Archive for April, 2009

Beer2Buds handmade bracelets

Monkeying around in piedras y olas in San Juan del Sur in a wildlife sanctuary. My friend Kat was bitten by the monkey she was holding, who didn’t want her to let go. Sad that they are on chains, but they overall have a good life, lots of food and friends.

A loud crrrrrrraaaaaaaaaacck as we were eating dinner last night in Papaya Lounge in El Tunco. Everyone jumped. What was THAT?

I thought it was a firecracker. Then a few others said it was a gunshot. Panic set in. The cops came running in through the door. They opened the door to fellow Wisconsonite James’ room only to find an El Salvadorean man wet and sandy and wearing only his underwear. A random drunk man who was apparently already being chased, fell through the roof as he was walking above, directly onto James’ bed, which fortunately for James, was empty.

They immediately grabbed him, forced him to the back of the hostel and smacked him in the head with what looked like a broom handle. Unconscious and bleeding down his back, they cuffed him after checking his pulse, and then literally dragged him down the rocky road, with his feet dangling.

Another man attempted to rape a young woman, but was caught, and was beaten nearly to death.

Life is cheap in other countries. We don’t realize how pampered we are in the US. A ‘civil’ society apparently means one that is allowed to sue over hot coffee. Not in Central America. Your life is your own, your liberty is – or may/may not be, your choice. If you mess up, you mess up. There is more freedom here with regards to how you choose to live your life – be it drugs, the way you drive, whatever – it’s up to you. If you don’t value your life and your decisions, nobody else will and you will pay for whatever your crime…. unless your family has enough money to get you out of trouble… but that’s another story.

Libby’s Travel Photos

The origin of Beer2Buds was in 2001 while sitting at my desk in Milwaukee. A friend from Sweden sent me a virtual beer in an email and I thought if I could only redeem that locally what a great idea that would be. What a great way to stay in touch with friends and reconnect over the feeling you had and the memories you created when you were together.  After spending time learning web and product development, payment systems, incorporating, choosing right – and wrong – business partners, Beer2Buds.com was launched in February 2009.  If you can’t convince people it is a good idea it’s for one of 2 reasons – 1) it’s a bad idea 2) it’s too early.  Now sending people drinks are popping up all over the country and the world – sounds like a good idea – just a little early.  But with advances in smartphones, web apps, and independent businesses adapting to needs of customers and coupons, sending a beer will start becoming even easier.  

I’ve been busy posting on libbystravels.tumblr.com, anywhereprofessional.tumblr.com, and liveworkanywhere.com.

I thought it might be a good idea to do a quick post to summarize and point to the latest happenings on those sites. I took a spontaneous 30 hour road trip to El Salvador from Nicaragua. So here I am surfing and working in El Tunco in El Salvador, about an hour outside of San Salvador.

The waves are great but dangerous, the sun is so hot I’ve been swollen and burnt for 2 days. I have internet access at the place where I’m staying, but, like I’ve found in many places, it can sometimes be slow. The people here are great, better in my opinion than Nicaragua. You can actually have a sense of trust, not short-term friendliness turned horribly wrong like Nicaragua, or the ‘don’t turn your back’ feeling in Costa Rica, or the ‘I feel like not letting you through the border without paying because I said so’ in Honduras. It’s cleaner and friendlier and other than the bad sunburn, I’m having a great time, enjoying the waves during the day, the fiestas and ambiance at night, and the 3/$1 bean and cheese pupusas in the street.

‘La Regia es mas barata y te pone a verga!’

I just joined the Live/Work Anywhere network on www.liveworkanywhere.com. One question was regarding the factors that help you decide where to live and work virtually. Here were my responses:

Climate –
Weather that is too hot or too cold makes it hard to concentrate on work.

Access to Internet –
Internet access must be reliable and fast enough to keep working.

Mail –
Sending packages and random things can be difficult in many countries, having reliable mail service is helpful.

Cost of Living –
Lower cost of living along with the other factors means higher potential return on my projects.

Some things I’ve learned from living in Central America are:

Internet access is nearly 1/8th that of the United States. If you are blogging, emailing, and uploading small files, you don’t notice too much. Anything bigger than that, watching youtube videos or uploading them, opening too many windows and uploading/downloading larger files will slow you down. Also, the power will sometimes go out and you have no option but to wait until everything is restored, or to find a place with a generator to keep going.

The cost of living is low, paying on average $150 for a 1 bedroom apartment, but finding reliable service for Internet makes the $150 for a shared room in a larger city like Buenos Aires in South America a more attractive option.

Routine is important to me and because of the climate, I’ve found the best times to work are either early in the morning or after the sun goes down. After 10 or 11 am, your brain slows down and it’s a must to head to the beach…. not so bad…. as long as you get your work done!

I am completely humbled by my trip experiences so far, and especially by the beating I took from yesterdays’ waves. I had never experienced a rip before nor had I been so pummeled by the ocean.

Standing up was impossible, everyone on the beach took one beating after another. Even where the waves broke at the shore would throw you upside down, tumbling, eating sand, being thrown 50 feet back to the beach uncontrollably. It was quite the battle! I crunched my back, smacked myself in the head with surf board and boogie board, swallowed tons of water, and grasped for air on several occasions.

I finally made it out to the larger waves after having been pulled to the shore by the rip a few times. This time I was equipped with flippers and a boogie board and a local champion professional boogie boarder. The waves were about 6 feet. I was able to catch three of them, one I rode almost back to the shore and actually had people whooping with me, collaborating our energy to combat the angry ocean.

Incredibly fun, but incredibly humbled. I’m so sunburnt that my face is swollen and my nose has blisters. My feet are cut up from the rocks and the flippers. My feet are still stinging from the ant bites after climbing a huge rock to watch the sun set and the surfers, from our private theater atop the rock.

I think later today I’ll take a break from the sun, and either head to Libertad or San Salvador. I just finished a $1.50 breakfast of eggs, bread, cheese, rice/beans. Last night’s dinner feast was fantastic. I am broken down today but still very happy, great energy flowing here.

I’ve been having a great time here. It’s more expensive than Nicaragua, but I feel safer and like I’m not getting ripped off every time I cough. The waves are great, the ocean is really salty and the beach sand is black, but watching the sunset over my right shoulder, the full moon on the left, and body surfing after the long drive yesterday made me smile, a fuller and more sincere smile than I’ve had in a while. Loving life right now.

I just bought a couple pounds of shrimp for about $5 bucks and tonight I’m planning to cook up a ceviche and maybe some tortilla espanola for a group of peeps.

I’ll post pictures soon, I promise. But right now I’m headed out to rent either a boogie board or surf board for the day. Already sitting here sweating in this cafe, time to be out in the middle of it all.

Adios!

UPDATE 4/29/09: I just learned the reason why ceviche is supposed to sit for 5 hours is because the juices from the limes ‘cook’ the raw shrimp. I cooked the shrimp and added them to the ceviche. 1/2 hour seemed fine to me!