The second power outage began around 9:30 a.m. yesterday, shortly after we left for town. We got home around 12:30 p.m. and the power was out. We figured, like last time, it would only be a few hours, so we decided it best not to open the fridge until the power is back. That meant crackers and pickled jalapenos and warm beer for lunch.
By 3:30 we realized that it was only our house that was out – it was not a south shore thing. Phones do not work here (coverage is spotty at best), so we all rely on Facebook messenger to get a hold of people – including our property managers. Well without power, there is no internet. Eventually, by using the neighbours phone we managed to get a hold of the managers, and someone came out to take a look. The problem was in the pole – and it was not going to be an easy fix. Now I knew I had to scramble: darkness was fast approaching and I knew I needed to throw whatever salvageable food I had into the neighbours fridge, cook what I could (we still had gas), and round up all the battery operated lamps while I could still see – cause when it gets dark here it GETS DARK!
Well, all of the battery operated lamps here had dead batteries but we were fortunate to find a few taper candles - just no candle holders, and keeping them burning with the strong wind was almost impossible. If we closed the windows to keep out the wind we would suffocate from heat because without power we had no fans. Bless our neighbours hearts, they insisted we bring our food over there, eat with them, and sleep in their air conditioned spare room. They have been so kind.
Mike and Susan live here full time and have learned the hard way how to live here comfortably. They have both grid and solar power, access to their cistern for water if even solar power runs out. He is a fixer dude so is handy and can fix most things, and they can generally get what they need when they need it because they have both a four wheel drive mini truck and a boat. We, on the other hand, have the infamous walk/ferry/walk journey if the water is too rough to get to town on the once a day water taxi. That was the case yesterday. We had planned to go to town by water taxi at 8 a.m., buy food, and then take the water taxi back at 11 a.m. We were literally out of all things drinkable except water (boring), all veggies except half a beet, and all fruit. These all add up to a lot of weight which would be difficult to carry down 2 miles of beach, so a grocery run by water taxi was really necessary. But of course, life is never that easy in paradise.
The water this morning was too rough, so we had to do the long journey in on foot, hoping the water would calm down in time to take the water ferry back. Unfortunately, by the time we got to town and got all our stuff purchased, even though the water was by then calm, we missed the taxi, meaning we had to walk all the way home with a bunch of groceries. Carrying beer, milk and juice was out of the question so we had to limit our purchases to a head of broccoli, a few mangos, some cauliflower, and some coffee and cream. To make matters worse, when we got to the ferry (and by ferry I mean small flat bottomed panga that holds 16 people), there were 20 other people already there waiting to get on, and the ferry only runs once an hour. Shockingly, they squeezed everyone on! Some people stayed standing in the middle, and some – like Steph - sat on the boat floor between benches. The boat was so precariously over loaded that the water was practically at the edge of the boat. We had to travel really slow to avoid capsizing and I spent the whole trip planning which shore I would swim to when it went down. I whispered to Steph, “You know how you always hear about ferries sinking in India? Well this is why!”
Fortunately we survived the ferry ride and while we were in town we did learn a couple of good things: First, if you go to “Archie’s” he will sell you Limpiras (Honduran currency) at a better rate than the bank. Archie has a little red kiosk the size of a shed, and it soon became clear why he offers such a good exchange rate…because while you are there you see the signs that say he sells the cheapest rum and beer on the island. I suspect he can afford to give a good rate as he surely makes it up in increased liquor sales. The second good thing we learned today was that if you buy enough beer at Bush’s (the main grocery store) even though it is a little pricier than Archie’s, they will happily drop the cases off on your dock on their way to the small Cay at the SW side of Utila. So to our good fortune, when we finally arrived home, hot and thirsty, there on our dock were 72 bottles of beer. Unfortunately we have to drink them warm – and still do, because at this writing we are 24 hours into our power outage.
Being without power in paradise means no air conditioning, no internet, no fans, no water – which means no toilet flushing. So imagine my dismay when 30 hours into our outage I get the runs. Sigh. So day nine in paradise saw us eating peanut butter sandwiches and hauling buckets of sea water into the bathroom to flush. By 5pm today, we finally had power back.
It was actually surprising to us that the response here was so quick given the inaccessibility of where we are. The power company guys came out this morning by boat with a fuse. It turned out the problem was a blown transformer, so they went back to town, came back by boat after lunch, hauled the 400 pound transformer from the boat up the pole, and got it all fixed for us in time for supper.
So all is well in paradise. I am drinking a cold beer, catching up on internet things, and then I am going to go take a shower - because we now have water!
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Good for you and Stefan, I could not do it.....I need some creature comforts and and you seem to have few and being in a remote area with no easy way to escape would feel much too confining.
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