This past Tuesday night, I was speaking on the cell phone with a client at approximately 8.40 PM when all the sudden the communication stopped. Click! And no one on the other end.

Hmmm… OK… so I tried to call back – but no dial tone.




Checked the land line – no dial tone either. Then I dialed up onto my 3G wireless Internet – and no connection either. Could it be that someone stole a main power cable from a communications tower? It would not be the first or second time, and if the case, everything should be reconnected in a few hours – when we wake up.





Indeed, we woke up the next day, ready to go about our usual business….but oh no! Still no communications at all. I figured that by the time I got to the office, everything would be fine, and business as usual.




But no! Not at all actually. Rumors were spreading that ICE (the Costa Rican phone and power company) offices in Limon had severely burned down the previous night (during that telephone call with the client). Damage was supposedly severe – as the main central for all communications had been destroyed.




Word was that it could take a minimum of several days to perhaps a few weeks before services are back up. As it turns out – rumors were mostly true and confirmed later in the day by La Nacion and local news sources like: The Talamanca News.





The first reaction from most people was amazement and mild panic. What will we do? In this day and age – even in Costa Rica – we all depend tremendously on telecommunications. Whether it is to check on your kids to see how they are doing, call in late to work, check a traffic report or make a room reservation.




We also depend on modern communications for business: scheduling tours for tourists, taking reservations, sending a fax, scheduling a meeting, running a credit card or making bank transfers over the Internet to pay a supplier or employee.




It all sunk in real quick….we were cut off and there was nothing anyone could do about it. We wouldn’t be able to pay employees, the banks were useless, ATMs not functioning, and had to resort to CASH – cash? Yes cash to make purchases. Hotel clients could not pay with credit cards and had no cash. You can imagine the “stress” when each person realized how he/she was suddenly affected.




But it was not until a few hours later when another realization began to sink in. I, for one, decided to close the office and go surf for a few hours. Not bad!





And then I went out to lunch with a few friends. The phones were not ringing and our “busy” schedules were suddenly limited to a slow manual pace. That is when many realized that hey – not being slaves to technology actually forced us to go visit people in order to ask them a question – or better reason to meet in person for most occasions.




At the office – when we reopened – we amazingly found ourselves more productive. There were less distractions – and most of you know what I am talking about – we are all guilty 😉




It has now been three days that we have been mostly cut off from the world. Internet is back for some…. but still no phones, cells or faxes or banks. Thankfully for some – it is a small town and the local stores are willing to carry credit for a few days for those that don’t have cash.





It is kind of nice – a more humane atmosphere on the streets – more time for people and for ourselves. The chatter at the cafes and on the street is “hey this is not that bad – actually kinda cool!”




It was not until not long ago that none of these technologies even existed… but now that they do – we tend to take them all for granted as if we’ve always needed them but, if you should be so unfortunate to not have them…. there does come a realization that it just might be for the better.




We forget who we are and where we come from and how we’ve evolved, get caught up in the details with not enough time to take a break from the fast paced life – even in Costa Rica – where the pace is remarkably slower then most of the rest of the world – and yes even on the Caribbean Coast – where it was always believed that the pace could not be slower – well – take out the phone and welcome to a surprisingly fine reality!

There is nothing wrong with taking a longer, slower…break!

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Written by Manuel Pinto, our Costa Rica Recommended Realtor covering the Southern Caribbean coastal areas from Limon south to Manzanillo. If you would like more information from Manuel, please help us to help you by contacting him using the simple form below: