Internet

Dan ¡ One thing that was kind of hard at first was the increasing distance between me and my best friend, the Internet. In the States, like most most people my age, turn to the Internet whenever we have a question. Hmm, what’s the weather going to be like tomorrow? What’s on TV tonight? Who is the current hot-dog eating champ? Is a bandoneon the same as a concertina? Or if I need directions, to check out the news or a recipe for thai peanut sauce. It’s all there and I took it for granted. Now sometimes I go, literally, DAYS without even checking my email (please take a minute for stunned gasps). Just last year I don’t think I ever went more than 5 or 6 hours without checking it. So, weaning off the cyber-teat was a little difficult at first, though I can’t say I’m completely independent.

I remember in 1993 when I was in Costa Rica for 6 months, when I said, ”adios” to my friends and family, it was really, “adios” for half a year. We wrote occasional letters that took three weeks to arrive, but that was about it. Now instead of postcards we’ve got this blog for everyone to check on from time to time, and emails and skype calls. What a difference a decade makes.

At first when we moved into this apartment we were able to use some stranger’s wi-fi to get free internet access during the daytime. I think they got wise to us, because we are no longer able to connect. So, for the past two months we’ve had to adjust. There are dozens of “cibers,” or internet cafes around the downtown area. I hesitate to use the term “internet café” because they don’t necessarily sell coffee or anything to eat or drink. They are usually just storefronts with 5, 10 or 100 computers for use by the hour. They vary in price, speed and equipment available. Many have webcams, headphones, mics, printers. For the blog, we usually type up a word document on the laptop at home, put it and any pictures on our USB pen drive, and bring it to a ciber to post it. It’s kind of a pain and it’s one reason our blog entries aren’t very regular. Roughly once per week I also take our computer to a restaurant that has wi-fi. There, I buy a coffee or a beer and hang out for a couple hours, getting updates, podcasts and sometimes Skyping with someone. I’m always very nervous about toting our laptop around town. I know of at least two situations in which a person was using his/her laptop at such a restaurant when a fellow came in with a gun and took their computers. But I padlock ours to the table and I NEVER sit by a window. That’s just silly.

We never buy newspapers, we rarely catch the local news and, since we pay for every minute of internet time, checking out world affairs is usually the last thing we do. Of course being out of the media loop is a blessing and a curse. Paris Hilton was already out of jail just as soon as I found out she was in. I don’t think I would be any the worse if I hadn’t learned about that at all. Sadly, we get most of our news from a comical standpoint from NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me via podcast, usually a week or after the news is new.