Connected

Yesterday I went to the mall (Plaza Caracol) to sign up for home Internet access. It's 349 pesos per month (about $35 US) with a 140 peso installation fee and 300 peso deposit for the modem. They told me someone would contact me within 4 days for installation. Well, I was surprised this morning by a call to say they'd be coming by in 20 minutes. It all went well so now I'm at home sitting on my bed posting this!

I basically have not left my home all day and have been on the net nearly non-stop. It's nice to surf in the privacy of my own home and not worry about the hourly charge creeping up.

Another thing I've discovered today is Skype. You can download their software and talk to anyone around the world using your computer, a microphone, and speakers. Luckily my brother lent me his microphone before I left so I was all set. I will be using this in place of a phone until I can get back to the States and get my Vonage router. You can also SkypeOut which involves setting up some money/credit and gives you the ability to communicate between your computer and a regular phone line, all for just cents per minute. Damn, I love technology!

Today, I also finally introduced myself to my upstairs neighbor. Her name is Ana, she's 41, single, and originally from the Basque region of Spain but hasn't lived there in 20 years. She's been in Mexico for 12 years (3 years living upstairs) and was England before that. She's got a PhD and is a professor of sociology at the University here in Vallarta. She seems really cool but sadly is looking to move in a few months. She bought a piece of land out in the jungle next to a river and plans to build a house there. She's also planning to adopt a child from Chiapas, a state in the south that borders Guatemala. Apparently, it's easier to adopt children from there because Mexicans are a bit racist towards "Indians". I'm interested to learn more about the whole program. Apparently you have to go through a 6 month course that you attend every weekend. And then for the first year after the adoption, you pay 200 pesos per month which goes to support mothers in Chiapas who don't want to give their babies up but don't really have money to care for them (I fear this may be a religious, pro-life thing -- need to look into that).

I'm happy to have a cool neighbor who's a foreigner yet is fluent in Spanish, is my age and also single, and has lived here for quite awhile. I hope we will be friends; I feel I could learn a lot from her.