Santa Ana Problems

I'm sure that many of you have heard the phrases and seen the memes for 'First World Problems' quickmeme.com/meme/35v6bh/, 'White Girl Problems', 'Guido Problems' etc. We here in Santa Ana have a running joke about what we call 'Santa Ana Problems'. While talking to Mum and Dad the other day, they were complaining that the battery was about to run out on their iPad and that it was such a hassle that they would have to move to the iMac computer, a whole 20 metres away from where they were sitting. 'Battery runs out on iPad, have to move to computer.' This, my friends, is what we call a first world problem. In this entry, I'd like to share a few 'Santa Ana Problems' with you. 

You know you're in Santa Ana when:

•The water goes out for the better part of 5 days and when it finally goes back on you start to hand wash your laundry. After washing with dirty well water for the past five days and feeling extra hot and sweaty after hand washing clothes in a bucket for an hour, you go to take a shower only to realise that the water has gone out again.

•You see a 300kg pig being piled onto a motorbike and laugh... Until you realise that the same pig is crossing the river with you and six other people in a dug out canoe. 

•There's no food left in the house so you go to the tienda to buy a bag of rice and put it the water only to realise that it's filled with ants. Annoying, but you eat it, ants and all because there's nothing else. Extra protein, right? 

•Using the Internet means sitting outside on a balcony doing a yoga move to get connection in either excruciating heat, pouring rain or mosquito-ridden conditions. If and when it does work it's slower than a pregnant snail. 

•You wear pants, long sleeves, spray yourself with bug spray and cover yourself with a sarong but still get bitten by mosquitoes all over your body. What kind of mosquitoes bite your hands, cheeks and eyelids?

•It's 7.30am and you are covered in water, oh wait, no, that's sweat. 

•You just can't be bothered cooking and there's no food in the house. Just go to the supermarket or order take away you say? You'd have to travel an hour and a half for that. 

•You experience that sleepy, island living in Santa Ana. I know you all think we live on a Caribbean beach and wake to the sound of waves breaking on the white sand. Actually you awaken from your slumber to the sweet braying of donkeys and soothing sounds of loud base pounding from concert-sized pick-ups (speakers) which every home seems to have.

•Cooking is like an extreme sport. You share a kitchen with up to 16 people, ants, frogs, mosquitos, mice, geckos and mystery insects and cook with the latest cookware including three frying pans, one which has a handle. 

•You know the 'Santa Ana Anthems' off by heart. The towns folk love music, and I mean LOVE it. Who knew it was possible to hear the same ten songs repeatedly everyday for a whole year. 

•You think you know how to speak Spanish... until you speak to a Costeño, even more so a Santanero. When you say you don't understand they kindly repeat it for you, louder and faster.

With only three weeks left, it's easy to look at these quirks and appreciate them. It makes me realise that we really have had such an amazing and different experience here that I will look back on so fondly. 

It's so easy to take everyday things and conveniences for granted. I hope that after this experience I'll be more aware of the seemingly little things in life- I don't know that I'll ever look at a washing machine in the same way again. I hope I'll always appreciate a hot shower and the convenience of being able to go to a supermarket or order pizza. What I wouldn't give for a First World Problem right now!