AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life Living in Belize No Mexican power for 4 months

sorry, laurie. yeah, we had a night like that 2 years ago - we drove WAY down south with Axeman. it was amazing - a blanket of stars - we could not even speak...

Power outages are not a big deal. They come and go, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less so. If you are really worried about it, just make sure you book a resort with a generator. They can be a nuisance for those of us who live here but for a visitor, they are just part of the adventure and charm. Many very good resorts on the mainland and in Mexico on the Yucatan don't even have power at night and that makes them even more appealing. I remember coming here as a tourist and how lovely it was to come back to our cabana in the rainforest, lit by kerosene lanterns. Most of the local restaurants depend on gas for cooking, so you won't go hungry. Not much you can't do with a big of gas, candlelight and the Caribbean Sea. In fact, I can think of a lot of very fun things you can do.

I knew we picked the right place . With the personal help we have received and now the generators we couldn't ask for more! Thanks again Stace! ful thanks

I remeber the old days before the Mexican cable was installed. The diesel plant was the only source of power back then. It did a decent job. We did indeed have frequent black outs and brown outs. We were happy to have power at all. I ran battery back up for my computer, but refrigerators did take a major hit. We just unplugged them. Ice was a valuble comodity. If you were nice to Malcolm, you could buy some at Fido's. Back then the water for ice was rain water off the roof. Amazingly we never got sick from it. Racoons lived in the thatch. Oh....those were the days!

Seeing what the raccoons left on your roof would make you sick!

I have a couple of good UPS systems that I'm not using right now. To bad their 60lbs each or I'd bring them down with me this trip.

They are readily available here.

OK I don't mean to be paranoid but maybe I am. We are coming down in November and staying at a house up north. So how long do the power outages usually last, how often under normal circumstances do they usually occur? We have a person with us that has to have a breathing machine hooked to him during sleeping hours. Is this going to create problems for him? Not a choice he has? So even though this says 4 months, could that be longer? Just trying to get p's and q's in line to make some decisions.

Current can go out in Belize at any time for many reasons, even without the Mexico situation. For his needs you should make sure the resort or house has a backup generator.

DeeDeeuz .....

November is well after the 4-month difficulty.
It will have been raining and Belize's hydro plant as well as Mexico's should be functioning well beyond need.

We have the occasional hour long "planned maintenance" outages - which are in the daytime and are announced ahead of time. They are every couple of months, and rarely during rainy season.
As for the unplanned ones - could be a 5 minute flutter or could be a few hours if lightening strikes a transformer or something like that.

Power outages could occur anyplace, so north south or in town is not the issue. See if the place you are staying has a back-up generator. Many homes have them and if so, you are well covered. Also check into a battery for backup on the breathing machine maybe?