I think I've used this title for the Independence day emails all the time I've been here, so this is the third. It's easy to see whether shops, bars and restaurants are tico or foreign owned as I walk up the streets, because all tico businesses, homes, cars and trucks are festooned with national flags.The pic of the week shows a girl in national costume at the 15 September celebrations for Santa Teresa/Mal País last night. She was part of a group from the local school that gave a display of traditional dance.
Quad bikes
----------
The state of the roads has gradually deteriorated while I've been here. I went into Cóbano on Monday and not only were whole stretches completely in mud, but several parts of the road had completely swept away as well.
I have come to dread walking out after a night of rain, because even in my new plastic clogs (€9 in the supermarket) with grips on the soles there are areas where I'm sliding all over the place. Walking anywhere but the beach requires such concentration.
Because of this, the most popular form of transport is quad bike. They're also called ATVs or All Terrain Vehicles. Most of you will know them, they're like a cross between a big motorbike and a tractor. They're perfect for this terrain. Everywhere you go people are zooming around on them. So I've decided to hire one for a week before I go, and I'll pick it up next Tuesday or Wednesday. It's a bit of an extravagance, but I've lived quite a frugal life since I've been here, and it will allow me explore a bit more before I leave.
The internet cascade
--------------------
As I've said before, by far the most difficult thing for me here is a) not having internet access in the casita and b) the really slow speed of access even in the cafés. On Wednesdays and Saturdays I'm always there for between 3 and 5 hours!
I haven't missed TV at all, but I miss the internet so much. The positive side has been that it's less of a distraction from the writing. But on the other hand I so often have things that I need to look up that it slows the process down a lot too.
My two biggest saviours in all this are two free programs that are fantastic. One is Google Reader, which everyone who uses the internet should try out. You 'subscribe' to any sites you want, and it will bring you any updates from them. So you don't need to constantly visit the sites. For example, I have a feed from the Irish Times. Every story that is in the Irish Times comes into my Google Reader list. I get the headline and first paragraph. Other sites make the full article available. But the real power for me is that you can access it offline. So I plug into the internet on a Wednesday and a Saturday, and it downloads all pages that are updated (to a maximum of 2,000). I carry them home on my laptop, and can read them at my leisure in the evening.
However, there are situations where I realise I want the full story and not just the first paragraph. For this I mail myself the link, and when I go to the internet cafe I bring up the page, select what I want to read, and hit a button that copies the whole pages, pictures and all, into the 2nd fantastic program, EverNote. This allows me to get the full detail that isn't in Google Reader.
The only problem is that all this flow of information (I call it the internet cascade) takes time. For example, Pat Rabbitte resigned on a Friday. I got the headlines in Google Reader on Saturday, and marked many articles for reading in full. On Wednesday, I downloaded these to EverNote. So on Thursday, almost a full week after his resignation, I'm finally able to read the full articles.
Overstaying my visa
-------------------
My visa ran out on 8th, and I should have done a visa run to Nicaragua. But apart from the expense, this would have taken up about 5 days, 2 days traveling there and back, and 72 hours out of the country. So I decided to skip it. I'm flying to Guatemala on the first leg of my travels on October 3rd, and I don't think they'll even check. If they do, I'm leaving anyway so I don't think there should be a problem.
Supermarket notice
------------------
This notice is in my supermarket, Super Costa, this week. Pure Spanglish!
Super Coast communicates all its respectable clients to him who the day 26 of September the supermarket will remain closed by inventory returning to its normal schedule the day 27 of September. Thanks, Atte: The Management.
-----
Well, that's it for this week. Just two to go!
Until next week,
Chau,
Éamon
Today's Headline in La Nación: Dengue fever reaches epidemic
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment