The Bigger Problem With The Power Outages in Ecuador

Intro There are some serious problems  going on in Ecuador right now. In fact, there was a presidential  decree that suspended work in all   of Ecuador on April 18th and April 19th 2024. In addition the amount of hours that  people were having planned blackouts   for which were around 4 to 5 hours will  now be increased to about 11 hours and   the speculated amount of time that this  is going to last for is about 2 months. And if you don't know what planned blackouts  are, basically it's just rationing of energy   that happens during the day for every city  in specific sectors at specific times. And if you have no idea why this is going on,   basically there's an energy crisis  happening in Ecuador right now. But in this video we're not going to go into  detail on that because my friends Steve and Lashon   from Living Loving Abroad already talked about  it in depth so you should definitely check out   their video next if you have haven't checked it  out yet and my good buddy Don Shader also talked   about it in a recent video of his so you can  go check out his video after this one as well. But no, we're going to talk about the bigger  problem with the power outages in Ecuador. This includes some of the more officially  known problems as well as the rumor mill   which is basically what people are talking  about in regards to the situation. And at the   end I'm going to give you my thoughts  in other words what I've been living   through so that you get a realistic idea  of what this whole energy crisis is like. So to start with, we have the investigation being  done to the ex-minister of energy Andrea Arrobo,   Officially Known Problems who is being accused of sabotage. Now this  is a big deal because this ex-minister of   energy had reported up till April 8th that  there were no problems with the energy in   Ecuador when prior to that she had been  told by one of our engineers on March   30th that there were problems. There's also  an ongoing in investigation because certain   procedures have been blocked and certain  documents have gone conveniently missing,   which realistically is a problem that happens  with all government institutions in Ecuador but   due to this whole energy crisis investigation is  being more thoroughly investigated in this case. Another one of the more officially known problems  with this whole energy crisis, is the fact that   it's not just in Ecuador but other countries  are having problems as well, such as Colombia   which was providing us with power of course at a  price, they are going through a drought right now.   So that's one of the reasons we've been told  that they can't supply us with power anymore. And then the third which is the most obvious  officially known problem in the country is   the whole corruption situation because  no matter what government institution   you're talking about there's always some form of  corruption that's involved in it. Which is why,   I've mentioned this before but there is a whole  investigation going on which is called "Caso   Metastasis" which is like cancer case because  corruption is a cancer in society so because of   that there's a whole bunch of Investigations  going on which is exposing a whole bunch of   corruption that's happening in the country. And  in regards to the energy situation there's a lot   of money that's not really accounted for. A bunch  of money that obviously if people are paying their   electric bills then where is that money going, and  most of it seems to have gone into contracts and   realistically all that money shouldn't have gone  into those contracts. So there is an investigation   still being done on that but that is the third  biggest officially known problem here in Ecuador. But now we go into the rumor mill which goes  hand in hand with the official information   because even with the first topic that we  talked about earlier about the ex-minister it   is known that she was a part of Rafael Correa's  government. So because she was a part of Rafael   Rumor Mill Correa's government, it is known that  she is a "Correista" and because of that   people assume that she sabotaged the whole energy  situation in order to make Daniel Noboa look bad. Why would she do this? Well  it is well known that Rafael   Correa and Daniel Noboa don't exactly get along. Because he's nice, because he's handsome. Because he's nice. Because he's  handsome. Is something incredible. But also to guide public opinion against Danielle   Noboa during this time of the  whole popular consultation. Then we go into the second part of the rumor mill  which is basically why Colombia isn't giving us   power. And the reason why people are speculating  that Colombia isn't giving us power anymore,   is because of the whole Mexican embassy  situation. In other words people assume   that because we invaded the Mexican embassy  now other countries don't exactly want to get   along with us like they did before. So because of  that Colombia no longer wants to sell us power. And now we go into my thoughts and starting  off with the first issue we mentioned earlier   about the ex-minister, I really want to  believe that she's not involved with this   whole sabotage situation or that it's not a  sabotage situation because I really want to   believe that the ex-president isn't involved in  problems regarding the country because you would   assume that as the ex-president you would want the  best for