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25 YEARS AGO ON AMBERGRIS CAYE BY ANGEL NUÑEZ
No Electricity in San Pedro |
Imagine a San Pedro without
electricity. What
would life be like without? No power for the refrigerators,
no power
for the electric fans or air conditioners. There would be no
power
to charge the golf cars or power to use the blenders at the
bar.
There would be no ice to refresh us or power to use the
electric
irons to keep us looking
sparkling clean and
bright. Of course there would be no electric washing
machines. And
talk about the television, how many people would die without
them?
What would be the thing that you miss out the most when
there is a
power outage?
| | Child bathing in batella.
| Do you know that in the 1950's,
(that is not
too long ago) there was no 24-hour electricity in San Pedro?
Even in
the early 1960's we had only limited hours of electricity.
Can you
imagine life back then? I can tell you because I was a small
boy
back then and I did not miss electricity one bit. Of course
I must
admit that I do miss it today.
What electric
fan? We
slept with our doors and windows open all night long, but of
course,
there were no thieves back then. If the night was too hot,
some guys
took out the hammock on the verandah or under the house and
slept
there. Our school was right by the sea so we had fresh sea
breeze
all day long. Hand fans were popular back then, but that was
only
occasionally. I still have a hand fan that I carry to church
at
times.
Which golf carts? The only way of
transportation twenty five years ago was by foot. You can
call it
93footmobile94. If you needed to transport something
heavy, we had our
own fabricated wheelbarrows. To go along the coast like to
Victoria
House area, we used our little canoes with a rigged-up sail.
No
power needed - only a nice wind to carry you.
What
refrigerator? They were not needed nor missed. Nothing
was kept
chilled. Fish and meats were salted to be preserved. Ice was
brought
occasionally from the city but used to sell fresco or shaved
ice
with syrup, not to chill things. Food was kept warm over the
fire
hearth, not chilled in a refrigerator. And when the fridges
did come
into being, there were powered by kerosene, not electric
power.
You are kidding if you think of blenders, food
processors, or mixers. By hand you could mash up the beans
and
potatoes and come up with a product just as fine and
delicious as
you would with a blender. There were no mixed drinks. The
bar man
sold you a shot of white rum and you drank it anyway you
wanted -
straight, with some red Fanta or pop. Rum and coke did not
come
until the 1970's. Cold beer was available only at special
occasions
like weddings.
What electric water pump? No
man, the
water was pulled up out of a well by a pail or bucket. A lot
of kids
took their shower right by the well or in the 93batellas94
where mom
did the laundry. There was no shortage of water because of
lack of
electricity. And the water from the wells was good for
everything-
washing, bathing, cooking and yes for drinking. I was raised
with
water from our shallow wells and never suffered from any
kind of
diarrhea. We found it delicious and preferred it over rain
water,
which we believed was contaminated from bird droppings or
fecal
decay if you wish.
Which electric irons? We
used to
have a set of some six steel irons that were heated over a
hot plate
over the fire. When one got cold, you placed it back on the
hot
plate and used another one. They kept us looking as sharp as
a
banker or executive. And to tell you the truth, the
fishermen back
then loved white clothing and their clothing was processed
with
starch. Clothing was stiff and needed a lot or
ironing.
Electric washing machines! You must
be
kidding. It was all by hand, my friend. There was the
scrubbing
board, but the Mestizos of San Pedro believed that was the
black
man's way of washing. The Sanpedranos, who were mostly
Mestizos,
used the 93batella94. That was a flat container with an
edge looking
more or less like a sink in today's kitchen and the
cleaning of
clothes was done by rubbing by plain hands. A few used a
brush to
help in the scrubbing.
I know, most people would die
today
without a television. With no electricity there was no
television.
We never missed it. We had our little radios and listened to
the
news and a few radio telenovelas or soap operas. All those
romance
and X-rated movies were not seen on television, so young
people had
a longer period of innocence in their lives.
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Commons 