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The building was a one-room, cement walled enclosure to house the generator for the hotel. Earlier in the evening, we had lost power and had dined by kerosene lantern. Apparently, they were trying to fix the generator when it exploded, starting the fire. I felt so helpless. No way to help; I'd just get in the way. We watched from below. Eventually, the fire was extingushed. There was little left to burn. The group up on the cliff stopped their frantic movements. The glow of cigarette tips appeared and spread amongst them. A calm set in in sharp contrast with the the chaos that had preceded it.

Then suddenly flames burst forth again. "Merde!" The scramble to get water up the cliff began anew and continued for a few minutes until the fire was out once again. Later, a fire extinguisher was lowered down the ladder to the hotel roof. It hadn't worked. In the morning, we climbed up to see the damage. It was a difficult climb even without carrying a bucket of water. And the way was now illuminated by the light of day.

The spent generator sat within the four cement walls amidst piles of hardened dirt that, until the previous night, had been part of the roof construction. A few partially burned pieces of wood lay about, but most had been completely consumed. Down below, all was calm in the early morning sun. A sole man gazed up at us, a look of concern on his face.