the country and you wouldn't have your   hands in a situation that's making the country  worse and the situation for the citizens worse. So for the most part I do want to believe  that that part is false and it's just the   ex-minister who's done a poor job  but I also can't discard the idea   of the ex president having some kind of  hand in this only because of what I've   seen with discourse online between the  current president and the ex-president. Then with the whole situation with the  Mexican embassy and Colombia maybe not   wanting to support us anymore because of  what happened with the Mexican Embassy,   I can see that as being a little bit more  realistic only because I mentioned it on   my live stream before that I do think that  we're going to face repercussions and that   certain countries will want to take action in  regards to how they have relations with us in   the future. This could very well be the first  big consequence of the whole Mexican embassy   situation and if this is just the beginning then  imagine how much worse it could possibly get. Corruption And then when it comes to my thoughts  on corruption basically it's what I've   always thought and I've mentioned many times  and it's just that it sucks and obviously it   sucks because I don't think it's fair  that anyone should be unable to get a   job that they have every right to be able  to get because they have the merits they   have the experience they've studied they  have everything they need and they don't   get it because there's someone else who  has the job who just doesn't deserve it. Connections should not outweigh merit and  experience and this goes into something   that's not related to official problems  or the whole rumor mill and it's part   of my thoughts that I've had ever since  I've been here and I think a lot of the   other YouTubers who talk about Ecuador have  mentioned before. And basically what that is,   is the fact that Ecuador in general as a  whole is just very unorganized. You can   find organized places I've been to Cuenca,  it is a very organized city, but there's so   much of the country that just doesn't make  sense for it to be as unorganized as it is. As a person who actually drives, since  I have my motorcycle, and I go through   similar streets every day I've been able to  notice that there are streets that for years   have been in abysmal conditions and no one wants  to take the time to acknowledge it and fix it. I absolutely love what they did to the downtown  area because the day that I went to go buy some   motorcycle equipment the sidewalks are  pristine they are amazing. But how is it   possible for you to walk down that area of the  downtown area and see those pristine sidewalks   and then go to a different part of the city  and you have sidewalks with craters in them. And then what one of the biggest problems that  we have here is the mentality of the citizens of   Ecuador. You have to realize that a country  is its people and if the people themselves   don't want to maintain the order then what  hope does the country have of progressing. Just to give you some examples. People drive  at speeds that far exceed the speed limits.   People don't respect stop signs and they don't  even respect traffic lights sometimes. People   park wherever they feel like it and because  of that my motorcycle suffered some damage   the other day which I had to get repaired but  that's actually a problem not only from the   people who are parking but the places that  don't even have established parking lots.   People don't respect other people's peace  and quiet. You can be sleeping at 2:00,   3:00 in the morning and people are blasting  loud music right next door. If you work here   getting paid is pretty much a privilege,  and what I mean by that is basically there   are some bosses that in order to get paid you  have to justify why you need the money right   now even though they're behind on paying you on  the date that they're supposed to pay you on. I could honestly go on forever but that's a  video for another day. For now I just want   you to understand that those are the problems  that we as people Ecuadorians living here are   causing that make it so that the country, in  the bad shape that it's in, only gets worse. But I do want to add that some of these problems  aren't only problems that natives are causing but   they're also problems that foreigners, people  coming to live in Ecuador, are causing as well. Such as when you think about the problem of going  past the red light or driving really fast or   parking wherever you want some people look at that  as a benefit. Even sometimes I get the idea that,   "hey, I can park wherever I want" or I can go a  little bit faster on a street to get faster to a   certain place. But that is has a very negative  aspect because if you think about it a society   that has no control is just chaos and if you  want some things to be regulated but others   shouldn't then how can you ask for regulation  over here without accepting it over here as well. And with all of this I'm not saying that  Ecuador needs to be perfect because no   place is perfect but we need to  learn to control ourselves and do   things right if we expect things  to be done right in our country. My Experience And in regards to how things are for  me with this whole energy crisis,   man it is tough especially now that I'm working at  the high school because I have to get up early and   weirdly enough because the power goes out at  4 which I know because the power went out for   me once at 4 and I felt it go out because I had  the air on, you wake up and everything is dark.   