Power Outage in Spain & Portugal
It started like any other Monday. I had breakfast, logged into work, and settled in for what I assumed would be a normal day at the hotel. Then the power cut out. So did the Wi-Fi. A little annoying, but not the end of the world. I figured I’d walk around and try to find somewhere else for some food and to get work done.
A few restaurants kept rejecting me. Odd. It was very busy for a Monday at 3PM. Also odd… The supermarket was jam-packed. Ok, something's not right.
My phone didn’t work. Data was in and out, mostly out. Wi-Fi was nonexistent. Some streetlights worked. A few quick conversations revealed scattered mentions of a massive outage stretching across Portugal and Spain, possibly further. There were lines of 500 people outside banks. Public buses were stalled. Only a handful of traffic lights worked. And yet, there were still people — mostly young — flocking to buy beer. I guess some instincts kick in universally.
I finally found a place to serve me a sandwich and a drink. I overheard a group of older women chatting like they’d seen this movie before. “It’s like WWII. We got through it once, we’ll get through it again,” one said. “Forget about us, take care of the kids,” said another, giving a few holy trinity gestures. The vibe was part-COVID, part-WWII, and part-summer blackout in July.
The same elderly woman — definitely north of 80 — finished her wine, walked over to our table and introduced herself. “If the apocalypse hits, I want to know who I’m with,” she said, before ordering a shot of Baileys. “Might as well get drunk if the world’s ending.”
Tech bros were outside their darkened startups smoking cigarettes. A woman from Kansas City noted she knew something was up when she got off her bus as the driver was freaking out, and she noticed nobody working. Also, her Pokemon Go didn’t work, so there had to be an issue.
With credit card machines down, I had to pay in cash. Had to talk to real people. Crazy, I know! I got lucky and snagged one of the last chorizo and cheese sandwiches from a little corner spot — right before they ran out of bread, meat, and the ability to slice anything.
By 9PM, the outage was still going. One guy was panicking because he couldn’t charge his vape. Oh, how fragile we are…
Most places weren’t serving food. Those that were had people visibly grateful for a slice of ham on white bread. Not the gourmet Spanish kind — just a basic, dry sandwich. But I can confidently say that was the most unforgettable ham sandwich I’ve ever had.
I chatted with a British couple celebrating their anniversary. Their last anniversary trip was during COVID. Maybe they should push the next one a week, just in case.
At one point I saw an article speculating the outage could last a week. My brain flipped into logistics mode — how to get out, where I’d go — but instead I just took it as an excuse to sleep early and see what the morning would bring.
At 3:45AM, I woke up. Power was back. So was Wi-Fi. My phone buzzed with delayed texts. Everything was back to normal, at least as far as I could tell. I’m sure there are lingering impacts on other services.
Funny how fast we forget. Crazy how dependent we are on a single point of failure.
