Not to be outdone by its competition, Cellcom, Liberia’s second largest GSM carrier, has unveiled EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) on its network. A GSM network supporting the EDGE standard in theory should support data rates of 384kbps. But that’s in theory.

I stopped by the Cellcom store the other day to have my SIM card activated and get the access point information.

They set the access point to: web.cellcomnet.net

As of yet I haven’t been able to get this to work. I don’t even see the EDGE icon on my cellphone (Samsung Blackjack). Back when I was in the states I had T-Mobile and the EDGE icon was always on my screen. So I assume it’s an issue with the network. But maybe my SIM card was never properly activated or something?

At any rate, I just thought I’d let the world know that the access point for Cellcom Liberia’s EDGE network is: web.cellcomnet.net

John
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Kate, a freelance reporter, Adam, works for the Clinton Foundation, and I went to Robertsport this weekend to camp and surf. We had a late start and a little trouble at a immigration check point so we arrived a little late. Why you need to have immigration check points in the middle of the country, in counties that don’t border other countries is beyond me. Unfortunately Kate had forgotten her passport so she had to pay a fine. The guards asked if in our country you could just go around with out a passport. Probably not, but you can drive from Florida to California and never be stopped at a check point. On the upside, we did get to pass over some fun little bridges that were being worked on. It was at this point Kate got out and walked. Adam and I stayed with the ship.

Once we made it to Robertsport we put the 4Runner in 4wd and cruised the beach till we found a suitable spot for camping. We found a lovely camp site underneath and old cotton tree. We setup the tent and had a fire going just as it got dark. We had a little trouble with the fire since everything was wet from the rains. Kate and Adam are both British, and they had purchased our food supplies so we had proper meals at all times. For dinner we had toasted bread and bacon or sardines and matubal. For breakfast we had toast, eggs, and tea.

We also had marshmallows after dinner. I haven’t done that in a while. We also went down to the beach and look for phosphorescence every so often we could see a little spec of light. The seas were rough so it was hard to make anything out in all the foam. We also met some very drunk South Africans who had built a small bar on the beach. The bar was empty, but they had plenty of beer. They invited us for a sit so we hung out with them for a while. They have plans to build a hotel on the beach. I think I’d rather the beach stay remote and natural. When we woke-up, they had already started drinking again. One of the guys was like a big kid, half of me was like, “this guy is ridiculous” and half of me was like, “That’s what I wana be like when i grow up.”

After packing up we started up the car to drive down to where the surf is. We made it about 10 yards before the car stalled. (To make things worse I could even get the key out of the ignition. After a little prayer I realized the car was in neutral and wouldn’t let the key out till it was in park… oops) We spent 3 hours trying to figure out what was wrong. While waiting we played with some of the kids on the beach. At one point we had a local mechanic come and look at the 4Runner.

The battery was fine so he figured it must be a fuel problem. This is logical. So we checked the fuel line under the car, it was a little loose, but nothing sever. Then we checked the fuel line in the engine. The mechanic wanted to take off the air intake hose and put some gas right into the carburetor. This would be fine, except that the truck is fuel injected. So there is no carburetor, just fuel injectors that precisely and efficiently inject gas right into the cylinder. I asked if he knew about fuel injected engines. He said yes, but then he kept trying to tell me that this little rubber vacuum hose that led into the throttle body was the fuel line. I tried to explain to him that there’s a metal fuel rail on a fuel injected engine, and that’s where the gas enters the fuel injectors . The fuel pressure would be too great for the little rubber hose he found. It was at this point that I realized we were in trouble.

Thankfully, an UNMIL staff member who was near by suggested we check the fuses. We checked them and sure enough, one had been blown. Not only had it been blown, but someone had already wrapped some wire around the fuse to short it out. This wire had fallen loose and caused our problems. We refitted the wire and the cart started fine. I was a little worried about this since fuses are there for a reason, and something at some point had blown it. So I decided to take the truck to a mechanic when I got back to Monrovia.

In the meantime we went surfing. The waves were great. I wish I had pictures but the surfing beach is a hike from where the cars go and we didn’t want to bring valuables with us. The biggest waves were about 6′ high. It was easy to get out and a lot of fun. I even caught a little wave. My only complaint was that it was a little crowded with 5 other surfers in the water at one break, and they were all better than me. So they’d catch a wave before I could and I’d get out of their way so my board wouldn’t get ran over again.

