The Power is Out

 Ecuador is struggling to keep the electricity on. Although we refer to electricity as "power" Ecuadorians use the term "luz" or lights, which makes sense. In any case, there isn't enough.

Without paying attention to local news, we were surprised when the power kept going out. The government started with 4-hour blocks everyday, but on Saturday, it was out for 10 hours. This is no fun when it is 91 degrees with 90% humidity. We just sweat all day. I took two showers just to keep cool (no hot water). 

When it started to rain a few days ago, the heat broke and it began to cool off to the 80s. The street in front of our apartment became a river. The news propaganda says there hasn't been enough rain to power hydro-electricity plants. But the answer is what you would expect: government corruption. Years ago there was a government plan to build more electricity plants and to privatize more of the utility. However, only 2 have been built. Consumers aren't paying the amount of actual usage. So no private company is going to want to step into that wasp's nest without a certainty of making money.

So we sit in the dark. The plan is to ask for help from Peru and Colombia and cut the power everyday until the new year. Although small cities like ours take a 2-hour hit in stride, the news out of Quito is pretty bad. Business doesn't put up with that. Stories about traffic from non-functioning traffic lights are what you'd expect.