BEING RIPPED OFF IN ECUADOR

Could have been more bad timing than ever, In fact never occurred to me that my Hp pc would ever crash again - all because I was stupid enough to update my computer here, Now as a result I'm back again from scratch and worst part is all my data on my travels went to waste along with the computer games I registered with it, I'm not sure if my recovery program can recover all the data . For now I'm changing tactics on the backup systems and will let my PC / Tablet acer to be the "main" computer I use. I was able to recover some of the video's but not the whole entire data I made along with the articles I had to publish on my blog. For now I'm starting again on scratch.

Given with these problems and the frequent reformatting of my HP gaming laptop, I'm now switching my base of operations (on the internet) and offline data to my other Acer computer / tablet , so basically the data will now be stored there instead of here on my HP . The only reason why im still able to access the data here on my HP is because I had setup a local area network on my cabin. So simply say it my HP laptop will be my work station while my acer tablet computer will act as a "server" , so if in case something happens to my HP laptop I could easily recover data. 

On the latest news on what's going on aboard this ship

There has been tensions lately over the internet rental on the other group, apparently it looks like that the contact person they had on using the internet changed and double crossed them, and charged them 600 USD for internet rental. Apparently according to their contact their charged via bandwidth and not on the time usage. Originally their deal was its supposedly to be 25 U.S. Dollars PER DAY but for some reason their contact changed heart after the fifth day and said that he will be charging via bandwidth and its already 600 U.S. dollars. Naturally 7 people who originally joined in on the internet connection were furious over what happened, they felt that 75 U.S. dollars per connection was overpriced and that this was a rip off . They even said this is definitely a "Mafiaso"

As a result , the leader of the group Chief Engineer Hernandez Navarro (Venezuelan national) pulled out immediately the modem internet connection as a damage control to stop further charging. Now their main problem is on how the hell are they going to pay the money ?

Well the other "internet rental" group I belong with, still has internet connection and fortunately our Ecuadorian contact for us charges very fair and doesn’t have any funny ideas of ripping us off - for now it's safe to say that our contact just charges us 3 U.S. dollars and fifty cents per person per day on the internet rental. Either way the subject of "internet" here has been a hot topic and almost all of the crew had grievances on something about internet.

Speaking of the subject I got myself also in trouble because of it. Although its petty I got in a petty misunderstanding with BOSUN diosana on the second day of internet connection on our group because I changed the Wi-Fi modem password and apparently enough my co-workers here are selfishly self-serving enough not to inform BOSUN Diosana of the password changed. Obviously they came up with all sorts of excuses and pretended not to hear anything from me that I told them to "inform everyone on the password change" , in the end the whole blame fell on me and what's worst I got the whole wrath of BOSUN Diosana and ultimately withdrawing his membership on the group.

Anyway what's done is done , I cannot change or go back on what happened and I had to change the password of the Wi-Fi modem in order for it to be secure because I found out on that day that our group were not the only one's using the connection, and the other Ecuadorian mooring crew are tapping on the frequency as well . Later on the days past I tried to persuade BOSUN Diosana back to join but apparently he says he's not interested anymore and turned down the invitation.

Anyway if that was his case then I'd let him be , after all being a sailor is that were not oblige to please anyone and its his choice. Besides it's not part of the job requirement to be nice. I know this may sound ruthless but , as a sailor we have no obligation to other people , we just have to look out for ourselves

In other matters …

Laundry yet again is a problem only this time the problem is on the washing machine itself which apparently broke down and was disassembled for repair. The thing here is that they disassemble the machine and found out later that there were no on-board spare parts for the machine , leaving us crew without any washing machine to use at all for the coveralls. Well technically we still have two other washing machines but our lovely soviet officials here wouldn't allow us to wash our coveralls on it. So bringing me to washing my coveralls via deck brush inside my bathroom.

On other news ….