Then you have to get, well you have to shower  and then you have to get changed in the dark. Starting with the shower you have one  of the first problems which is because   the whole pump that gives you the water  doesn't work because there's no power.   You have to shower with little buckets  or containers of water and hey work with   that. That's why we have this I have a big  container of water filled up in order to   to take my shower. Then you have to brush your  teeth once again without water which is why I   use my drinking water either way I always use  this because it's safer than the tap water,   but if you're a person who uses you know the  tap water then you know you don't have that. uh if you want to use the bathroom you  can only flush once because once again   the pump doesn't work so it'll flush  and then if you want to use it again   it won't flush until the water comes  back which is when the when the pump   turns on. Then you come to your room, I come  to my room I get changed and in the dark,   comb dressed go to work. And because the whole  power outage is in sectors, my power comes back   at around 8 in the morning and I'm already gone  by that time, I get to work and that's a different   sector so the power goes out at around 9 I think  or 10 and it comes back at around 12. So we don't   have power so we can't work because we can't you  know do our lesson plans do our things on our   computers or the internet. The disadvantage  of being dependent on technology nowadays. So then, come back home as I am right now back  home because this is after work and there's no   power again because the rationing is split into  different schedules and we lose power again I'm   not sure at what time it starts but I know  it ends at around 6:00. Maybe earlier maybe   5 I'm guessing with the whole 11 hour rationing  it'll stay at 6 and you have no power until then. And it's pretty sad because I was going to come  home and record with the clothes that I used when   I was at work but that clothes, since it was hot  because there's no air because there's no power,   was all sweaty because over when we were at  work we were doing some, some seminars and we   did some moving around and the day was just hot  even though there's no sun but the day felt hot   so I sweat a lot and that clothes is sweaty  so I had to change so I had to dirty more   clothes and now I'm sweating with this clothes  because I can't turn on the air because it's not   fresh enough to feel fresh and because when I  record of course speaking energy makes you hot. So all of this to show that the energy crisis  this whole situation as a normal person living   here and working here sucks and that's  considering my work I guess if I just   had to teach I don't exactly need the power  to teach. It's good to have certain didactic   materials in order to teach but if I don't I  can work with a board we can work with some   activities that don't require light, do  it outside. But what about the people who   have a business maybe I don't know that  have computers that need to run, that   have food that needs to be stored and preserved  in a in a freezer or a fridge, what do they do? So yeah that's that's this energy crisis we went  from crisis in January which was crime crisis,   the whole invasion of the TV station  and now we have an energy crisis. So I   guess as a final thought if you've  made it this far into the video   of course like and subscribe leave your  comment down below about what you think. And really the final I guess thought is  if you want to come to Ecuador because   I know a lot of people always ask  that, "should I come to Ecuador?" Really right now, if you're coming to Ecuador and  you're not planning on spending all your time in   nature because if you're going into nature what  do you need power for anyways it's like just go   I mean just come, but if your objective is to come  to Ecuador go into the cities and you know explore   maybe you're a digital nomad and you need to work  online, then these power outages are not going to   do you any favors and I wouldn't recommend coming  right now if you're in that group of people. If you're going into nature and maybe just to  visit touristic places, you'll be fine same   thing with Galapagos. But other than that you  might want to wait to see how this situation   ends up. Give it an approximate time, minimum 2  months, maximum because we've talked about this   with my dad around 6 months because there's  the possibility that since uh "Coca Coda",   which is the the hydroelectric plant, needs to be  repaired there are two turbines that need to be   repaired and those turbines need to be brought  from China and that is a long trip. And then   bringing it from China to Ecuador and taking it to  the highlands, that could take anywhere from five   to six months. So, in the worst case scenario  this problem could last a very long time. Best   case scenario, it'll at least you know get  better little by little and in about maybe   a month maybe two months be at a point where  it's more I guess you could say manageable,   less frustrating because right now it's just  really frustrating the way that it's working out. So yeah I hope that this helps and come visit  Ecuador if you're willing to take that risk.