After all the work trying to resolve the problem with the septic trap…I haven\’t, we worked out that what we thought was fat, isn\’t, it is soap, probably from the washing machine, after a number of flushes, we cleared the blockage completely, but that doesn\’t repair the leak.
Yesterday afternoon, I dug under my new land drain, and located the trap pipe again, it doesn\’t help, because it enters the house midway across the dining room, going directly under the floor to where the old kitchen sink used to be, so unless I can locate the leak, by opening up the wall again in the drying area again, I either have to dig up the dining room floor, which isn\’t going to happen, or bypass the trap altogether and link the pipe into the rain pipe, which is fine as long as I don\’t end up with another blockage, as they all go into the same access pit in the lane below.
I was steaming that night, because one of the daughters sent Marcela another message about the leak, so I went round myself, I spoke with another of the Daughters, who for once in her life was quite reasonable, possibly because she saw I was angry, and told me not to worry, it wasn\’t causing them any problems.
We have contacted Diego, and he is hoping to call on Thursday, to assess the problem, and told me to do nothing, until he has been, that is easier said than done, under the circumstances.
Anyway, today I bought chemicals to completely clean out the drain pipe called \’Diablo Rojo\’ or red devil, as it doesn\’t go into the septic tank, I am not too bothered what goes down the pipe, and by the time it has reached the brook, it will be more than diluted, indeed if it hasn\’t evaporated before then.
I am not going to post any more about this problem, until I get it sorted, and then I\’ll let you know how we did it, so if it goes quiet, you know what I am up to!
This morning I took letter both to the Secretary of Government (Secretaría de Gobierno) of Copacabana and to the National Police with DVDs evidencing the noise from the rental Fincas, whether it will have any effect we doubt, but at least I have acknowledgements to say they received the complaint. In the mean time, Marcela has been busy, and found out that these Fincas have to be registered by law with the Ministry of Tourism in Bogota, no ifs or buts, and the penalty is severe, they have asked Marcela to forward details of all the Fincas we know about of which we have a list of forty one, and they will take up the mantel on our behalf. They also informed her that every Municipality has a Police Officer with the title of Police of Tourism, who should know all the rules and regulations, the fact that our Police have kept that quiet, says a lot about the standard of our Police, or lack of it.
It has only taken two years to get this far, so we have no idea how long it will finally take, but we will get there. It is also my intention to write to DIAN, the Colombian Tax Ministry, to inform them, with a copy of the same list, because these people are raking in millions of pesos every month, and because they are not registered as a business it goes straight into their pockets, when they are causing us so much grief, I will do my damnedest to make life as hard for them as I can.
An Englishman in Colombia 