When you live on an island, you learn very quickly not to sweat the small stuff. You learn a whole new appreciation of being flexible, going with the flow, and also what is really important.
People who live in metropolitan areas like where we came from in Arizona take a lot of things for granted. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing or something that they are even aware of, it is just that you aren’t forced to realize some of your comforts when they are always available. And if something is needed, it just takes a phone call or the click of a button and things are delivered or taken care of.
For example, hot water. In Arizona at this time of year, people are figuring out ways to get cold water as there really is no such thing when the temperature is consistently over 100 degrees. Here in Aruba, most houses don’t have hot water. When we were looking for a new place to rent, having hot water was a deciding factor for us. Our house does not have hot water except in one shower by way of an electric heater that is hooked up to that particular part of the water line. So our family all chooses to share that one shower. One day, the hot water heater decided to stop working (fried wire somewhere) so we were without hot water at all for several weeks. Please note everything here is on island time so when you call maintenance, unless it is an emergency, it takes a LONG time! It actually ended up not being terrible without a hot shower as the temperatures in Aruba are quite warm. So similar to Arizona, there really isn’t cold water. However, since it was repaired and we once again have the steamy hot showers, we realized we do really enjoy that luxury!
Another thing that recently occurred is that a ship carrying food to Aruba broke down and was unable to make their delivery. Keep in mind that EVERYTHING here is imported so when one ship doesn’t show up, the grocery stores take an immediate hit. We did notice some things weren’t available like no dairy products, no eggs, no chips. What was impressive is that no one felt the need to hoard things and wipe out what was available. We were just flexible, figured out some new recipes, and waited for the next ship. This along with the borders of Venezuela being closed meaning no fresh fruit or vegetables from them definitely made an impact on the grocery shopping for a week or so. But nothing that caused any sort of panic or any fist fights at the grocery store.
There are endless stories of learning a new level of patience when you live on an island. Something that just becomes your new normal. I love it. I highly recommend no matter where you might live that you adopt this island way of thinking and relax, chill, and just know that everything will work out. Eventually. In the meantime, we head to the beach and wait for the next ship to come in with our snacks!
Z Island Life 