Backflow Issues, Paper Towels and Papaya Lips

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Have I aroused your curiosity with today's title? I would guess so.

Okay I'm not an expert on bathroom backflow issues but I am privy to what can happen if you don't have plumbing set up right. Now what I and many others have discovered here in Costa Rica and probably other third-world countries is just what the result can be if the plumbing isn't set up correctly. In a nutshell you can get BAD odor coming up from the drains due to the escaping of certain gases. So a quick remedy for the odor issue is to place a paper towel, folded in double or more if you'd like, over the drain when not in use and this tends to take care of much of the problem. Did you know that in the U.S. there is an association that deals with backflow issues. It's the American Backflow Prevention Association! Here's their link if you want to learn more; http://www.abpa.org/

In my research this morning I also learned the name of a very important part whenever one talks about plumbing backflow issues. That part is called a "ballcock". Taken from ehow.com I read about how important this part is for toilets to prevent something called "cross-connection". Here's the paragraph containing this important information followed by the link to the ehow web page if you want to read more. It's truly amazing what one finds out when they do research on the web!

"The toilet presents the biggest hazard of cross-connection in indoor plumbing. All toilets must have certain components to prevent flushed water from backing up, bringing with it sewer gas and bacteria. One important component to prevent this is the ballcock. The air inlet of the ballcock must be installed above the water line in the toilet tank, so that the refill tube will not take in contaminated water. This can be prevented by adjusting the float arm to lower the water level of the tank." http://www.ehow.com/way_6197086_backflow-valve-problems.html

Now onto to Papaya Lips. I had gotten into the lazy habit of eating fresh papaya right off the skin ever since I cameg to Costa Rica. Now I haven't eaten papaya everyday but I do enjoy having it maybe two or three times per week. Well I didn't make any connection that the soreness on my lips had anything to do with eating papaya in that way. So I happened to mention it to Maria Elena last weekend when we went traveling with her and she went on to explain that between the underside of the papaya skin and the fruit there's a fine layer of a liquid irritant. To prevent problems this is what you need to do is to first score the fruit and let it set for awhile and then rinse it off well and peel then eat...rinsing the knife frequently. Now I had never heard about this problem before and it's not listed on the Internet....of course I only searched under "papaya lips" so that may be why......So now my papaya lips are almost completely healed and in case you're wondering...yes they did hurt!

Looks like instead of going to the Artisan Market in San Jose tomorrow we might be going to "Santa Ana's International Crafts Fair" that I believe also has different cultural performances from many Latin American countries...right up my alley!

I'll keep ya'll in the loop.

P.S. There was another earthquake here last night, 4.4, around 12:45 this morning actually but I slept through this one. Shake, rattle and roll!

Ciao,
Barb

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Comments

[sis]

Ha! You said a funny at the beginning of your spiel about the toilet backing up, you said"....but I am privy...." Ha! Good one. So to fix the odor issue you are using a paper towel? And papaya lips-I can imagine how that could have hurt. Now you know. You are learning all sorts of things there! Keeps your mind active.....Love you!

[BarbinCostaRica]

glad you liked it...
I was on a roll...gluten-free of course ;)