Downpours and power outages

So an amazing thing here is how the city is so surprisingly ill equipped to deal with the frequent downpours here. Almost every time it rains, not only do the streets flood, but many of the signal lights short out, either blacking out completely or flashing patterns of the various green, red, and yellow lights. Yes, the already "impressive" traffic of everyday Santo Domingo becomes even more spectacular in the rain.

Another wonder is how frequent power outages are here. In a given day the power goes out anywhere from once a day to 5 or 6 times a day. Luckily my sister is Una Gringa Importante, and the embassy provides her house with a back-up generator that kicks in about 5 seconds after the power has gone out, then senses when power is restored and shuts off. The generator works amazingly well, and I've blessed it numerous times. The only bummer is that you never get fun "blackout" times where everyone sits around without the comforts of modern day and candles are lit and magic happens.