Saturday, April 17, 2010

Week 42: Why I love Ecuador (week 11 of pregnancy)

There is a drought in Ecuador right now. Ecuador counts on a rainy season each year, which they call winter, and this year it has simply not come. Aside from the obvious implications of a drought and the problems it brings, there´s a fun one that I didn´t know about. Ecuador is powered not by power plants but by water! They harness the power of the many rivers in Ecuador which, while very politically correct, is a little inconvenient when there is a DROUGHT.

So, the solution to this problem is that throughout the whole country, your power is cut for four hours a day. This is to save on water consumption and thus not lose power completely. But you know, we are without power for four hours a day, and the time of day varies depending on the schedule. It´s not so bad in the middle of the day when there is sunlight...mostly just an inconvenience. But it´s a little frustrating when you get home from church at 10pm and flick on the light only to discover that there is no power, and you left the candles in the kitchen at the other end of the apartment. That´s just dangerous, especially when your husband likes to leave his shoes out in the middle of the floor precisely for moments like these when you can´t see a thing and are just praying you don´t trip over anything on the way to the kitchen.

I´m not sure how long this will go on, but I´m guessing it will be until we get tons and tons of rain. So, note to self: Keep candles by the front door. And matches, too!

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