Monday, Monday...

The importance of a good specification

I was standing over there by the tomatoes
And here he come
Running thru the pole beans, thru the fruits and vegetables
Ray Stevens

Earlier in the blogs, I mentioned that San Jose has just completed renovation of their terminal. This is a big step up, as you no longer have to walk across the tarmac in the rain to enter the main building.

Unfortunately, they did not plan any method of segregating arriving passengers from departing passengers, or international arrivals from domestic arrivals. The end result of this lack in the specifications, is that it is just possible to enter the country illegally – even by accident – and cause issues when trying to leave the country when missing a passport stamp.

This is bad.

Worse yet, it is possible for unscrupulous individuals to bring contraband from countries with less thorough security measures, and hand it off to someone boarding a flight to a country where security is tight. This handoff can happen inside the security perimeter, near where you actually board the plane.

The obvious solution? Segregate the arrivals, even if it means disembarking at one gate then moving the aircraft to another gate for boarding.

The Costa Rica solution? Have 10 people stand on the ramp leading to the plane and do a second physical search of carry on baggage and passengers before they board their plane.
On the Ramp.
As people are trying to board.
After they have put pens, documents, sunglasses, change and car keys back in their pockets for destination use.
Removing shoes and belts.
Can you see any problems???

Also, this means no liquids – that large bottle of water you purchased inside security? Throw it away…

Sigh...

Some things about Central America won’t be missed.

Sunday Continued

The trip home

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
-Willie Nelson

During this trip, my WIFI card died. While I had building access to the Technology Center, it was a simple matter to plug in an ethernet cable and blog to my heart’s content. However WIFI has become so cheap and prevalent, that it is virtually impossible to get an internet connection by any other means in hotels and airports.

So I have pent up blogging energy, and you are getting several posts together.

First, a couple pictures of friends. Here Zorida is saying goodbye to Dianne and I.


We are having a drink at the restaurant where she used to waitress – she now works as a cook at the restaurant across the street. Conversations are slow, as she speaks no English and we speak no Spanish, but between Dianne’s Spanish-English dictionary, and my electronic translator, and of course a pen and paper, we have deep discussions about life and culture.

We also have races to see who can translate faster. Dianne’s book requires less configuration changes, my translator can also say the word when my handwriting is not legible (most of the time).

We were not able to visit her home this trip, and she was disappointed because she has made some improvements while we were away. She made us promise to stay with her on our next visit. We will communicate by “snail mail” as she has no computer, or email.


Here is Napoleon (Napo for short), who has mixed feelings about us leaving. He can finally get his porch back without the funny speaking people on it, however they were pretty good at scratching that spot dogs have trouble reaching.

It’s a tough doggie call.


Finally, on the bus trip, Dianne decided to photograph the countryside. Her guardian angel with the twisted sense of humour intervened (ask her about it), however.

Every subject she wanted to capture was either spotted a bit too late, or the bus hit a bump, or once even a truck passed the window exactly as she pressed the shutter release.

End result? 37 completely useless photographs. I don’t think we ever laughed so hard.

Here’s one of the better ones…



I don't know either.

Sunday, November 27

Thinking about the future

You can travel on 10,000 miles, and still stay where you are – Harry Chapin


Our last full day in Cahuita, Ernesto and I finally found time to sit and talk, and start to plan for the future.

Back in 2006, when the original founder left the organization, a lot of US funding disappeared shortly afterward. The local group that the project transitioned to, while well intentioned, soon lost interest, as the ability to pay salaries decreased along with charitable funding, and before long, as people went to find paying jobs, records were in disarray.

When I got involved in 2008, Ernesto and I decided the best path forward was to create a new Costa Rican non-profit organization and effectively close the old organization by gifting the assets (about 50 computers) to the new organization.

I started finding computers to deploy, Ernesto ran the center, and we received some small funding from US charitable organizations, as well as the Cahuita community, to cover some salary, a couple part time helpers, electricity, phone, internet, and other building costs.

Late 2009, the US recession hit and by mid 2010 all US charitable funding had dried up. In fact, the most supportive organizations, funded no projects at all anywhere in 2011.

