Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1917 — DELIVERING WATER IN QUITO [ARTICLE]

DELIVERING WATER IN QUITO

Aquadores Have Their Own Method of Doing It, and It Is Somewhat Humorous. About a fountain in one of the principal squares of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, assemble every morning the city’s aguadores. These water porters differ from the less energetic ones of some South American cities in carrying their jars upon their backs instead of on the backs of mules. Their earthen jars are deep, have a single mouth, and hold about forty pints. The porter carries it on his shoulder fastened with leather straps. He never detaches himself from his jar either to fill it or to transfer its contents to that of his customer. He turns his back to the fountain so that the jar comes under one of the jets of water and listens to the sound of the water in the jar, and his ear is so well trained that he always walks away at the exact moment when it is filled to the brim; - Arriving at the house of a customer, he goes to the household jar, makes a deep bow, and disappears behind a torrent of water. Foreigners can never receive without laughing the visit of their aguador, the respectful little man who bows to one behind the cataract of water.