One of the biggest downsides to living in the BVI from an entertainment perspective is the lack of a US IP address. If you sign up for internet with either of the two major providers here, you will probably get either a BVI IP address or sometimes, a Dominica IP address. The problem with this, is that many multimedia sites, including Netflix, Hulu, and iheartradio, do not work outside the US -- and they know you're outside the US by your non-US IP address. Even some YouTube clips won't work outside the US.
Obviously, there are ways around this. You can download an IP proxy program that will convince Netflix and Hulu that you are using a US IP. Unfortunately, an IP proxy also slows down your internet speed.
Internet speed in the BVI is already remarkably slow compared to elsewhere in the world. At our place, where we were using a wireless air card through CCT, it could easily take me upwards of an hour to pre-load a 10-minute YouTube video. Now that we're using wirelessly broadcast Lime DSL at home, things have improved, and I can even use Skype to call my parents ... as long as I don't use video.
As a result, the IP proxy that gives you access to Netflix also has the side effect of changing an otherwise happy video-streaming experience to one of constant buffering.
The moral of the story is that if you're moving from the US to the BVI, and you're accustomed to using all these nifty online services for nightly entertainment, you might want to stock up on movies and CDs before you come.
Showing posts with label Futilities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Futilities. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Power Surges
I know that many menopausal women use the figurative term "power surges" to describe their sleep-disrupting hot flashes. Let me tell you though, literal power surges can disturb sleep just as much.
Over the last few months, we've noticed that the voltage in our apartment does not seem to hold steady. The lights will dim for a few moments, or the stand fan will suddenly quieten. In recent weeks, instances of power surges have gotten worse. So much worse, that the constant raising and lowering of voltage has successfully managed to fry our satellite box, despite the box being plugged in to a surge protector.
Additionally, our back-up generator has become quite confused. In the middle of the night, power will cut out, and the generator will automatically come on. Except then the power surges just a bit -- not enough to actually supply electricity to the house, but enough to make the generator believe that there is a sufficient power supply. So everything electric (fridge, fan, alarm clocks, stove, etc. etc.) turns off again until the voltage lowers and the generator comes on again and the cycle continues.
The word on the street is that BVI Electric recently replaced a key component in their plant, but they chose the cheapest, worst-made version of the component that they could, and this is resulting in the power surges. Supposedly, the power surges will continue to worsen until the component wears out or something blows up, so we can look forward to another few months of electric futility.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Cistern Scents
We have been in our new digs over four months now. Among many things that I love in our new location, my favorite aspect of the new apartment is that we no longer have to fight the futilities. We have a back-up generator to supply electricity during the frequent power outages, and since our house is not on the street water grid, we don't have to worry about lack of water. Our landlords do a great job of maintaining the cisterns and associated systems. The pump is in good working order, and so far we haven't had a broken pipe (touch wood).
But there is something about cistern water that differs from the municipal water you get at home -- namely, that it does not have the rigid health controls on it that municipal sources do. A cistern owner does not have to chlorinate or flourinate his cistern water; he does not have to run it through filter after filter to ensure particulate matter is down to 1 ppm.
The cisterns at our apartment do have a triple-filtration system that makes the water suitable for bathing and cooking with, but occasionally, we notice something a little ... off ... about our cistern water. It starts to smell a little funny. During these times, we avoid drinking our cistern water, as in all probability, the reason for the smell is that something -- an insect, a frog, a rat -- has crawled into the cistern and died there.
I always thought the smell reminded me of sauerkraut, but I think HB hit the nail on the head last night, when he exclaimed from the shower, "Why does our water smell of peanut butter and old socks?!"
But there is something about cistern water that differs from the municipal water you get at home -- namely, that it does not have the rigid health controls on it that municipal sources do. A cistern owner does not have to chlorinate or flourinate his cistern water; he does not have to run it through filter after filter to ensure particulate matter is down to 1 ppm.
The cisterns at our apartment do have a triple-filtration system that makes the water suitable for bathing and cooking with, but occasionally, we notice something a little ... off ... about our cistern water. It starts to smell a little funny. During these times, we avoid drinking our cistern water, as in all probability, the reason for the smell is that something -- an insect, a frog, a rat -- has crawled into the cistern and died there.
I always thought the smell reminded me of sauerkraut, but I think HB hit the nail on the head last night, when he exclaimed from the shower, "Why does our water smell of peanut butter and old socks?!"
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Island Radio
I spend a fair amount of time in the car each day -- about an hour's total driving, plus a few minutes each evening waiting for HB to get out of work. I have never been one to drive in silence, I've always been a big fan of music while driving
In the radio wasteland of southwest Florida, I got used to the idea that music for driving meant CDs or an ipod. My 2007 model Volkswagen accommodated both options quite well and, admittedly, I got a little spoiled. Now that I'm using a rather older Hyundai for my daily driver, neither CDs nor ipods are compatible with the sound system, and I have learned to live wth the radio stations available to me.
For an island of 20,000 people, Tortola lucks out when it comes to radio, as we are able to pick up some broadcasts from the far-more-populous St. Thomas and St. Croix. Nonetheless, after parsing out the religious radio stations, I've realized there are only five radio stations to pick between for my daily drive time. In case you too want some in-car entertainment, here they are:
FM:
104.9 The Mongoose -- classic rock broadcast from St. Croix. No reception on northwest coast, or eastern third of Tortola.
104.3 The Buzz -- alternative rock broadcast from St. Thomas. No reception in Road Town or points east.
106.9 ZCCR -- reggae/hip-hop mix broadcast from Tortola. The extensive blocks of local commercials often make me tune out.