What does this mean? Well, the value of the project is well proven to the people of the Talamanca region, and it would be a huge step backwards to stop. Ernesto and his family have to eat, however, and shipping expenses continue to increase with the cost of fuel.

We decided that The Cahuita Technology center can be self sustaining by providing a local computer repair service, fee based internet access, and a slight increase to the cost of adult training. This is not an ideal answer, but a necessary one, I think.

We also need to find a way to get some help at the center. Right now, Ernesto is pretty much on his own. This means that if he needs to leave for any reason – to visit a school,
a doctor’s appointment, or if his daughter is sick, the center closes. And we all know the key to any successful business (non-profit or otherwise) is that it must be open when needed, or people simply find alternatives, and it won’t be self sustaining for long.

There are 13 formal requests from schools for computers, on a clipboard on the wall, totaling well over 100 machines, and only 5 functioning computers available to deploy, so I need to get this shipment on the road as soon as possible. Ernesto and I agreed to a series of regular discussions going forward, as well as producing some regular reports for folks that are interested.

It was a solidly productive meeting.

Afterwards, Dianne and I made rounds saying goodbye to old and new friends, and went off to pack for the bus trip to San Jose.

Salamander

Dear Charlie: I dare you to find a salamander song!

Salamander, born in the sun-kissed flame,
Who was it lit your candle, branded you with your name – Jethro Tull
(I love a challenge - Na-na-na-boo-boo.)

One of the little salamanders that lives in our cabina like to spend the day inside and the evening outside. Yesterday I was sitting on our tiny porch reading when Salamander decides it’s time to go inside. I decided that today he would stay outside, so I put my book down on the porch in his path. He quickly scurried off of the porch into the grass and made this annoyed clicking sound. “click click click click click”

A few minutes later he took another run at the door and again I put my book in his path. Again he ran into the grass. “click click click click click” I was determined to win this little battle.

A few minutes later I heard the clicking sound from above. I guess he had gone around the building, up the side, and was going in by way of the ceiling. I hadn’t thought of that.

And to rub salt in the wound the salamander clicked until I looked up and saw him. “click click click click click” Then he went into his cabin. Let’s face it. We all know who the visitor is here.

Dianne gets the computer first

They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! - Jerry Samuels


The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result.

I climb into the shower and turn on the hot water tap hoping that hot water will come out one of these days. Today is not that day.

Then as I walk out the door I get a brilliant idea (the grinch got and wonderful, awful idea) Maybe the hot water isn’t turned on. I can see where the pipes go into the next cabina and they are both turned on, so maybe someone forgot to turn ours on. I wander around to the side of our cabina to where the water pipes come in and tada!!!!! There’s only one pipe and it ain’t hot! Now you have to ask why, people, why would you install a hot water knob if you don’t have hot water? It’s kinda like the little flag in the hole of a golf course a million miles down the fairway. It’s there to give you false hope. Lol

Ok so there I am tracing pipes and wondering these deep thoughts when I look down and what do I see? A chicken egg. Had some poor chicken layed an egg against the pipe hoping the heat from the hot water would hatch her egg? Bad news chicky! Your egg’s in the fridge!

Then I got to wondering about all of the free range chickens and horses and dogs and... well everything. Yesterday a dog was chasing a chicken off of the computer center’s front lawn. The computer center owns neither dog nor chicken so it amused me. A horse was wandering through having a nibble of grass here and a nibble there. How do people know whose critter is whose? Do these eggs that are laid willy nilly all over the place hatch on their own in this heat? Who takes care of the baby chickies if they do hatch?

All of this talk about orphaned chickens is making me hungry. I think I’ll go and get an omelet con quesso.


Charlie Writes:

Cell phones are a poor addition to Central America. Sure, the wired infrastructure is lacking and cell phones can be quickly deployed with a couple towers, which makes wait times to get a phone much shorter, but when everybody is wandering about gesturing and talking to themselves, how do you tell the people chatting to their friends, from those chatting with invisible demons, or just themselves?

