This blog is now coming to you from the cockpit of Hopalong, a sailboat anchored in the Sea of Cortez off a tiny Mexican community called Juncalito. Small it may be, but not so small that it is without a motto: "Juncalito, a sleepy little drinking village with fishing problem."
Perhaps 50 to 100 Mexicans and gringos live in the "barriocito." All the homes are off the grid – generating electricity either through solar panels or generators. The locals dread the possibility of electrical lines running to their modest homes. They fear rising land values that would push rents higher. Many of the gringo residences amount to no more than a trailer and large veranda shaded by open, palm-thatched structures known as "palapas." No phone service, cellular or otherwise, is available. The community has no stores or services, but does include a small church.
We are connecting from the boat to the Internet via a free Wi-Fi connection. One of the norteamericanos set up the connection through a satellite TV service. Signal repeaters are mounted on two of the homes. Powered by batteries that depend on solar power, the Wi-Fi station is shut down each day at 4 p.m. and comes up sometime in the morning – usually, but not always. Occasionally it does not come up at all. Signal quality is not always the best and sometimes connections are dropped. But the California Stem Cell Report is not complaining. It saves a nearly 40 mile trip into town.
Kudos on breaking up the sometimes dry commentary of the slow moving, ongoing stem cell story with the occasional asides. I enjoyed your discription of Juncalito as well as the newsroom turf info.
ReplyDelete