Rain and Power

It was cold and rainy all day. This is so different from our experience in Ecuador 2009-2010, when it was sunny every day, and the winter rains never came. Of course, we had no power either; the Paute dam near Cuenca was empty and without water, there was no hydroelectric power, and therefore insufficient electricity. We received 6 hours a day of power, and luckily after a few weeks, the newspaper would announce which hours each area of the city would get power, so we could arrange our lives around those hours. We learned not to buy more food than we could eat in the day, not to stock up on anything that needed refrigeration. We had a gas stove, so we were able to cook, and we became accustomed to candlelight dinners.

Eric had a solar panel that we would drape across the east window in the morning and the west one in the afternoon, soaking up sun and power so we could run the internet and the computers. As long as we had computers and wifi, Eric was content. Many of the businesses near our apartment had generators, so we were able to go out to dinner or visit the mall if we needed more light. It worked out and was not a hardship and I cannot remember anything that felt too frustrating. It lasted for months and months and it was interesting that we adjusted and found ourselves complaining little through the ordeal. We learned that we could live without electricity for most of the day and be fine.

But the rains are here this winter, which is more usual for Quito, and I miss our hot dry winter. I do not like the rain, yet I know it is necessary for the agricultural industry, for the energy needs of the country, and is the natural order of things. It started raining in Cuenca yesterday afternoon and continued in Quito and through the night and into the day and the evening. I feel wet and cold and look forward to the sunshine which almost always shows up in the morning. Crossing my fingers.