I suppose you cannot tell, but I’m being facetious. Maybe here in the U.S. that is a long time to be without power when there is no ice storm, tornado or flood to blame. But in a developing country, it happens. Often. Without any inclement weather. Sometimes for days. Sometimes it happens with the water. Así es la vida … that’s life.
When I first arrived in Panama for my first long-term Latin American experience, it was nighttime and I was exhausted and smelled like airplane (if you fly a lot, you know what I mean). But that wasn’t enough to choose a shower over going to bed in my new residence. Sleep took precedence. The next morning I got up to start my new job, and there was no water. So I couldn’t brush my smelly teeth. I couldn’t flush the toilet. And lastly, I could not take a shower and wash that airplane funk out of my hair. I just thought it was some temporary thing; that it would only last a few minutes. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I went downstairs to where the non-profit offices were located to see what was going on. And what was going on was “business as usual.” They were all working, wondering why I was taking so long to come down and meet everyone. I didn’t really want to meet my new co-workers without being clean and shiny, but I had no choice. Amazingly, they didn’t care. And they didn’t seem to care when the water didn’t come, and didn’t come, and didn’t come. It didn’t come for a couple of days. I ended up going to my boss’s home to take a shower and clean up. I just couldn’t wait. Panama is one of those hot and humid places. Airplane funk quickly gets replaced with sticky, sweaty, moldy funk.
My extended time in Guatemala also included some periods of no electricity/water/both. Sometimes the lack of electricity went on for a few days, usually just during the day, which was a little easier to deal with. Once there was some sort of huge electric surge in the immediate area around the house and my host family lost many of their electrical appliances: the microwave, a couple radios, the television. Fried beyond use, and for no apparent reason. They, of course, were bummed at the loss and the need to replace all of those things. But they didn’t seem too upset. They didn’t curse or shake their fists at the electric company. They didn’t call the municipal government to complain. They didn’t rally their neighbors to file a class action lawsuit against the city. They just accepted it, dealt with it, and went on with things. Imagine!
One night at my Guatemalan house we suddenly heard gushing water, like there was a river coming down the street. This sometimes happened during the rainy season, and my host family would drag out bags of sand to pile up between the street-river and their house. But this time, it wasn’t raining. Still, once we opened the front door, there was indeed a river in the street. It was coming from up the hill, where some street construction was going on. A street main busted or something. The sand bags were dragged outside and we waited to see if the river would stop. It did eventually, but then there was no water in the house.
For quite a few days, we did not have water. Word got out that they were trying to update the water system or something and many homes just went without water for as long as was necessary. At night, it would come on with very low pressure so people could fill up their pilas (see this blog post to learn about pilas). But again, there was no showering happening. Across the street, people had water (for some reason that was again inexplicable), so I finally got to shower at a neighbor’s house, where one of my Spanish students/volunteers was staying. Then, on a couple other days, I took a shower at the school where I worked. I made do. What else? You can be annoyed all you want, but that isn’t going to get you into a shower faster. And it won’t make the lights come on. These are just things that may occur more frequently in a developing country. It’s how other people live every single day of their lives. Many people in these countries don’t even have electricity or indoor plumbing. Some are too remote or too poor to have such luxuries. No complaints, it's just the way it is.
That is what I thought about tonight when the lights went out right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. I caught myself thinking “Gee, this is taking a while.” And then I let my traveling self take over and just accepted that my plans to post on this blog would have to wait until morning. I got a flashlight, brushed my teeth in the sink that had running water, and started to settle down for the night. Just as I was about to retire, POOF! The lights came back on again. And that’s what it’s like in Latin America; you may think you are at the end of your soap-on-a-rope and cannot go another day without bathing, but then you have access to a pila full of water or someone offers you their shower. Or you may think being without electricity is terribly inconvenient, but then you realize life goes on without it. You have to go with the flow. Just don’t forget to pack that flashlight.
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