Fishermen on the lake
Yesterday we were punished for overusing our portion of bandwidth on the satellite internet. We had incredibly slow internet for a period of 24 hours. Yesterday morning, I literally made breakfast while just one email was opening. I decided that as there was nothing I could do about it, I would go and do some sightseeing in San Juan and then have lunch in San Pedro.
It´s called “fair usage” and while on probation for overusing your allotment, you can´t try to download anything or exceed the minimum allowed. Otherwise, they will keep you on restricted internet for another 24 hours. It´s a very effective system for getting you to tow the line and only use what is rightfully yours.
It´s interesting because as I am beginning to learn more and more about Guatemala, the lake and the reality of life here, not from reading a guidebook, but from sitting and talking to people, the locals and the foreigners, it´s been a real eye-opener.
But the situation with the internet made me think of life on this planet. In North America, we use up more than “our fair share” of the resources. One of the biggest issues right now is that with an emerging middle class in China and India (the two largest countries in the world) demanding what we have taken for granted in North America, the demand on these resources is more than they can bear.
When they just needed to look after “us”, everything was fine as we theoretically hogged them. Now that we have to share or have more of a “fair usage” policy it´s interesting the chaos that is being created and the alarming situations emerging around the world.
I will be talking about some of those issues here in Guatemala over the coming months but there are some poignant similarities.
Ironically, I learned that I can buy a G3 stick that would go into a USB port on my computer from a competing company for about $50. Then for about $10 per month I can access internet from one of the towers instead of the satellite. So in other words, when I can´t get what I need from the satellite internet because we´ve used up our fair share, I can simply pull out my G3 stick and switch to another company.
Isn´t that what we do in real life? Can´t have what I want with you, can´t deplete you any more, then I will just go find someone or something else to satisfy my needs.
That may work with internet on the lake in Guatemala. It isn´t working so well on a planetary level. This picture of the fishermen on the lake, albeit a beautiful, peaceful scene is actually frightening. I learned about it at the hairdresser on Wednesday. I´ll tell you more about that next week.
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Hi Jan,
Have I told you lately you’re my shero? Thoughtful…insightful…bringing the world and differences and understanding to others. Thank you for continuing to inspire me with what you are doing in your life!