Sosua - [I]Unplugged[/I]?

Blackouts are a fact of life throughout the country and are worse in some areas than others. For this reason, most restaurants and hotels have their own generators that are switched on as soon as the government power goes off.

When you say that the blackouts only lasted 10 minutes or so, I can't relate to that. Because when the government power goes off, it rarely comes back on a few minutes later. It is usually off for hours at a time. And because businesses with generators are usually able to get them running much sooner than that, in fact many have an automatic switch that starts the generator when the power goes off. In the condo complex in which I live, we have a generator so have 24-hour electricity. But we don't have a switch that automatically gets the generator running. I admit that when sitting in the dark, especially if the TV program had just reached a climax, that it seems like 10 minutes before the generator is running, but in fact it is less than that.

Hey Man....

nycVu said:

Maybe someone can shed some light on this topic for me...

While in Boca Chica for 8 days in November, there was this little issue with blackouts. It happened everyday! Sometimes it was even 2 or 3 times a day. It was worth a few chuckles at first, but after the 5th day... It was sorta funny to see the chefs/workers at the Hamaca continue preparing food in the dark, running to get candles and basically making do without, as if it were perfectly normal for this "plush" resort to be instantly thrown back to 1852. Thankfully, the power failures never lasted more than 5 or 10 minutes. But, just as sure as I'll hear/read some daily goofy-*** comment from Bush, I knew while in the DR, I'd be fading to black before nightfall... :tired:

Which brings me to my question... Are blackouts common in Sosua as well?

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Right now with this government anything can happen....and if they continue in power, it will snow in Sosua, and rain inside your room. nothing surprises me here anymore an just like the weather nobody has a damm clue!!!

Generators at Hamaca

nycVu said:

It was sorta funny to see the chefs/workers at the Hamaca continue preparing food in the dark, running to get candles and basically making do without, as if it were perfectly normal for this "plush" resort to be instantly thrown back to 1852.

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Hamaca has a generator building with huge diesels that runs even when power is on sometimes ( presumably as they make the power for less than the rates at the time) and it is surprising to hear they ran for even one minute without power let alone 10 and on more than one occasion.

I have to admit ...

nycVu said:

Well, that may very well be true ricktoronto, 'cause it only happened while I was at the hotel once - all the other times I was out and about in restaurants or shops. But, yeah man, it stayed dark for several minutes at the Hamaca while I was eating in that big buffet area in the center of the complex outdoors..... It really wasn't that bad in all fairness to DR and Hamaca, 'cause it started raining so there was this nice breeze and as I said earlier, they brought out these candles and torches, but before they could light very many, the power returned.

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Okay, I know this will get some comments like "are you crazy", but I kind of enjoyed the blackouts whenever I have been in the DR (last time I was there they were happening about every 3rd day for about 10 hours at a time)! I mean you really can do without electricity in a country like the DR. Its not like Canada where you freeze in the winter without it. I could still cook food because the stoves in the kitchen were operated by a propane tank. A couple of nights the power was either still out when it got dark or went out after darkness fell and I thought, wow this is cool. We got the candles out and it was soooo fun. Everyone sits outside with candles and solicalizes with the neighbours, plays dominos, drinks, etc. Life is good in the dark and you see all the stars - something that in Toronto I never see unless I go up north to my family's cottage. Honestly, the only time I really could not do what I wanted was one night when I was getting ready to go out to a disco and right when I started to dry my hair the power went out so I had to let my hair drip dry (but where I was staying people thought I was insane to be drying my hair in the first place since it was about 80 degrees and I've got hot air blowing on me)!!!

Yeah...... the power outages never bothered us either. Its just a great excuse to walk along the beach and wait it out.