to read - Jaltemba Bay Life

IF YOU DON’T MIND, IT DOESN’T MATTERSaturday, 5 February: It had been raining onand off since Monday, but it finally looked like theweather might clear up. I decided to take a walkto the money exchange place in La Penita alongthe Avenue Sol Nuevo from Guayabitos. Lookingaround I was amazed at the planneddevelopment for this area. Initially, roads, asewer system, street lighting, and undergroundelectrical systems were installed—and everythingwas first class. However, after the initialdevelopment, which was about ten or fifteenyears ago, it does not appear that there’s beenany maintenance or upkeep of all that theinfrastructure. There are “hot” electrical wiressticking out of ground junction boxes and mostmetal manhole covers over the electrical junctionpits have rusted through—or are simply missing.Many of these electrical junction pits are severalfeet deep and situated along the sidewalks. Mostof the lampposts have rusted and rotted away, sothere is very little lighting of the streets andsidewalks. An unwary person out during theevening could very easily fall into one of theseuncovered pits. And without a doubt falling intoone of these pits would cause serious or fatalinjuries. In spite of decaying streets, missingmanhole covers, and hot electrical leads lyingaround, new homes are being built here and landprices have skyrocketed. Passing one home Isaw that the owner had spliced a wire from aworking street lamp and into his house. I guessthat was his electrical system. This reminded meof an old saying: “If you don’t mind, it doesn’tmatter.”