I am back! I can’t believe that it has been over a year since my last entry. That entry was made after I moved to the farm and started construction. Carlos bought me a lap top computer and I was going to use it to begin my blog. I started and then stopped. It was just too difficult to do this when I didn’t have internet service at the farm – or phone service. The first 7 months I lived here there was no phone at the farm or private lines in the entire area.

Chimirol and the Chirripo Valley got phones in December 2006. Before this if I wanted to make a call I had to drive to a pay phone. There was one at Soda Cindy in Chimirol only 5 minutes away. However, if it was raining or there was a breeze or it was sunny or it was summer, it seemed the phone didn’t work. It never worked at night or on weekends. I used to joke that they shut t off on nights and weekends to save electricity.

So I would drive towards San Isidro stopping at every pay phone looking for one that worked. There is a phone in every little town along the way. They are all outdoors at the local markets and right along the main road. They are placed to make the use the most difficult. They are always under tin roofs. So if it were raining it was almost impossible to hear, not to mention all the road traffic - derlivery trucks and mototcycles. To say the least, the public phone service was an adventure – a challenging, sporadic adventure.

But now I live the communiction life of luxury. I have a phone in the house, DirecTV and high speed internet service. The result is that I am now in touch with the world again and I am starting my blog again. I am not sure if this world contact is as great as it seems. I really got used to not having a phone ring. I definitely do not miss having a cell phone. I never would have thought that I would be living in a place with no phone, no cable and no internet for 7 months. It is amazing how much you can accomplish when you are not a slave to these conveniences.

Anyway, I hope to have frequent installments to my blog. Our 2+ years here have been quite an adventure and I hope to share some of these adventures with you.

Stay tuned and let’s see how this goes.