On the whole it was a fun trip with a little excitement. We made it back to Monrovia just fine. We didn’t even get stopped by immigration. The next day I went to the Toyota dealership. I figured they’d have the diagnostic computer for the engine. I wanted to make sure the hack job on the blown fuse hadn’t damaged the engine control unit (ECU). But they didn’t have the diagnostic computer! They only had the one for diesel engines. I asked if anyone in the whole country had it and they told me No Lemon did.

So I went to No Lemon. This place was awesome. It even smelled like a garage in the States. In 3 hours they replaced the blown fuses, tested the ECU, found that the wrong sparks plugs were in the truck, and that the fuel filter had been put on backwards. They fixed it all and then washed the car, all for $125.00. Not too bad. The guy I bought the car from had boasted about how he had only used genuine Toyota spark plugs, he even showed me the receipts. So either he went to great lengths to decieve me, or his mechanic was ripping him off. I imagine it’s the latter.

And special thanks to Kate for taking all these pictures and documenting our adventure.

John
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Today, Gabe and I went to see Angola play Nigeria in the African Amputee Football Cup of Champions at Anthony Tubman Stadium (SKD) in downtown Monrovia. The feel of the game and the stadium reminded me of going to see minor league baseball when I was a kid. The stadium wasn’t huge, but it was better than my old high school stadium. The seats even had little backs to them – not a full back, but a good 9 inches for you to lean against. There were even kids selling popcorn, candy bars, and yes, even beer. Gabe and I bought some snacks, but felt a little snobby since we were the only white people there and also the only ones eating snacks. But it did feel kind of homey to sit and eat snacks while watching sports. The game was also free to attend, which is always nice.

The field was in really good condition. The grass looked well taken care of, and the lines were clearly marked. My only complaint was that the field was smaller than a regulation soccer field. They may only have one leg, but that one leg is just as strong as anyone else’s. They could easily clear the ball from one end of the field to the other. If it were up to me the field would be longer. That’s all I’m saying.

The players all had professional uniforms and looked very sharp. If it weren’t for the peeling paint on the stadium and their lack of limbs, you would think you were watching professional players. I did notice that none of them had custom crutches that properly fit them. They all seemed to be playing with your standard one-size-fits-all aluminum crutch. One guy even had a pair of wood crutches that looked to be made out of a couple of sticks. This is a shame. These guys should have custom-made carbon fiber crutches with silicon gel pads and specially formulated rubber feet that are made to take the abuse of this sport. I know Tech has a prosthetics department, so I tried to think of who I should email over there to see if they can help. If you know, please tell me. Gabe and I talked about how you would think someone would sponsor these guys with some high tech equipment. I’m sure there’s some company out there that makes this kind of stuff that could easily afford to donate some equipment. I’m sure the American amputee soccer team isn’t using one-size-fits-all crutches.

All of that aside, the game was a lot of fun to watch. The players can pull some sick moves when they plant their crutches and then come swinging at the ball. We even saw a few slides. The action is pretty non-stop. It’s amazing to watch two players chasing after the ball. They can move pretty fast. The players also didn’t take any falls. I hate watching pro-soccer when one player barely taps another and the guy goes down grabbing his knee. There was none of that. These guys are too good for it. The crowd was also really into it, which made it even better. They would cheer and yell whenever something happened. Many times, people here will make a high pitched “eeeh” when something happens that surprises them. So it was cool to hear a whole crowd of people “eeeh” when a player pulled an awesome move.

When we left, Nigeria was up 1-0. It was a lot of fun, and I’m glad we went. I’d love to go again.

Later that evening I went to the Mercy Ship for a Bible study. I had my camera with me, and the sunset was pretty, so I took a few pictures of Freeport at dusk. I downloaded a hacked firmware update for my Canon PowerShot SD1000 that lets me shoot pictures in RAW format. I’m told this should preserve more of the color depth of my images compared with the camera saving them as JPGs. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but the colors did seem a little more vivid. Hope you like them.

