Friday, November 5, 2010

Alt 64

July 10, 2010

We are wrapping up our stay at Hosteria Isramar; in a few days we move back to our home for a brief week before our next guests arrive.
Probably more than anything lately, Todd and I have enjoyed relaxing and working on the balcony of Hosteria Isramar.
Our rental business and communication with family are dependent on our internet connection. We’re currently using a “Porta” (Ecuadorian phone/internet provider company) thumb drive device that we purchased in Libertad about a month ago. It cost us around $100, and our deal included a month of free unrestricted internet access. It works okay (slow as dial-up, usually) and is reliably “faster” late at night or during off times. That, and we frequently get bounced off the internet – generally guaranteed to happen after writing a long and detailed email letter, which gets lost in space. Todd and I have learned to draft everything in Word first before going on-line, then we cut and paste as quickly as possible before getting kicked off-line repeatedly. As Todd says, even the Olon internet café is starting to look hi-tech.  Our “30 days, unrestricted access” ends in a few days, and we are not sure we are going to renew the plan.
We do use the internet cafés often, and have noticed a marked improvement in equipment, technology, and internet speed over the last couple of years.  Even our little Olon Cyber café has added several more computers.  One of the more annoying things about the internet cafés are the Spanish keyboards; no two are ever alike, and one must not be falsely lured into thinking that what is printed on the keys is actually what will appear on the screen, especially punctuation symbols. For instance, there may be a “?” mark on the key with the “7”, but hit “shift” to use it, and a “&” is typed in. Go figure. I have written some really illiterate looking emails using these keyboards, and have gotten in the habit of running through the number keys on top (holding the “shift” button) just to see what comes up whenever I use an unfamiliar keyboard. There is one uniform rule-of-thumb: to get the “@” sign used in all email addresses, “alt/64” is the keystroke used.  Of course.


We’ve been eating a lot of meals out, and enjoying the food at the nearby beach cabanitas. “Lolita’s” has the best ceviche, Todd likes the shrimp dishes at “Hurderra’s”, and “Tito & Hannah’s” is always a safe bet for good fish. Meals cost around $2.50 to $3.50 – throw in a large Pilsener and a small tip for $5.00.

Though we are less than five minutes from our house, we haven’t explored this side of town much until now, and we’ve discovered several little tiendas with interesting goods and produce. One older vendor, Artemo, couldn’t have been nicer after we introduced ourselves and mentioned we lived here now. He proceeded to welcome us with a wonderful little chat, about only half of which we understood.  Aside from the produce and assorted merchandise he sells, he emphasized that he “sells water 24 hours a day”.  I guess this means that we can knock on his door should we be perishing of thirst in the middle of the night. Such a dear, sweet man.
All of our neighbors, and current guests, Brian and Lara have been wonderful about looking after Daisy during our absence (and we are there several times a day to check on her). Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to getting back home and in our own bed for awhile, however briefly. 
Our next guests area mother and her teenage daughter traveling for a month in Ecuador, and ending their trip here at the beach during the last couple of weeks in July.  We’re hoping they will get some sunshine, since the weather has been mostly overcast since we arrived a month ago.

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