Most days in Caracas the sky looks like this:

Big, beautiful, puffy clouds dotted against a backdrop that is Crayola sky blue.
I love the weather in Caracas, in fact, it is fast becoming the only thing I love in Caracas. But, so much cumulus loveliness is really starting to get old. I know what you're thinking, how can I possibly be complaining about this nearly perfect weather, when all the northerners in my life are desperate for Spring?
I promise, I've got a good reason for such seeming insanity.
Blue skies in Caracas mean no rain, and no rain means no running water. Period. For the last several weeks, for 21 hours out of every 24, our faucets, on or off, have looked like this.

Which means between the hours of 7 am to noon, 1 pm to 7:30 pm, and 8:30 pm to 6 am there is no hand, clothes or dish washing, no showering or bathing, no window or floor washing, and worst of all, no toilet flushing. This has been going on for weeks, and it's not fun, at all. Especially not with a 2 year-old and 4 year-old who make messes of all surfaces and themselves on a regular basis. Needless to say, I'm going a little mad.
Then just a few days ago, a miracle. It rained. Sheets and sheets of wet, luscious water cascaded down upon the parched (for Venezuela) earth. And, then, yesterday morning at 7:01 am, this happened...

We cried. We washed, everything and everyone. We washed things that didn't need washing. We did weeks worth of laundry. We used the bathroom all day long and flushed gleefully. We didn't plan our day around 3 precious hours. We lingered at the grocery store and in the playground. We played and read stories after baths instead of rushing straight to bed. We slept peacefully.
And this morning...with trepidation, we turned on the faucets and water flowed. Again.
Today our
LOVE for running water runneth over.
We know this precious gift won't last. Even now the endlessly, blue sky outside is taunting us with it's brilliance. The bathtubs and buckets are full in anticipation of what is certainly coming. For now though, the water is running and I'm looking forward to doing the dishes.