A (Damp) Day in the Life

After receiving a surplus of water due to uncommon rainfall in Iquique this week, losing water yesterday caught me off guard in the busy evening hours of hectic homework and dirty dishes. Not that water cut offs are uncommon in Iquique. On the contrary, they occur uncomfortably often! (In fact, we recently left town for several days because of an ongoing disruption of water service that even resulted in schools being cancelled.)

However, I didn't expect this occurrence yesterday and I admit to feeling quite frustrated and annoyed. It was the last thing I needed as I battled mathematics and mashed potatoes and one malcontented young miss who was being rather difficult at that particular moment.

Suddenly there was screaming at the gate. "Tia Stephanie! Tia Stephanie!" I recognized the voices of two neighbor children who seemed on the verge of panic. Concerned that something may have happened to their mom, I opened the door only to find them jumping animatedly up and down and gesturing wildly to the road in front of our driveway.

water, water, everywhere

This is what I saw: water building up under our van and beginning to spill onto the sidewalk. Its next step was to pour down our inclined front patio and under our front door, which is why my neighborly guardians were so excited.

water company truck arriving on the scene

A closer glance revealed that someone had knocked the fire hydrant back on its heels, and suddenly our water shortage indoors made perfect sense due to the water gushing outdoors. Fortunately the water company had already been alerted and they arrived surprisingly soon to try and repair our dripping dilemma.

beginning to solve the problem

This watery emergency broke up the monotony of study time and it was with some difficulty that I finally ushered my trio of ducklings (Eva, Isabel and Ian) indoors. They would much rather have set sail on the soggy swamp that had become our street! Eventually we finished our chores and thankfully the water indoors returned normally so that within a short while I was able to tuck clean little bodies into bed for the night.

still working at 10 p.m.

Around 10 o'clock as I was typing away on an assignment at the computer and contemplating my own bedtime, I began to hear an unusual thudding sound in front of our house. Inquiring minds want to know, of course, so I slid outside to see what was happening. To my surprise I found the water guys still at work in the darkness. I thought it worth a picture to document such dedication, so I stealthily returned with my camera and snuck one. Kudos to these guys for seeing it through to the finish!

And thus ended a (damp) day in our normally dry and dusty desert life. :)