WATER

I woke up a couple times last night because of the rain. When rain comes it just drops from the sky sounding like a freight train, dumping water in seconds, then its gone. Plants here have wonderfully designed leaves shaped to collect the short showers and funnel the water down to the roots. Rain is always welcomed because it means you will have water. 

People coming to the islands to vacation want sun. No one thinks about water, it just comes from the shower full blast like it does in the States. The resorts, like Caneel Bay and the Westin, have their own water processing plants, using reverse osmosis, and they make all the water they need to keep their guests happy. This doesnt make the marine biologists happy, but thats another story.

In island homes water comes from the rain. Its collected on the roof and channels into cisterns either built under the house or in a tank on the roof. No rain, no water. Water becomes very important when you're afraid of not having it. When I first learned about this, maybe around the time I went to turn on the faucet and nothing came out,   I developed a sort of Water Loss Anxiety or WLA. Running out of water was driving me insane, it was all I thought about. Poor George, I was always at him about running the water, which he seemed to do like it just came out of a pipe or something! I showered once a week in short cold bursts and dreamed of drought. I've since gotten over it.

In years with little rain, monster water trucks barrel along the narrow roads delivering water from Puerto Rico.  Nothing stands in the way of these trucks, they weigh so much they have to operate on momentum. Luckily you can hear them coming and call "WATER TRUCK!" then hope they stay on their side of the road.

There are rules about water use: Take a "Sailor's Shower" turning off the water while you soap up, rinse dishes with a trickle and not a stream, hose water is  gray water saved in a large vat separate from the septic tank, don't flush until you really have to. The laundry drains directly into the garden, hopefully to a banana or palm tree.  Don't drink cistern water - I learned that the hard way. I don't brush my teeth with it now either, though I can get rambunctious and take a gamble sometimes. Potable water comes from the St John Water Co, 5 gallon jugs you refill for $2.50 a jug . The garlic bulb on top is a voodoo good luck totem.

 This cistern is full, 10,000 gallons. Some people have an expensive ultraviolet filtering system, theoretically they can drink their water. George treats our cistern water with a carefully researched bleach formula but still.... you don't appreciate something until you can no longer take it for granted.