John
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The Little ‘G’ on the top of my cell phone screen means that the network I’m using supports GPRS or General Packet Radio Service. GPRS is the entry level standard for cellular data transmission. GPRS falls under the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) standard for mobile telephony. Commonly thought of as a second and a half generation (2.5G) cellular technology, GPRS allows for data transfers of speeds up to 114Kbps. The word “Lonestar” on the other side of my cell phone screen means I’m getting GPRS in Liberia.

Just last week Lonestar Cell announced their jump into GPRS. After Libercell, Lonestar is the 2nd carrier in Liberia to do this. The internet is about as slow as it is in the rest of the country, but it’s still good enough for email. Mobile phone apps like Google Maps and Microsoft Live Search work well enough but don’t really have any content for the greater Monrovia area.

Lonestar was the first cell phone operator in Liberia using the GSM standard. For a long time, they held a monopoly in the cellular market until Cellcom GSM came along. Today, they are the largest carrier with about 500,000 subscribers.  It will be interesting to see what this does to the already competitive GSM market in Liberia.

Lonestar has been advertising this service in the paper, but much to my dismay, with no technical details of how to get it to work. You have to go to a Lonestar store, and there they give you a little flier with a few specific details for Nokia and Motorola phones. The alternative is to wait in a huge long line for someone else to setup your phone for you. I had to do a little playing around to get it to work on my Samsung Blackjack that runs Windows Mobile 5, but after a 4 or 5 tries I got it. Here’s what I did:

settings->Connections->GPRS->GPRS->Add

Description: lccgprs

Connects to: The Internet

Access Point: internetlcc

Leave all the rest blank

Then settings-> Connections->GPRS->GPRS Authentication

GPRS Authentication: None

After that it worked just fine.

I’ve heard that Cellcom is set to deploy EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution), a 2.75G technology, on their network in the coming months. With a theoretical top speed of 473Kbps this will make Cellcom’s network a lot faster than Lonestar or Libercell. However, that will only work if the connection coming into Liberia is that fast when you split it amongst the whole country. At any rate, I’m excited about it. I’ll keep you posted.

John

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This past weekend David McCann became my most international friend. To date we have spent time together in 3 different countries on 3 different continents. So far we’ve both made it to Ghana, Chile, and of course The Sates. David has been working the past month for Busy Internet, in Accra, Ghana. Busy Internet is an internet service provider, and home to the largest internet café in all of West Africa. David is helping the company develop their latest venture, Trade Net. Trade Net is a mobile phone based system for buyers and sellers of natural goods to exchange prices and orders. I know David from Georgia Tech, where we both received our bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

On Friday I flew out to Accra. The flight was pretty nice and only 30 minutes late. Not half bad. I flew on Slok Airlines which recently resumed operations after some safety issues. I felt safe, and the flight was cheap. I arrived in Ghana and was pleasantly greeted by AC and running water. I needed David’s address for the immigration officer when I arrived, but I didn’t have it. I was afraid this was going to be a big ordeal, but the immigration office was very nice about it all. He called David for me to find out the address and let me on my way. It was all so nice, and orderly and professional… so developed.

I was picked up from the airport by David, Mark Davies, and Jim Forster. Mark Davies is the owner of Busy Internet. He started his internet career in the dot com days with a web based city guide and was bought out by CitySearch. Jim Forster worked for Cisco back when the company only had 30 employees. He now holds the title, “Distinguished Engineer” at Cisco. It was kinda cool hanging out with guys who have pretty much done what I’d like to do professionally. Now I just need to find a start-up to be a part of that’s going to be wildly successful.

After leaving the airport we went to Jamestown, the historic district of Accra. There we walked around the beach, hung out with some fishermen, and climbed to the top of the light house. It was really cool to see the fishermen and their boats. They still fish the same way they always have. At dusk they leave, fish all night, and come back in the morning. They use simple nets and boats whose hauls are made from a solid tree trunk. The light house offered some really nice views of the city and the boats coming in from the sea. It’s also fun climbing around stuff like this in countries where liability isn’t a huge concern.

Ghana is far more developed than Liberia. A country can do a lot when it hasn’t had a civil war in recent history. The roads were filled with cars, and not the white SUVs of international NGOs, but of civilians and taxis. The roads were even paved. They had traffic lights, stop signs, and it seemed that people were following some sort of traffic law on the streets. I was also caught off guard by the tourism in Ghana. Tourism in Liberia simply doesn’t exist. So it was a little strange for me to meet people who were just touring around. It was also weird, and nice, to be in a place where it’s safe enough to take a taxi at night, expats don’t have their own drivers, and a local will want to talk to you just to be friendly. All in all I really liked Ghana. The 24×7 electricity and running water was also really nice.

