Sleeping Beauty

Two nights ago, all of Costa Rica went black. Not a little black, not grayish not brownish but completely black. I was curving downhill on a road overlooking the central valley when the extent of the problem became apparent. What seemed at first to be one of the local black outs we occasionally get due to on-going construction everywhere turned out to be a national emergency. The entire forty-mile stretch of the valley was shrouded in black. It was quite a sight.

And, to tell you the truth, I really liked it. It was as if the country had finally laid down for a well-deserved nap. The past ten years have placed a heavy toll on this small piece of the earth with an incessant influx of money and a growth in construction eating its way through coastal areas, along mountain slopes, and national sanctuaries.

Land speculation has been a big money maker and builders are arriving fast to partition the country into gated communities for retirees and the well-to-do. It’s a cancerous development and only few benefit from it. As a matter of fact, the country is caving in under it because there is no infrastructure in place or even planned to support it. Roads are crumbling under the heavy construction traffic, ocean shores are struggling with the increase of raw sewage pouring in from the growing beach communities, and water is drained from local farms to provide the upper crust with green turf.

It’s sad and every time I see the glittering and shimmering lights at night I can’t help but cringe. So, the dark actually felt good. But let’s face it: more than black it’s a flashing red light. This place is on the verge of collapse! Like a tree supporting a horde of wild apes it is shivering under its load.

But here is another fact that lends a fresh albeit not very refreshing perspective to the problem of power shortage in Costa Rica: the country gets eighty percent of its electricity from water, a technology that – much like nuclear energy – has seen a revival since the specter of climate change has made its way into our hardened conscience. However, turbines won’t turn unless there is plenty of water supply. Not a problem for this tropical paradise one would think.

And it wasn’t in the past, but now that weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable worldwide, Costa Rica is in a crunch with more demand for energy and not enough water to produce it. Lake Arenal and its dam is at a historical low and unless the rain starts soon, sleeping beauty will return to her slumber. Sorry, no enlightened prince in sight yet.