Let There be Light – Part 4

The date was finally set for the CFE crews to coordinate on making the live connection from the intersection to La Yacata on Tuesday, October 29th at 10 am. Having faced delay after delay, I wasn’t convinced it really would happen as scheduled, so there was no fanfare at our house. Gotta see it to believe it!

We finished up adding the bits and bobs to switch from our solar setup to grid power. It was the longest 5 days ever. Our solar system needed renewal. The batteries were no longer holding a charge. The days were overcast, and even during midday, power was an issue. And I had classes to teach! I was as power-saving as possible. No lights on, only my camera light. As soon as the beeping started, I would switch to battery. The screen brightness was lowered, and all power-saving options were enabled. Still, I was counting down the minutes to see if the class would end or if my battery would give out first.

Super Prez had his work crew come out and install the muretes that were not yet placed. It took two days and considerably more effort than if the CFE crew with their winch and pulley setup had done it. I watched as the guys roped the murete and picked it up with the backhoe, then hold on to the other end while they bounced up the hill to the designated location.  

Finally, those were done, even though they would not be receiving electricity with this first group of 43. I’m still a little fuzzy on what needs to be done to make those connections, but that’s a problem for next month.

Tuesday finally arrived, and then we waited and waited and waited. 10 a.m. came and went. Around 11 a.m., we disconnected the solar setup and waited some more. My husband said he wanted to make sure the CFE workers had lunch, so we raced to town for some carnitas and coke. On the way, we passed the first CFE crew, who were readying their part for the live connection. On the way back, the second crew had arrived. We told them to stop by for a taco when they had finished and headed home to wait some more.

We sent a message to Super Prez’s crew to come for some carnitas and gathered in my son’s house. And then, suddenly, there were lights!

The meter ran a full 24 hours before the CFE truck came by with its GPS locator and booped it into the system. The relief I feel knowing that I have enough power to finish my evening classes has been immense.

There is still more work to be done. We have started the application for the electricity project expansion so that EVERYONE can have electricity in La Yacata and hope to hear back sooner rather than later on that. We also need to move the process to electrify these muretes along. Meanwhile, we went window shopping for a refrigerator and TV just to see the prices and hope to add them to our home soon.

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Check out where it all began in La Yacata Revolution–available on Amazon!