On Saturday David and I went down to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is where the British originally landed in Ghana and setup the slave trade. Consequently the town has a lot of British inspired architecture and is a very lovely place. At the center of the city is the old slave fort where slaves were kept before being shipped off to the old or new world. We started out by touring the top of the fort, where the British lived. This gave us some great views of the city, and with the sun out it was really nice to climb around and check stuff out. Then we went down to where the slaves were kept. This wasn’t as pleasant. The slave’s chambers were dark dungeons under the fort where up to a 1000 men and 400 women were kept at once. It was a very sobering feeling to know that I was standing where countless people had suffered so many unimaginable things. Usually I think I’m pretty good at imaging, and thinking of what something could be like, but standing there in the dark corner of a cell I just couldn’t picture knowing that I was going to spend the night there, eat there, and maybe die there.

Saturday night David and I walked around Cape Coast a bit. We hung out at a local bar, but it kinda sucked. I’m used to being around expats who work for NGOs , and to some degree, are there to help. It felt a little wrong to be around expats who were being jerk tourists. It reminded me of bars in Thailand when I was there. Young people just trying to get drunk and hook-up with each other. Not as exciting as talking about the national poverty reduction strategy and its economic ramifications with a friend who works in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Liberia.

We also saw an open air Easter Eve service that night. It was a Charismatic service so the pastor would get super quite and start to cry a little, then yell and scream into the mic. It was a little ridiculous. People would be dragged out of the crowd to a tarp in front of the stage where they would be placed so they could wiggle and writhe without getting in anyone’s way. I’m assuming the idea is that they were under the influence of the Holy Spirit who was at work in their lives at that moment in some powerful way, probably kicking out demons or something. Not how I would spend Easter.

Sunday morning David and I went to a national park do to a canopy walk in the jungle. The place had 6 rope suspension bridges between trees in the jungle that you could walk along. It was pretty cool, but short. After you walk through it once you’re kinda ready to move on. But it was really pretty.

After that we came back to Accra and pretty much just hung out. For me this was really nice. I appreciated the break from working and worrying about utilities and other basic issues. We even went to a shopping mall where I bought an ice cream sandwich. It was awesome. Then David and I kicked back and relaxed. I watched Star Trek I on DSTV and surfed the net.

Monday we went to a beach in Accra. David and I had a trash fight in the water. We threw plastic bags and other floating debris back and forth. No one told me that the water was unsafe, and floating plastic bags don’t worry me as much as floating feces, something we have to worry about in Monrovia. At any rate it was a lot of fun and I got to meet some of David’s friend from Ghana. For dinner we went to a tex-mex sports bar. This is my first tex-mex experience since 2007. It wasn’t the best tex-mex in the world, but good enough for me.

Tuesday I flew back, and that was that. Overall I really liked Ghana. I told Dr. Mike Best, my boss, about my time in Ghana. He said, “Yikes. When Accra seems to be a relatively well running city you know you must be living in…. well…. Liberia.”

John
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This week I noticed power poles going up in Monrovia. The Liberian Electric Company (LEC) is using huge generators to supply parts of Monrovia with electricity. As I understand it power runs for 21 hours a day. I’m also told that the price is out of reach for most people, and that they can’t handle heavy loads. Which means you can’t run a house full of AC units off of it. But I haven’t confirmed this. It’s a great sign of progress, and no doubt means a lot to the residents. Hopefully, the LEC will be able to expand their coverage and lower their prices as they leverage economies of scale.

In other electrical news: Robertsport in Grand Cape Mount County has solar powered street lights. I only saw it during the day, so I wasn’t able to see how well, if at all, they worked. At any rate, it looks cool and is a step in the right direction. Parts of Tubman Blvd also have conventionally powered street lights. This makes dodging put holes on my motorcycle a lot easier.

The Red Lion is a proper brutish pub. I’m not British so some may debate this, but with darts, beer on tap, and football on the widescreen, I don’t know what more you could want. Well… actually I want Strongbow on tap, but you can’t have it all. $4 USD gets you 0.5L of Heineken. The darts are free; you just have to wait your turn. For $7 USD you can get a toasted sandwich, though that’s about it for food choices.

