KUMEYAAY HOUSE HOMES 2005

These KUMEYAAY HOUSES are typical of Kumeyaay Indian housing and living conditions in the Kumiai tribal village of San Jose de la Zorra in northern Baja California, Mexico.

These particular residential wooden and brick structures are the Kumeyaay homes of hard working California Indian basket weavers and their families.

Some time ago small solar panels (on the roof) were donated to most of the Kumeyaay Indian homes here and would charge a car battery that would run a small light or appliance for a while. In early 2005, electrical land wiring was brought into the tribal valley and many of the Kumeyaay homes now have hard-wired electricity, however haphazardly wired.

Still, life here in the Indigenous Mexican tribal village is not easy by any modern North American aboriginal standard -- all water must be drawn from local wells or brought in -- and we can forget about jumping in the shower or running a hot bath (like we take for granted north of the border).

Further, water for the electric washing machine (a recent convenience) needs to be poured by hand. The machine empties the wash water right on the ground.

Oh, and going to the bathroom still means a trip to an old-fashioned outhouse or looking for a nearby bush for everyone in the valley....

Pre-contact KUMEYAAY HUT 'ewaa ancient Indian shelter of aboriginal California Indians photo and movie documentary from planning to completion, professionally photographed and video documentary to cultural movie DVD, produced by G. BALLARD Studio, Shumup Ko Hup and KUMEYAAY.INFO as a special Kumeyaay cultural exhibit and multimedia project for the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

San Jose de la Zorra Kumeyaay Indian valley online documentary style photo documentation of the village inhabitants, habitations, lifestyles.

Photos, Writing and Web Page Design Contributed by webmaster, GARY G BALLARD, San Diego.