Jerry Sabin, who lives in Florida but who has family roots in this area, wrote me about a hydroelectric plant near Güimil, a settlement downstream from us on the Mighty Rio Lambre. I've driven through Güimil quite a few times and but have never seen it, but it is there, just as Jerry said. These pictures show where the plant gets its water.

A few weeks ago Marivi, her sister Rosa and I went in looking for an old bridge back in the woods near us. We found the bridge okay, and also spotted a concrete canal near it.Local people told us that the canal fed water to a hydro-electric plant downhill near Güimil, a settlement a couple of miles away.

The canal runs less than a mile down to a set of locks where the water is metered into a big pipe that carries it on down to the generator. The generator is probably within 2 miles of us "as the crow flies" but at least twice that far by paved road.

Judging from the size of the canal (and the pipe) it seems like there's not enough water to generate a whole lot of electricity. But the generator plant is likely to be 700 feet or so below the locks. So maybe the water is moving pretty fast at the bottom end of the pipe.If we're ever able to get close to the plant maybe we can find out its capacity.

Surprisingly, we haven't run into any of Ambroa's long-time residents who know how to get to the plant, even though it has been there for over 50 years. But a distant relative of Marivi's, who visits here on some weekends, says he knows where it is and will show us the way some sunny weekend when he's here.

If you're wondering why we don't just hike along the pipe to find it, it's because the terrain gets very steep along the pipe's path. Besides, I'm way too old for that sort of thing.