tribute to MJ

This week has been a fairly normal week. The best part must have been a workshop that Joel and I put on for a small group of six the micro-empresarios. We taught them about differentiating their business from that others and again how to keep track of their cash and how to make and analyze an income statement. Pretty fun stuff. Went very well, even though Miguel went off on vacation the day before and didn't come back until a few days later. The group that came had a great time and got really into some of the examples and side quizzes that I made for them.

One crazy thing about living here is the transportation. They have little vans and buses called combi's that have different routes and if you know which one to take can get just about anywhere for a single sol (33 cents). One person drives while the other opens and closes the van sliding door, shouts at people on the street to get more people on the van, and charges the passengers their fare. No two combi's are alike as they are all somewhat custom built with broken windows, no seat belts, and some of the seat/benches pretty wobbly. They go as fast as they can until the next obstacle causes them to slow down so it is a constant slow down or speed up. They also get as many people as possible on each combi. The maximum people I have counted in one that I have been in is 20, in a van a little bigger than the old purple dragon.

There are also taxi's everywhere that are constantly honling to get people's attention to see if they are desirous to get a ride from them. They have the same driving habits as the combi's, except they usually turn the music up a little more so you can't here a thing. There are few cars on the street besides Combis and Taxis. There are very few stop signs or traffic lights, so every intersection they just slow down a bit and start honking to warn anyone else off that might be coming. They will go on any side of the road to pass whoever they can, and people are constantly playing frogger to cross the road, except it is harder than forgger because none of the cars are going in a straight line. This makes everything kind of frightening at first, and then slightly amusing. I have come to enjoy it and actually feel somewhat safe, due to the fact that the only people on the road are people that know what they are doing and are always super attentive to the road, pulling over anytime their cell phone rings to talk.

We left work early last wednesday to go to the beach and I just read and sat on the beach for w while which was pretty nice. Even though it is winter here, when the sun comes out it can in the 80's and feels pretty nice. It is normally slightly overcast with some kind of mist/haze in the 60's or 70's during the day and gets cool enough to wear a light jacket in the evenings.

I finished Sinclair's "The Jungle" this week and have now read through all the books that I have brought (besides Jackie's marketing textbook). I have read Working Towards Zion, Robinson Crusoe, and Crime and Punishment. I think I liked Robinson Crusoe the most, but they have all been eye opening in different ways. Robinson Crusoe was really fun a had some interesting insights on life and taking a step back to look at the life and what we really need to survive. How society we lives in shapes us to a certain extent. Crime and Punishment was pretty dark but I am always very impressed at the thoughts and the depth of the characters. They seem very real and dealing with true events and struggles in the mind. Working Towards Zion and the Jungle both help me to realize the failings of capitalism and how our society is trying, but still far from a perfect society. Pretty interesting stuff.
A view from the wrouf. Every house is different and touching the neighbors on both sides. and on top and below.A tipical tico taxi. pretty dinky.