Blogging note

I´ve received a few emails from people who are surprised at how often I´m able to email or update this blog. The places I´ve been are all major tourist draws, so there are internet cafes everywhere.

But there´s a more practical consideration. It´s June. I´m in Central America. The sun in Panama is merciless during the day. Computers need to be cool in order to run properly. Which means most internet cafes are air-conditioned, so they´re usually the coolest places in town.

The miracles of technology

How did people travel before the internet?

I spent last night in a hostel in Costa Rica which is known for, among other things, having the best internet setup in the country. Long story short, coming here was something of a mistake, considering how little time I have left in Central America, so today I'm cutting my losses and catching a bus to Panama City. 16 hours...

I'll be arriving around 4 a.m. so I went online to find a hostel there with 24-hour reception. I was staying in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, and like most Central American capitals, there's not much to do and it can be more than a little scary. So I decided to take advantage of the internet setup to make some additional travel arrangements.

After about an hour I had reservations for hostels in Marrakech, Morocco; Beijing, China; and Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. The hostel in Mongolia is by all accounts the best in the country, and it's $5 US per night. I booked a budget room in the most sparsely populated country in the world in minutes on the internet. I think that's pretty cool.