in Jacó on honeymoon

[kragen@pobox.com]

2003-06-13
Tonight we sleep at the Hotel Jungle Inn, across the street from Filthy McNasty's Bar & Bar, for 10 000 colones, about US$25.  It has a swimming pool, screens on the windows, ceiling fans in the rooms, and even hot water --- there's an electric heating element in the shower head.  Can't say the wiring inspires confidence, though..The circuit breaker box is actually inside the shower stall, without even a metal cover --- just a bunch of switches labeled "30" with water splashing onto them.

Last night we slept at the new hotel next door, the Hotel Roblemar.  It has hot water valves to turn on and off, but no hot water to flow through them.  They're still building their swimming pool.  The rooms were larger, but no screens on the windows; but the ceiling fan really blew hard.  Both hotels have geckos, ants, roaches, and huge ceramic tiles everywhere.

We've been eating mostly cosadas, which are tasty, nutritious, and cheap.  No diarrhea yet.

The hotel washed our laundry for $5 this afternoon.

I want to cut down on the crap in my pack.  I don't need that many kinds of clothes, but I do need to be able to walk uphill.  I hope to leave about half the weight of my pack in a locker somewhere in San Jose (or maybe mail it home) and pick up some other items: more white thread to fix my socks, some cloth to make pockets with, some chloroquine/Aralen pills, a mini-USB cable for the cameras, a money belt, a knife and scissors for making and modifying things, maybe another needle for sewing, and some neosporin.  (My blister remains uninfected.)

The Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 on which I write this missive pleases me considerably.  It's not the pleasure of using a Palm, where everything is finely tuned to your needs; it works OK for my needs, but it's got a lot of rough edges, especially in the OpenZaurus environment I run.  I've written about 3000 words on it, although I haven't yet learned to touch-type on its tiny keyboard --- my speed goes from about 30wpm with the lights on to maybe 10 with the lights off.  I can charge it for an hour and then work on it for three hours; full battery life seems to be about five hours.  I can put it in my pocket, and indeed, it's been in my pocket for nearly two weeks now, along with my change and keys, without any visible damage.

But the really exciting thing about the Zaurus is its potential.  I've already written and tested software on it, in Python; I expect to be able to upload and run that software unmodified on another Linux machine and have it work flawlessly the first time.  (Unless I slipped in one of those accursed version dependencies.  I only have Python 2.2 on the Zaurus.)

Here are some things I hope to do with the Zaurus:
- implement a better input method for text
- write an audio time-point logging application to keep track of how long it took me to make each leg of a driving trip --- without taking my eyes off the road
- read and respond to my email
- fix the biggest annoyances in the built-in applications
- figure out how to view, crop, thumbnail, and annotate pictures from digital cameras (it has a CF slot built in, and I've already used it to back up photos)
- design, write, and test software I can then run elsewhere
- take notes that include sketches; the built-in paint program isn't really useful for that

Anyway, we had a good time in Manuel Antonio; I played in the 2-meter trough-to-peak breakers and got thrown over the crest of a wave; had sand dribbling out of my nasal cavities the next day.  I dug a little tidepool and trapped a small fish in it for a while as I watched.

A troop of white-faced capuchins stopped by.  Bea fed them bananas, against my advice.

I got a sunburn through the fog on our wedding day, but that has healed, and I'm starting to tan.