The Simple Things

"Listen to that sound of running water," the doña upstairs says as she leans over the balcony.

Today is a glorious day.  My town finally got water after a week of not having it.  Yes, that’s right.  We didn’t have running water for more than a week.

You may think that’s surprising, unthinkable, but for us, it’s totally realistic.  About 2 years ago, before my time, my town lived without running water for 3 months.

When I found out our aqueduct was broken and that we were waiting for a replacement piece from another town, I began to think about that legendary time of no water that everyone in town speaks about.   I began to mentally brace myself for the possibility of living without water – again (I may have mentioned this in a blog a year ago, but I lived without running water in my house for 6 weeks.  I had to fill a large trash can with water from my neighbor’s faucet.  It was pretty hard core.).

But even when we have “regular” running water, we don’t have water 24 hours a day.  Usually I will have running water from 7 AM until 1 PM every day except Sundays.  So I usually replenish my water reserves (two large trash cans) every morning when there is running water.  Many other people survive this way of life by installing water storage tanks on their roofs, so they can at least have water running through their pipes; those of us who can’t afford such a “luxury” fill up large barrels.  Yep, that means bucket bathing.

Such a simple thing for many of you, but something incredibly important to us.

Whenever I go to the capital, I’m excited to just take a shower, to have a strong gush of water pouring over my head from a faucet; it doesn’t matter that it’s cold.

Electricity is also something we cherish.  I get electricity about 60 to 65% of the time.  If I need to charge something or use my computer in my house, I have to plan for it.   It is a wonderful thing to just have a fan blowing in your face – when there is luz of course.

Many of us play the “what would you rather have game?”   Would you rather have electricity or water?  Water, hands down.  I didn’t realize how necessary it is.  I couldn’t bathe, flush my toilet, clean the house without it (Don’t worry about drinking water.  I buy huge water jugs and those are usually in abundance.  I haven’t had to ration that, at least not yet.).  One of my volunteer friends lived without electricity for several months.  She just got it back.  Another of my friends has never had it in his community.  Living without electricity is doable, living without water is not.

It is such a wondrous occasion when either of the utilities arrive that you will hear people shouting from all around “Llegó la luz” or “Llegó el agua” (“The electricity arrived” or “the water arrived.”).  It’s like a siren. 

Many of you probably didn’t realize how much I relish the simple things when I visit the States – how I take extra long hot showers just because I can, how I watch the water running from a faucet and then drink out of it just because I can, how I just enjoy sitting on the couch staring at the TV with my internet-capable computer in my lap—just because I can.

I’ve learned to really appreciate the simple things.  Just imagine if the water stopped running one day or you had a 24-hour blackout.  People in the States would be in an uproar.  Not here.  We are at the mercy of city and utility officials.  Here, it’s just daily life.  And we deal with it.

Wonderful running water

My "reserves"

Drinking water!

Apparently there was no luz.