Will the Lights Come On?

There is a definite atmosphere of waiting for something to happen today. Tonight will be the final preparations for the Good Friday processions. For most people, it will be a sleepless night. After our class, we walk down the street to Kafka's, a really cool tiny courtyard cafe where you can relax in a hammock with your drink or enjoy it from a table on the veranda. Selecting a table, we have pulled pork sandwiches with fries and beer. After a bit of a walk, we plan to study a while and then take naps in preparation for the busy night to follow. Alas! As usual at such times, I am too wired to take a nap, but do some reading and studying. In the evening I sleep for nearly an hour and when I awake, we hear a loud bang and the electricity goes off in the entire neighborhood. We walk in the strange darkness up to the plaza, along with a lot of other people. We think we will go to Kafka's because we know Kevin is going to grill "pinchos" (kabobs) on the charcoal grill. But he's decided it's too much trouble to cook in the dark and is giving up by the time we get there. Across the street, many of the vendors have generators, so we wander around enjoying the crowd for a while and have some fried chicken. I can't help thinking of all those plastic gloved people in fast food restaurants who are not allowed to touch (dirty) money as the woman picks up a chicken leg and hands it to me, accepting my quetzales with the same bare hand! When did we start requiring food handlers to wear plastic gloves, I wonder. Certainly no one wore them when I was growing up. And somehow I lived. Anyhow after the chicken, we buy some churros and make our way home to make hot chocolate in the dark to go with them. Late at night we take a chance and lie down for a while. We keep all our clothes on so that we will be uncomfortable enough to not fall into a deep sleep because we can sleep no more than 2 hours or we will miss all the excitement of the night.