The bathroom isn’t that great. But I’m OK with it. The Red Lion is a low key place to hang out with friends over beer. Again my standards for bar bathrooms are low due to my experiences at bars in other countries.

On the whole it’s a great bar, cozy and unassuming with darts and beer.

Red Lion
Broad St. and Buchanan
Monrovia, Liberal

This last week my boss, Dr. Michael Best arrived in Monrovia. He was in South Africa, and swung through for a week before heading to Kenya, Thailand, Korea, and finally back to the States. Dr. Best, who insisted that I call him Mike, holds a joint appointment in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. Mike has been working with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa for the last 10 years. That’s back before it was cool.

So upon Mikes arrival we were in non-stop meetings. We meet with one senator, two presidents of universities, one CEO, a couple chairman, several ministers, and some folks from civil society groups. It was kind of fun. It makes you feel important to meet all these people. At least it makes me feel important.

Some highlights from these meetings include the Sr. Senator from Grand Bassa county. I was really impressed with the Liberian Senate building. It’s very nice on the inside. It has a mural carved out of wood in its rotunda. Very nice. Also, the meeting we had with the CEO of Cellcom, Liberia’s 2nd largest cellular provider, included a tour of their computing room. Very impressive. Another moment where I felt I was back in America. We also went to the US embassy. Lots of security. My first bomb proof door in Liberia. Nice landscaping. The food wasn’t so hot though. I feel we could have done a little better.

We also undertook an epic 36 hour trip to visit the TRC commissioners in Zwedru. We rented a Mitsubishi Pajero along with a driver, and drove 10 hours from Monrovia to Zwedru. Stayed at a really nice guest house, met with the chairman in the morning, and then drove straight back in time for dinner. This was Mikes first time out of Monrovia. He said he liked the trip out to Zwedru, but could have done with out the trip back. The photo on the left is the might River Cess, and to the right is the road right before the rains came in. Then we went mudding for 80km.

In Zwedru we waited a while at night by the UNMIL compound and there were a couple of kids sitting by the street doing school work. I was told they sit there because UNMIL has a street light. So the kids options are sitting in front of the UNMIL compound, or no light at all. I was pretty impressed. You wouldn’t find American youth so diligently pouring over their books if the power goes out.

To the left is me with some kids at the TRC hearing. When I walked by they said, “Take our picture.” Usually people are quite offended that you take their picture. Usually because they want you to pay. Sometimes I’ll take a picture of a sign or building, and someone will happen to be in it. They’ll come up to me and be like, “you should ask me first”, or “You take my photo to America you give me something small.” But not these kids. They just wanted to make friends.

It was nice having someone to hang out with that new me back in the states. I liked talking about what’s going on back in Atlanta and at Georgia Tech. We also had some good talks about the exciting election drama that is taking place with out me in the States. I hope Mike enjoyed it as much as I did.

Also did a little surfing this week. My friend Michael from Right to Play just bought a board. So we did back-to-back 7am surfing this weekend. A few good waves were had, and we both got the snot kicked out of us a couple of times. Nothing like sitting at lunch an hour after surfing and having water randomly run out of your nose. Michael also bought a guitar. So now we can sit fire side after a long day of surfing and serenade the ladies. We just need to find ladies. In the mean time Michael’s driver, Edwin, serenaded us.

You know sitting on my board looking out to the sea reminded me so much of surfing back in Florida. It was great. I felt right back at home…till I turned around and saw the bombed out buildings and trash on the beach. I also found myself with a strong craving for fast food breakfast. Especially McDonalds. Like Pavlov’s dog, I had been so trained to expect McDonalds after early morning surfing, that all I could do when I closed my eyes was see processed scrambled eggs, pancakes from a powder, and a solid nugget of hash browns. Sadly Michael and I couldn’t find a McDonalds within 1000 miles. It also felt really good the night before to leave the bar early and tell people, “I’m surfing in the morning, I need to be in bed soon.” Can’t wait to do it again.
John
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Last weekend I got sick. I had diarrhea and threw up a little bit. I felt better after a couple days, but never 100%. Then, this past weekend I threw up again. I called a doctor friend from the Clinton Foundation, who recommended that I take the anti-biotic Ciprofloxacin. Now, I feel a lot better. I bought the Ciprofloxacin at the local pharmacy for 125LD ($2.07). It’s kind of nice not having to worry about prescriptions and co-pays.

