Life in Morelia: Water

Each day in Mexico, we learn new things, about Mexican politics, colonial history, Spanish verbs and local vegetables – so much so that we are hard pressed to organize our impressions. So we take great pleasure in the very simple business of living in a truly Mexican neighborhood, where we are close to the school and can get to know the local shops and churches and characters (more later).
This is a densely populated area, and only by climbing up to the second or third floor can we begin to see exactly what is packed into each square block. We took the photo above from the roof of one of our school buildings (the terra-cotta colored building on the left is more of the school, and the place where our classes are held). While looking out from this vantage point, we noticed all the round jars and tanks on the rooftops you can see in the photo – some very handsome. Later we learned that each dwelling or business has its own rooftop water tank. The pressure and supply in the city water system is inconsistent, so each building has its own system to pump up city water when possible, keeping a full tank and delivering water to the taps and toilets below via gravity.
This all seems to work, even if the flow is a little less robust than back in the land of pressurized water systems. Technologically less sophisticated, maybe, but elegant in its own way. And you have to love those great big round jars.