Taking Care of Business

Upon arriving in Mexico City, I was met by my friend Alejandro.  Instead of taking me to the condo which I rent, he took me to his home which is closer to the airport.  I spent Wednesday night there, and the next morning Alejandro dropped me off at a Metrobus stop on his way to work.  From there it was an easy, direct bus ride to the neighborhood of Nápoles where my condo is located.

I arrived at the apartment with a bit of trepidation.  I did not know what I would find there.  When I am not staying at the condo, the cleaning lady still comes in once a month.  A while ago when she came to get the place ready for my arrival, she discovered that the kitchen floor was flooded with water... water that contained pieces of food.  (Yuck!)  She cleaned up the mess and contacted the owner of the apartment who lives in Chicago.  The owner then called the administrator of the condo building.  The condo that I rent shares a kitchen wall with the neighboring apartment, and we share the same water pipe going from our kitchen sinks and dishwashers.  That water with food particles had to be coming from the neighbor's dishwasher.  

The neighboring apartment had been having problems with a clogged kitchen sink.  The day before my arrival, the maintenance man went to the neighbor's apartment, unclogged the drain, and hoped that was the cause of the flooding in my kitchen.  I was keeping my fingers crossed, but I had my doubts.  I don't know much about plumbing, but it seemed to me that the flooding would have to be caused by a leak rather than a clogged drain.

When I arrived at the condo, I found that the kitchen floor was dry, although the dam of towels and rags that the cleaning lady had placed around the affected area was still sopping wet.

Maybe, just maybe, the problem had been solved.  No such luck.  Yesterday afternoon I went into the kitchen and found that the area within the "dam" was covered with water again.  I mopped it up.  Later in the day, I found water once again.  I mopped the floor again, and wrung out the excess water from the towels and rags so that they could absorb more water from the next inundation.

Obviously I immediately contacted the owner and told her that unfortunately the problem had not been resolved.  She got in touch with the building administrator first thing this morning, and a plumber is supposed to arrive around noon today.  (Hopefully it is not "noon Mexican time" which could be anytime later in the afternoon!

As far as I can tell the water is coming from beneath the dishwasher.  I am hoping that the plumber will be able to find the leak by simply pulling out the dishwasher and will not have to destroy the kitchen to solve the problem.

Still keeping my fingers crossed!