It's a mixed bag

My goal is to write about being here, what I see, know, experience. But tamping down what I bring to the table, casting a blind eye to my new experiences and how they color where I am, what I see and experience, it all changes and falls into the bag. And it is a mixed bag of cultures, languages, faces and features. I was able to experience two different and new cultures this year, Norway and Peru, and they float in my pool and bump into this Island culture that continues to change and evolve. The town 20 minutes away, Luperon, has recently gotten electricity around the clock, twenty four hours per day. This is amazing for here, While most gringos have opted for backup and use invertors, regulators, solar panels, batteries and wind to supplement the lapses and fluctuations, the majority of the population exists within the parameters of 'luz de la calle', and very few actually pay for it. It is the joke that we Gringos subsidize the people, as our bills are in Gringo names are are significantly more than what residents do pay, when the bills are hand delivered each month. Right to your door, with a smile. Since Luperon has achieved full power status, the power here has been very inconsistent, highs, lows, and none and then the normal 6-8 hours a day here and there. The electrician is here today trying to help me sort out why some of my outlets and plugs mysteriously no longer work, and why my water pump has died. Sosa, my sweet electrician is performing an exorcism now I think, which is needed. With the crazy total of six bathrooms on the property, I have been bathing in a bucket( I do like the sound of that, but in reality, it ain't no fun) for two weeks now. Haven't washed clothes, or watered the garden. Water, electricity, such things that are totally taken for granted in the everyday map of directions... It was refreshing to be in the parts of Peru that live a similar lifestyle. My co-travelers lapped it up, such sympathy for the poor villagers, who also had satellite dishes and cell phones. Its nice when there is power, things light up, sound comes out of boxes, food cools and there is ice for your drinks. I am not so spoiled anymore by the missing of things that come and go here. I feel at ease when there is no internet(not happy mind you, but it is not a hardship anymore than praying the power comes back to keep my freezer on) and try to mimic my neighbors with their relaxed style. Its not that we don't care, we have the same basic love for convenience, but if it is not there today, maybe tomorrow...and if there is a meeting or an appointment, maybe someone will show, or maybe not. Maybe in a couple of hours, or maybe tomorrow. I rarely encounter the stress I still do experience, but I keep my stress for the sleepless nights, they play together with all the thoughts I keep for quiet times. And maybe tomorrow, mananana will have a breeze, a light on, a ripe papaya on the tree.