TV in Chacala

One of the nice things about Chacala is that many times watching T.V. is a social event. You watch your evening “novella”, or soap opera at your favorite restaurant. Or at the home of a family member, or a neighbor. So at least it’s a social event, rather that isolated individual watching TV in a room alone.

Sky, the local cable TV company, appears to cost about $50US a month. That’s a lot of cash for families that are struggling to have enough cash to send their kinds to school on the collectivo, or to buy textbooks, and special school uniforms, etc.

Computing is similar in Chacala, at least so far. Hardly anyone has internet or a computer at their home. So computing is mostly a social event. Either upstairs at the Bibliotecha during the week, or maybe at the internet place on the beach road. It’s open Friday night, and Saturday and Sunday, the hours when the Bibliotecha is usually closed.

So, at least for now, using the computer in Chacala is likely to be a social experience. Other people can see what you are looking at on the internet. It isn’t like in middle and upper class homes all over the world, where you are alone in your room, doing whatever on the internet. Of course, this will all change in the next few years, I suppose.

This isn´t to say I am a TV watcher. I am really happen to be away from telephones, TV´s, regular mail delivery, and answering machines. It felt strange at first, but now I really life their absence.