| But
yesterday late afternoon they went and got better on me again, so I'm really
confused now.
Yesterday the
landlord called and apologized for not getting back to us sooner - she
was trying to contact the electrician she always used and trusted.
He came last night and fixed things. Later last night, Netgate called
and said they would install the ADSL line today. They just did.
Next week a second ADSL will be installed from another company on
which we will use the VoIP phones exclusively. This improves quality
and also gives us two providers in case one is down. Now that things
are like they are supposed to be, I have to worry all over again.
Darn!
March 9,
2006
Two weeks
ago today I landed in Montevideo. Since that time Copperhead, my
business partner, and I have leased a house, installed phone lines,
acquired cell phones and had broadband internet installed. Business
bank accounts are in the works as well. An interesting observation occurred
to me yesterday: in sharp contradistinction to Costa Rica, this has all
been done without an attorney or notary or the expense connected thereto.
Nothing took more than a passport and money. Copperhead went into
the phone company and came out with a working cell phone. I cheered him
on over a beer at the cafe across the street.
Another difference
is the attitude towards time. After living in the West Indies for
a while I learned the system there: whatever time frame was promised
would really happen in the next higher time unit: 1 minute is really
1 hour, 1 hour is really 1 day, 1 day is really one week, etc.
I also figured
out the time rules in Costa Rica: there are none! If someone
is really considerate, they will ring you 45 minutes after they were supposed
to arrive to cancel or postpone. If they are from the government
telecoms, they will set an appointment and never show up; or they will
show up out of the blue and expect you to drop everything to accommodate
them.
Time here seems
to be understood in an Italianate mode: they try to be on time, but
sometimes things happen; and when things happen they are very, very sorry
and will do better next time: and they do. Thus far, nothing has
slipped more than a day - which amazes me. I waited weeks for telephones
in Costa Rica and months for broadband. This place may really be "Eisenhower's
America in Spanish". ¡Hasta luego!
March 16,
2006
Well, now
I'm really annoyed! It is becoming increasingly hard to remain skeptical
when everything is working properly. Both ADSL lines are working (all we
did to the first line was reposition the wireless router); the housekeeper
has been coming in on time and doing a good job (at $2.10/hour inclusive),
and we've been able to buy everything we need locally.
On top of that
McDonalds delivers, as do the local mom & pop food shops. They seem
to have a fleet of kids on motorbikes; and delivery usually takes no more
than 10-15 minutes. We even got my big wheelchair refurbished locally--it
needed new rear wheels.( I can't imagine why.) It took 1 day and $190 including
pickup and delivery.(That is a good price anywhere.) I even found an Orthodox
Church in Montevideo - what am I going to have left to complain about on
Sunday mornings.
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Copperhead
explained the problem. Carlos told him that undoubtedly there
was a major short circuit on one of the three additional circuit boxes
that was not letting the main breaker come back on. We found these,
turned them off and sure enough the main breaker functioned normally. We
followed instructions and found the bad circuit, but still had intermittent
problems. The cost, thus far: nothing. Carlos just visited us. It
appears that some of the outside wiring is very bad. As we are not
seriously disrupted by one circuit being off, Carlos will email us a proposal
to fix everything, and will detail the cost, so we can get it approved
by the landlord. The cost after his visit: still nothing. I'm
impressed. This is the kind of problem that always turned into an expensive
nightmare in Costa Rica
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