I acquired a license plate for my motorcycle this week. I’m now completely legal when driving around. Some friends were admiring my shining new Liberian driver’s license (they just switched over to computer printed licenses) and noticed that my drivers license number is 000070. I have the 70th license in the country. We also noticed that I have a automobile license and not a motorcycle license. Oh well.

Sunday I went to the “white” church, Monrovia Christian Fellowship (MCF), though, it wasn’t as white as I thought it would be. It was like 7% white. It made me think of racially diverse churches in suburbia, that only have 3 black families attending. There was an impressive assortment of white SUVs parked up and down the street, though.

When I looked at the front of the church, it felt like I was back in America. It had a white screen for the projector, some crosses, sound deadening panels, and two speakers hanging from the ceiling. But there was no projector, just an overhead for transparencies. The walls on the side of the church were lined with windows that were opened to let in light and promote airflow. The walls also had a line of ornamental concrete blocks that have designs cut into them, again to let air flow through. I don’t think you see this too much in the States, but you see it over here all the time. Needless to say, there was no AC.

The praise band was good. They sang a few songs I knew, and a couple I didn’t. They had a transparency and I could understand almost all the worship leader said, which was awesome. It’s not much fun singing along when you don’t know what they’re saying. The volume was appropriate and the sound well mixed – also nice.

They had a white pastor, which was surprising because I expected a black pastor. He talked about another pastor so I assume there’s more than one pastor at that church. He spoke on suffering for God, from Hebrews 12. I liked it. I felt it appropriate after I had been throwing up the night before. He reminded me a bit of the pastor at the church I attended in Atlanta because he went off on a few lengthy tangents. He also references scripture a good deal, which is also a plus in my book. I feel it’s important to cite your sources, whether in school, church, or work.

My biggest complaint is that I didn’t meet anyone there. There was no, “turn and great your neighbor” time. I didn’t understand what the announcer said when it was time for visitors to stand up. I was also not paying attention when he said it. Instead, I was looking around at stuff. But hopefully I’ll meet someone next week.

I also visited the mercy ship Africa Mercy on Sunday. It’s docked in Monrovia’s port for the next 10 months. I thought it funny was that it’s docked across from the ship that the French navy hauled in after it was caught with two tons of cocaine aboard. For those of you who don’t keep up with the price of such things, that’s several hundred million dollars in cocaine, which is more than the countries budget. I’ve heard rumors that the cocaine wasn’t incinerated like it was supposed to be but instead has been sold by port officials and is now back on the market. Anyway…

The ship is way nice. It was kind of surreal walking around the halls because all the lights were working, LCD screens were telling me what’s going on, there were caution signs, AC, and anti-slip tape on the stairs. It was like I was right back in the first world, except that instead of 24 hours of plane flights, it was only a couple steps away. It was a little weird but nice. I had an lemonade that came with free refills.

Juan, the guy I met through my friend Missy who got me on the ship, was really nice. He showed me around and was a great host. He showed me all over the boat. It was quite impressive. They have the only Starbucks and CT scanner in west Africa. I can’t decide which is more shocking. I can’t imagine what it must be like for the people they help, what it’s like for people who have never been to the first world to come on a ship like this to be treated by highly trained doctors with cutting edge equipment. Juan told me the babies that are born on the ship get spoiled.

And that’s life in Monrovia.

John
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I just wanted to put a quick post up saying that I went to Nour Restaurant on Center Street, Monrovia, Liberia and had great service. Within 60 seconds of ordering my water, I had my water at the table. It was amazing. I’ve never seen such prompt service in all of Liberia. The food was pretty good, too. The hamburger was one of the best I’ve had in Liberia. Granted, that’s not saying much, but it was the best I’ve had since I’ve been here. I’ve heard the Crystal Ocean View is better, but I haven’t eaten there. At any rate, the service was great. My water, food, and check all came to me in reasonable stretches of time. I recommend it.

Also, check out my newly added pictures section; and I’ve added geo tagging to my blog. Click on the “show on map” link below to see where this post took place.

John

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