A very common aspect to living as rurally as we do here in São Miguel, is the frequent electricity cuts. This accounts mostly due to the fact that electricity lines here are all above ground, and the poles holding them up are not very weather resistant. What's annoying though is that, even if it isn't stormy near/ in São Miguel, but further off, say Oeiras (at 90km) it is stormy, than the likelyhood of having power cuts for us is quite big as well.

Being in a tropical climate, ofcourse gives us many thunder storms, often accompanied by rain, however, even if we, in the São Miguel valley are not affected by these storms, our neighbouring towns are, and so quite often we tend to be running our lives peacefully and Bam... Bye bye electricity. Along with these electricity cuts comes the water cuts. As water here only runs on electricity, and so no electricity means no water. Usually these cuts only last for a few hours, the time necessary for the technicians to find the faulty line and repair it, but I have heard (not yet experienced) that sometimes they have lasted for days on end.

Now most people have a large water tank in their back yard, so in case of no water they can have water for some time depending on their usage ofcourse. But this one time they had power and water cuts for about three weeks, and no tank, no matter how big lasts for three weeks. This made people go back to the old-fashioned way of getting water. Going many kilometers to find water holes, and then carry water back home. I was told that you would see lines of people walking with donkeys and horses ladden with water barrels. I sincerely hope not to experience such a long power and water cut!

This week has been great! If you're a farmer and had plants dying of thirst, that is.... We have had quite a lot of rain. This translates into, we have had very little power and water. On Monday evening, it was all peaceful and quiet, and here is me watching tv around 21.30 and finishing off dinner when, oh no! Darkness! Along with the darkness came the yelling and laughing of the neighbours and students at the school. Most people I think have not experienced complete blackout. No city lights in the distance, no star/ moonlight. ABSOLUTE BLACK! It is quite frightening, expecially when cats start to howl. Now I find that howling cats usually mean something, I mean, it isn't normal is it? So, there I am lying in my hammock, in the dark. Not very happy. Now on nights like this, I prefer to sleep in my hammock, don't ask why, but I just do. So I light my candles and get my improvised bed ready, and attempt a bit of reading/ writing. That didn't last very long.... As the houses are open, wind often finds its way in, so candles love to dance in the wind. The eyes however don't love the dancing candlelight as much, so my two other options are: staring into the dark or sleep. I got for option number two. Which takes its time in coming.

I wake up Tuesday morning, and wonders of wonders, we still have no power. And someone quite smartely had left the tap of our water box open, so no water as well. Power came back around 10ish. The rest of the day passed off in relative calmness, with a few power cuts here and there but only for a few minutes at a time.

Wednesday morning, realllyyy early we get a nice windy storm again, so when I get up a 7, no water and no power... again. This time it was worst though. We spent the whole day with no electricity. It only came back on the following morning. It rained and stormed all day, and the wind was quite chilly actually! So the night comes round again. Hammock time, I think :) This time it is less windy in the evening so candles don't flicker as much, and with the aid of my flashlight I can get down to some comfortable reading. Again I drop off to sleep quite early. Thursday early morning, all is restored. Thursday passed off in a calm way.

But.... Friday morning, I wake up to a rain storm again, and guess what? No power.... Again! So yeah, it is quite fun, having your fridge going on and off, warming up, cooling back down. The dairy and meat products must lurrveee it! It didn't last too long though. Around 13.00 power was restored again.

Let's just hope for a calm and power(full) weekend

Ah yes, these power cuts also bring in phone reception cuts. So, it really is like living back in the early 1900's. Or probably even earlier, as we don't have the telegraph anymore