behold, it worked!

Getting low on time to finish, we filled the holes, poured concrete to patch the openings, and filled in the trenches where the drain pipes were buried.  The toilet flushed properly and the sink worked and victory was at hand!

What did I learn from this experience?  Sometimes you have to dig down deep (pardon the pun) and use your emotional reserves to complete a very difficult task.  Oh, and as I have said before ... America has the best plumbing in the world.