After a week or so of buying small bottles of water, I finally "sorted out" the potable water situation. When I first arrived, I boiled tap water and drank it, but was warned that boiling removes bacteria, but not the heavy metals (here in petroleum city, plenty of those have leached into the groundwater).
So I took the short walk to Citimart, found the English-speaking manager, and bought a couple of big vats. A clerk trundled them down to my apartment and then up the 60 steps. I don't have to stint myself on drinking water anymore!
Hi MB,
ReplyDeleteKit and I are at Caribou reading your posts. So interesting. Did you have to tip your water-carrier?
Yes, 3 manats, which is just about right for two big vats. I'm very conscious of being an obvious rich foreigner in an expensive city which is still full of people who are poor. Lots of beggars here, some of them little old Russian widows who get NO help from the government whatsoever, and they're stranded here.
ReplyDeleteMy biologist big sis always tried to convince me that the third world water I was drinking was better for me than the super-purified water at home....more minerals. But, then she was getting her dose of brain frying minerals from soaking in her CA hottub. LInda
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