The excuses I have for not having to work on my web log are usually pretty lame. I’ll urgently have to buy apples, my room will be too messy or I can’t find the exact words to express my thoughts. So I’d better wait. Yes, if I always listened to them, I would never get something done. However, this time I think my reasons were quite legitimate: no electricity.
“No electricity?” I wasn’t the only asking this question. Everyone was upset. On Thursday night, unannounced, half of the city had to manage without illumination. The traffic went crazy because traffic lights were out of order. Tourists walked kind of lost around the historic district. Huge disappointment. Whilst usually the old city centre is the most stunning picture of Quito one can get, all of a sudden, without the blue, pink and yellow spotlights churches didn’t look that magical.
So I’ll work on my web log later. After having tried to cook up some food on a gas stove (this can be quite tricky with just one candle in the house), we had light at eleven o’clock again. Yet, the next morning again no electricity. Very displeasing. No juice for breakfast? Problems at the university as well. No computers available. People cursing the government. And desperate professors. “No PowerPoint? So how am I supposed to teach my students?”
Although we didn’t get much done in class, at least my professor was able to explain the reason for all the chaos. No rain means less water. Less water means no hydroelectric power. No hydroelectric power means no electricity. It’s as simple as that.
Each district in Quito will have to do without electricity during certain hours of the day for the next sixth months. Yet, announced this time. Schedules will be published in the newspapers every day. So women can dry their hair in time and I can plan when to write my web log. One gets used to it pretty quickly. Complaining has made place for jokes. Some better than others. “What had Quito before candles were invented?” ……… “Electricity.”