Mostly I only use the internet to update stuff on the net , specifically on the current news about tech and lately the article I read recently says that windows 10 will be released in the U.S. at July 29 this year and from what I heard , UPGRADE WILL BE FOR FREE for windows 7 and windows 8.1 computer owners , which of course I own three computers and all of them incidentally have windows 7 and windows 8.1 operating system. On the news in gaming , Its seems that the computer game titled "FALLOUT 4"  will be released on November 2015 and I had been a fan of this post apocalypse video game franchise since its first game was released way back in 1997 on windows 98 O.S. . Hopefully the graphics are good and sharp as what the preview I saw in youtube

FLOURA AND FAUNA IN ECUADOR

(Mafioso , in seaman terms is related to something criminal like activity in nature like from the term Mafia which meant organized crime. The term is also used continent wide in south America and they absolutely known its meaning)

I had done a little research if the price was true and found out that indeed the my co-workers are being ripped off , even if the costliest price is put up on Ecuador subscription , I wouldn't go far around the 200 U.S.D per month and this cannot be mistaken for currency exchange as I found out that Ecuador doesn’t use its former currency called "Sucre's" anymore (THEY NOW USE U.S. DOLLAR AS THEIR LOCAL CURRENCY SINCE 2001, information is based on Google travel and Wikipedia).

I done a little research on the net and this article I had found out about the internet connection

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Internet in Ecuador

In 2000, the Internet in Ecuador had yet to really take off. Here in Tena we only had one Internet cafe, which had 2 computers. I worked there for a short while and thinking back makes me laugh.

The cafe had its own email address. Almost everyone who came in would write emails from this account - hardly anyone had their own address. And then you'd come in from time to time to check if you had received a reply - which would be sent to that one email account. Talk about no privacy!

It was at this cafe that I set up my first email account. The owner had to help me and I remember running password ideas by him.

Back then the Internet in Ecuador was s-l-o-w. I can't remember the by-the-hour charge, but you needed a good hour if you planned to do anything substantial online.

How things have changed

Since then Internet in Ecuador has really changed. Now just about every block has one or more Internet cafes. The Internet has become a huge part of life in Ecuador. School kids are sent almost daily to look up something online as part of their homework, which doubles as an excuse to check their Facebook pages.

The increased popularity of the Internet has meant an increase in Internet options…

For the Traveler in Ecuador

Coming through Ecuador as a tourist? You have options for keeping in touch.

Internet cafes: As I said before there is an overabundance of Internet cafes in just about every decent size town or city. The average price is 60 cents per hour (if anyone tries to charge you a dollar or more per hour you are most likely being ripped off).

Speed is decent. I wouldn't call it hi-speed, but we've definitely moved past the age of dial-up.

WI-FI: Hotels and restaurants in just about any tourist town now offer WI-FI. So if you are traveling with your laptop, IPad, etc you will be able to use it. When checking in to your hotel ask the receptionist for the password. Some hotels still charge for WI-FI service, but I think this is a quickly dying trend as most hotels offer it as a free perk.

Living in Ecuador

More and more of us who have moved to Ecuador are working online. So having a decent connection is very important. Back in the day, you had to have a land line to get Internet in Ecuador...which in places like Tena meant you didn't even have the option to have Internet at home. Thankfully, times have changed.

CNT (Formerly Andinatel and Pacifictel): The largest public telecommunications company in Ecuador often offers the best Internet. The cost to speed ratio is the best I've found. The downside, you need to have a land line phone and there must be an Internet line available in your neighborhood.

CNT is working on WI-FI, but it is not available in all areas. For example, here in Tena you can access wireless, but only if you live downtown.

Claro and Movistar: These popular cell phone providers also have good options for Internet in Ecuador. They offer pay-as-you-go plans, which are great if you are using them as a back up provider. There are also monthly plans which often include data and speed limits.

Movistar also offers an unlimited plan. I personally use it. It's ok. Nothing special. I can get done what I need to. Loading videos can be problematic and sudden loss in speed can be annoying. But at $32 per month, you can't beat the price.

Both Claro and Movistar use modem sticks, which plug into a USB port in your computer. This can be handy, since you can take the modem with you when traveling.

Both providers also offer Internet plans for your cell phone.