Scheduled Power Outages in Guatemala

The scheduled power outage notice a kind person posted on Facebook.

We had our first scheduled power outage today. I had seen a strange notice posted by on Facebook to the Panajachel group but had disregarded it. That was, until my landlady sent me an email to let me know. I'm glad she did, or I would have been terribly surprised! (And would have disappointed my work clients as well.)

As it is, Tuesday was a day of rest and relaxation... and a bit of electronic withdrawal. The power was scheduled to be turned off from 6am to 4 pm. It turned off right on schedule... but not back on! We expected this though. Guatemalan time, and all. :) It did come back on at 5:20 pm, just as I was about to start gathering up candles.

We spent the day outside mostly. We walked up to the mirador and a little bit past there to look down on Santa Catarina. After that, a lovely swim in the lake to cool off, then some lunch. Lucky for us we have a gas stove, so we could cook. A nice siesta passed a few hours in the afternoon, then another walk to the park with the doggies before dinner and the return of the electricity.
The day reminded me of being at our log cabin in the woods of Canada -- my happy place! No electricity for a day is no big deal for me, but Bert got a bit antsy. Me, I didn't even have time to do any reading! Oh, well, I'm sure they'll be a next time.

We forget Pachi's leash on our walk to the mirador. She's not too bright. She kept walking in the middle of the road.

Is this how you claim land? Just put up a sign?

Pachi getting in trouble for eating garbage at the lookout.

This is just past the lookout, on the road down to Santa Catarina. We went up those stairs! 

At the top of the stairs, there was these really nice little path. We found a person's adobe-brick house and their garden, then the path went on further but we didn't want to get lost or have to walk back uphill much more, so we turned around.
We met some Mayans coming up the stairs with carrying bags of sand. Yikes! That would be arduous. :(

Santa Catarina from up on the path.

>

Walking home, Bert spotted a beautiful lizard! Do you see him on the ledge?

He hid for a bit and peeked out to look at us.

I waited patiently in the hot sun to get this picture. He's so pretty!
EDIT: I found out later he's mostly likely a Bocourt's Spiny Lizard.

Tips for handling scheduled power outages in Guatemala:
1. Know about it! Not sure how my Facebook friends knew but I'm glad they let everyone else in on the secret. Perhaps they get a notice if they pay electricity?
2. Have some food on hand that doesn't required heating, in case your stove doesn't work. We have a gas stove, but we had to light it with a match instead of the electric sparker.
3. Fill up your bathtub or pila with water to use to flush the toilet. This was a tip I'd heard and tried... but our bathtub has a slow leak and was empty by morning. We ended up not needing the extra water anyway. Our toilet flushed fine.
4. Enjoy your forced vacation day! No shopping, no TV, no Internet, no chores. Have fun!

A tip for my readers: Did you know you can click on any picture to make it bigger? Get a good look at that lizard!  :D