Things were disconcerting enough when you could guess who to avoid… Still, every six year old seems to have one, and it’s interesting to see bursts of technology progress in some areas, with no progress at all in other areas. For example, while Dianne is missing her hot water, I am missing P-traps and S-traps that keep evil odors in the sewage system where they belong.

A clothes dryer would be nice too, although I hear there might now be one in town – somewhere. Maybe we’ll find it next trip.

Still, these things are really not that inconvenient, and I am really enjoying the positive occurrences. For example, people remembering me from the last trip when I kept a pretty low profile. And seeing some of the kids - older, but still interested in computers.

For example, if you dig through this blog, you’ll find a 2008 picture of me with a couple small boys looking at an OLPC. (laptop)

You will also find a few entries concerning Ernie (Air-nay!). Well time passes, and here we are today:

He's a little taller.

His mother says he is still in school, and doing well, and he still comes often to the computer center.

Two more pictures for you today…

In Canada there is no overnight parking on streets because of snow removal. Here, it’s because of rapid plant growth.

O.K. I’m kidding. But this vehicle actually arrived here during our last stay, near the beginning of March, 2008. Clearly it never moved again, and is becoming part of the landscape.

It is parked outside the police station.

Finally, this is looking pretty good as a retirement home…

Ocean behind, deck for kicking back... hmmm, wonder if I can cash in my plane ticket? Oh rats - I'm travelling on points!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Wake up in the mornin’,
from your 'larm clock's warning,
take the 8:15 into the city - Randy Bachmann


It takes a while to establish a routine in a new setting. Mine is falling into place slowly. I wake up with the sun and the howler monkeys a bit before 5:00. Now that I’ve figured out a method to make coffee, brewing and drinking black gold is step number 2. I eat pineapple, blog a little since I’m often at my most introspective early in the morning, shower (cold water unfortunately), and head off to the computer center.

Here I repair a few machines, check email, publish the blog, and generally try to make myself useful. Dianne comes by and grabs me for lunch at one of the local places, then I either return to the center, or we go play for the afternoon.

Since lunch is a large meal, we have snacks for supper, and spend the evening reading or reviewing our day. We are generally in bed, lights out, by about 8:00 PM. I know it sounds early, but since the sun is up from 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM, we’ve adapted our schedule to fit.

After the last couple days of rain, the sun is shining brightly this morning, baking the smell of damp out of everything. There is a nest with noisy baby birds demanding breakfast outside our front window, and enough brightly colored birds I don’t recognize flying about, that I think we need an air traffic controller.

There’s a tree that releases the most amazing perfume as the sun goes down, and apparently it does so sometimes in the morning too, because I can smell it today. It’s certainly a calming influence – I wonder if I can bottle some to take home.

Well, off to start my day. I’ll leave you today with some thoughts:

Things I learned on this trip:

1. Rainy season is not nearly as much fun as it sounds




2. If you must stay in a “well weathered” hotel AND a Hilton on the same trip, do the “well weathered” one first




3. It actually has to stop raining to make cutting the grass or raking the beach possible. But a couple hours sun, and a couple hours work can have spectacular results.




4. A machete can cut grass, open coconuts, open cans, or open bottles. The swing is a little different for each.




5. Creature comforts like hot water are important if you are here for a week or several months

Things I knew, but was reminded of:

1. Different cultures have different rules. There are few absolute rights or wrongs. There used to be ten, but now I think there are fewer. Maybe only one. (Do unto others…)
2. It is not reasonable to try to impose your values on others, no matter how right you think you are.
3. A gift with strings is not a gift, it’s a business transaction.

Here endeth my lessons.

Oh, almost forgot: Dianne’s salsa, corn chips, and beer is still my favorite supper.

Yesterday's overcast at Playa Negra:


Dianne writes:

Beautiful sounds of the rain and the birds and the ocean bla bla bla! Enough with the rain aready! My feet are going to be permanently red from my wet sandals.

Today I MSN’d with a few people and it was nice to hear voices from home. Kaitlyn and Dan are home safe and sound, but the mean lady at the airport took all of Kaitlyn’s sea shells. Poor Kaitlyn. She was very sad, so I’m gonna try to sneak some home for her. So my darlin’ Kaity if that fails, here are some pictures of the shells that I have collected for you.

