Friday, February 05, 2010

14 Days of Love - 4

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.

12 comments:

Lindsey said...

YAY! FILL UP BOTTLES QUICK!!!

KA said...

Wow, with children? That would be virtually impossible.

Annie said...

Oh, Linsey. Hooray for running water! I will turn on the faucet with much more gratitude now. Happy showering/flushing/cleaning!

Anonymous said...

it's just so hard for me to wrap my mind around toddlers and no running water!! you are hero :) but i hope this situation continues for a little while, so you don't have to be quite so heroic.

Christie said...

Okay. Totally done complaining about the gray skies here. Done. You poor thing.

Jana and BJ said...

oh...the simple things we take for granted!

Mibi and Lee said...

ISnt it amazing what we take for granted???? I might have to steal your 14 days of Love from you:-D

Maren said...

Amazing perspective, and the things I take for granted! If I could send you the rain in Nashville today, I totally would!

Travelin'Oma said...

The toilet thing . . . I'll be flushing and gushing with gratitude today!

Lauren in GA said...

Whoa. The things I take for granted. I needed to read this and be grateful for a resource that I never think twice about.

heidiram said...

Do you fill up big garbage cans with water? We just had a long discussion about the whole water thing in my 6th grade Social Studies classes this week. Even though many of my students are of Dominican descent, apparently they don't go back to the island very often. Students thought I was from another planet when I was telling them about the no water days and nights . . . and hearing the water rushing through the pipes and racing to every water faucet in the apartment to fill up the containers.

Just this week, somebody approached my husband in the gym. (I know . . . weird). Anyway, he said "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question? You didn't grow up in the United States did you?" He then went on to explain that while they were both showering, Cristian continued to turn the water faucet off and the other guy kept the water running the entire time. To this day Cristian can shower with 1 gallon of water or less (including washing his hair). Too bad I am such the water waster of the household.

Jessica said...

Amazing what you internationalistas have to deal with! Next February at this time you will be in dc and hopefully NOT dealing with a record snowstorm. In the meantime I will feel sorry for your lack of water and jealous of your Aruba vacation!

 

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