Monday, January 24, 2011

Case Study: Technology in Costa Rica

So I still haven’t blogged about my adventures in Nicaragua (photos on Facebook), but I had to share one of my favorite technology experiences I’ve had in Costa Rica.

I have an amazing boyfriend named Daniel (Dani) of about 6 months. Dani’s family lives in a community within Bijagua called Altamira. It’s about a 1.5 hour walk up a crazy mountain in the folds of the Miravalles Volcano. Their property is gorgeous. About 9 acres with beautiful views of the volcano and some waterfalls, cows, chickens, a pigs, etc. But one thing the property lacks is electricity. They’ve lived there 10 years and never had electricity. It’s a harder life, but also beautiful, cooking with wood, using candles at night, no distractions like TV. Lovely.

As for my technological state, I of course have electricity, internet cafes, a bank and all in big town (ha) Bijgagua centro. In fact, less than a week ago, I got portable internet! I can just plug a USB in and have internet anywhere! It’s beyond amazing.

Well the other night, we brought my computer and internet up to Altamira so Dani’s mom, Maria Elena could video chat with her son and granddaughters, who live in the US. Of course, the computer light wasn’t enough, so there we were video chatting from a house with no electricity on the side of a volcano, with our faces lit by a candle. It was an impactful experience.

But the best part was when Dani had his nieces blow at the screen on their end to try and make the candle go out. And magically (with Dani’s face out of screen shot), the candle would go out! Those little girls got so excited every time they blew the candle out. They didn’t really care that that meant that they couldn’t see our faces anymore. It was the most precious technological interaction I’ve had.