Things I’m wrasslin’ with,

The ocean is warmer than our shower.
The shower is less salty than the ocean
If you go in the warm ocean you have to have a cold shower

Saturday Nov 19

Another one bites the dust – Queen

Saturday we met at the computer center with Ernesto and Vince, and started repairing broken computers. The climate here is not kind to the machines. Travel, humidity, heat, dirt, all contribute to a short lifespan, so there’s always repair work to do.

I’ve already mentioned Ernesto as the main man at the computer center, but Vince might need an introduction, if you are not close to the project. Vince lives just outside Kanata, and is visiting Cahuita at about the same time we are. When I returned from here almost 4 years ago, and decided I’d try to get some computers for the group, I was introduced to Vince through the former Telephone Pioneer organization. Vince enjoys helping several groups with computer acquisition and repairs, and he has run all the computers we have sent (and now have ready to send), through the shop in his basement. Since he’s prepared over 700 machines for Cahuita, he though he’d like to see where they are actually going.

We discussed the project, cultural differences and expectations, and of course, technical talk, including repair shortcuts and the best tools for troubleshooting. Dianne and Louise (Vince’s wife) soon got bored with us, and headed off to “the office” to get a little work done. If you’ve forgotten, Dianne’s “office” is a stretch of pristine white sand beach about a kilometer south of town.

A lot of Cahuita is overgrown after the rainy season, and people are starting to clean things up in anticipation of the tourist season about to start. The computer center is certainly no exception, and I was about to ask how we could get the grass cut, when a young gentleman arrived and asked if there was some work to be done in trade for some internet time. After some discussion, Ernesto gave him a machete, and the grass was falling before wicked swipes. About an hour later, he was happily surfing the web for the rest of the afternoon.

The barter system is alive and well, and living in Costa Rica.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we devotin'
Full time to floatin'
Under the sea - Howard Ashman Alan Menken

Saturday night we did not sleep well as we are still acclimatizing, and we woke to overcast skies with continuous rain. Dianne decided to forgo the office – after all it was Sunday – and I headed off to find Ernesto. While I did eventually find him, I also found the market. Apparently, in the rainy season, Cahuita gets its fruit and vegetables in the market on Sunday, rather than every day at the store or from vendors in trucks. It certainly was nicer to shop without trying to hold the umbrella.

I bought the ingredients for salsa (planning to put Dianne to work chopping) and some strange “fruit of the day”. I scurried home with my treasures, but on inspection, Dianne discovered I had forgotten cilantro. So we went back, and she supplemented my purchases with a few others. Her cooking is magic, so I’m happy to tote the bags and reap the benefits.

We went to the black beach in the afternoon, but an onshore breeze was driving many jellyfish into the shallow water, so we cut our play short. Instead we spent the evening quietly reading, and snacking chips and homemade salsa, which is my personal favorite dinner. Life is good.

By the way, here’s Dianne’s fruit. It’s possibly called a passion fruit. The outside is hard like a gourd, but the inside is a white jelly full of seeds, which you also chew and eat. Strange, but sweet and tasty.


Dianne writes…

It is a rainy morning. I’m sitting on our tiny, tiny porch watching the rain fall just past my toes. I hear its steady rhythm while off in the distance the howler monkeys complain. There are many little birds flitting around, chipping and peeping, looking for bugs. Behind it all I can hear the crash of the ocean. I have never heard a more beautiful song.

This afternoon we went to the beach. There were many jelly fish in the water. Some had washed on shore and that made me a bit sad. I know it’s the natural way of things, but is there anything sadder than a sea creature who has lost its way? I gathered up the sand around it and carefully placed it back in the waves. Charles was not too impressed as he worries about me. He said something like…. Those things sting you know…Put it down….oh geeez.

We played in the waves for a while. There really were a lot of jelly fish in the water. After Charles got out I just stood there and watched them. They were bumping into me and mostly ignoring me. They were very slippery and they swam with their curved side out, not leading with the part that stings.

Something to think about.