Blackouts are common in Guyana, they happen at any time of
day or night and can last for a minute to all day. At first when I asked around for the cause of
the blackout (I was thinking down power lines or storms) I didn’t really get a
direct answer. “They just happen.” “It happens when too many people are using
the current.” Or more commonly I got “me
no no”. But I persisted and finally got
an answer that seems plausible from the unlikely source of 4 teenagers. They told me it was because the pump/generator
thing that pumps the current ran out of oil.
Now this seems likely but then my question is why does there seem to be
oil on hand some days and others it takes 6-9 hours to locate the oil? I should stop trying to figure out the
logistics in this country and go with the flow as the locals do but it’s hard!
So what do you do in a blackout? Well if it happens during the day, you go
outside lay in the hammock and read a book.
It’s important to have an actual book because who knows how long the
blackout will last and you don’t want to drain your phone battery. Or you can do your shopping, or go lime
(hangout) on the street. It is also paramount
that you text all of your friends to see if they have blackout too. Your going to want someone to commiserate with, or if they are close go hang out at their house for a couple of hours.
Now a night blackout requires some other tools. Because there are no street lights a blackout at night means pitch black, you can't see your hand in front of you face black. So you are going to want a
headlamp and another light source if you have it. The headlamp will free up your
hands for your mosquito zapper and anything else you want to arm yourself
with. The other light will help chase away the things that go bump in the night. Next you want a good working knowledge
of your light switches, because you are going to want to turn your lights off
and seal yourself in your net. There’s
not many things more frustrating than tucking in your net, the lights coming on
and you forgot to flip a switch. You are
also going to want to remember to turn on your fan in case the power does come
on. It’s also a good idea to plug in
your phone in case the power comes on in the middle of the night. The last thing is a hand held fan, postcard
or something to fan yourself with. Then
you just lay in bed completely still so you don’t exert any energy, when it
gets too bad fan yourself, and pray to the current gods that the power comes on
soon.