101.3 ZVCR -- reggae/r&b mix leaning more towards the reggae broadcast from Tortola. Usually don't get reception on this outside of Road Town.
AM:
780 ZBVI -- news interspersed with top 40 and reggae broadcast from Tortola. I find myself listening to this more frequently, as it gets good reception all over Tortola, and keeps me up to date on island events.
In the radio wasteland of southwest Florida, I got used to the idea that music for driving meant CDs or an ipod. My 2007 model Volkswagen accommodated both options quite well and, admittedly, I got a little spoiled. Now that I'm using a rather older Hyundai for my daily driver, neither CDs nor ipods are compatible with the sound system, and I have learned to live wth the radio stations available to me.
For an island of 20,000 people, Tortola lucks out when it comes to radio, as we are able to pick up some broadcasts from the far-more-populous St. Thomas and St. Croix. Nonetheless, after parsing out the religious radio stations, I've realized there are only five radio stations to pick between for my daily drive time. In case you too want some in-car entertainment, here they are:
FM:
104.9 The Mongoose -- classic rock broadcast from St. Croix. No reception on northwest coast, or eastern third of Tortola.
104.3 The Buzz -- alternative rock broadcast from St. Thomas. No reception in Road Town or points east.
106.9 ZCCR -- reggae/hip-hop mix broadcast from Tortola. The extensive blocks of local commercials often make me tune out.
101.3 ZVCR -- reggae/r&b mix leaning more towards the reggae broadcast from Tortola. Usually don't get reception on this outside of Road Town.
AM:
780 ZBVI -- news interspersed with top 40 and reggae broadcast from Tortola. I find myself listening to this more frequently, as it gets good reception all over Tortola, and keeps me up to date on island events.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
New Apartment!
In case it hasn't been obvious from all my blathering over the last week or so, HB and I moved into a new apartment on the weekend, and I am super excited about it!
There are many things about the new place that make me happy.
First, it is cheaper, costing about 85% of what the previous apartment did.
Second, all our utilities except electricity are included in the monthly rent, which also helps lower our monthly costs.
Third, a big one for HB, one of the included utilities is satellite TV.
Fourth, it is smaller. Our old apartment was a two-bedroom, one bathroom in about 1500 square feet. Our new apartment is a one and a half bedroom (more on this later), one and a half bathroom in about 550 square feet.
Fifth, it has appliances we did not have before: dishwasher, washer/dryer, grill, and A/C.
Sixth, it is quieter. There are only two other couples in our building, we are off the main road, and I didn't hear any roosters this morning for the first time in a year.
Now, some photos.
View from our deck out towards Little Jost van Dyke
The beautiful deck nearly doubles our total living space. Looking forward to grilling up some burgers out here tonight.
Small but well-stocked galley kitchen. The landlady told me I could use her spare food processor when she found out I like to cook. It's going to take a little while to get used to the tiny fridge, though. I've never been able to see the top of the fridge before.
Living room. Cheek by jowl with the kitchen. Here is our half-bedroom -- a lofted bed platform and closet. We hope to get some curtains hung to make this more private for guests.
For the first time in our lives together, we do not have an immense master bedroom. The column is the biggest space issue, but the floor-to-ceiling windows make it feel bigger than it is.
There are many things about the new place that make me happy.
First, it is cheaper, costing about 85% of what the previous apartment did.
Second, all our utilities except electricity are included in the monthly rent, which also helps lower our monthly costs.
Third, a big one for HB, one of the included utilities is satellite TV.
Fourth, it is smaller. Our old apartment was a two-bedroom, one bathroom in about 1500 square feet. Our new apartment is a one and a half bedroom (more on this later), one and a half bathroom in about 550 square feet.
Fifth, it has appliances we did not have before: dishwasher, washer/dryer, grill, and A/C.
Sixth, it is quieter. There are only two other couples in our building, we are off the main road, and I didn't hear any roosters this morning for the first time in a year.
Now, some photos.
View from our deck out towards Little Jost van Dyke
The beautiful deck nearly doubles our total living space. Looking forward to grilling up some burgers out here tonight.
Small but well-stocked galley kitchen. The landlady told me I could use her spare food processor when she found out I like to cook. It's going to take a little while to get used to the tiny fridge, though. I've never been able to see the top of the fridge before.
Living room. Cheek by jowl with the kitchen. Here is our half-bedroom -- a lofted bed platform and closet. We hope to get some curtains hung to make this more private for guests.
For the first time in our lives together, we do not have an immense master bedroom. The column is the biggest space issue, but the floor-to-ceiling windows make it feel bigger than it is.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Moving Day
After one year and three days for me (and seven days longer for HB) we are moving. When I told my boss at work I was moving in August, she nearly had a heart attack, thinking I meant I was leaving island.
No, not moving away from the BVI; just to a new apartment.
Our move was prompted primarily by economic considerations, as the new place will be saving us hundreds of dollars per month, largely because so many utilities are included in the rent. I'm excited to have a dishwasher, and washer and dryer. The new place has A/C, too, so now maybe my mom will visit.
The thing I will miss most about our current place? That's easy:
Although the new place looks out over Jost van Dyke, as views in the BVI go, they don't get much better than the one we've got right now.
I'll miss this guy a little, too, creepy as he is.
Well, time to get going on the packing. Next time you hear from me, it will be from a new location.
No, not moving away from the BVI; just to a new apartment.
Our move was prompted primarily by economic considerations, as the new place will be saving us hundreds of dollars per month, largely because so many utilities are included in the rent. I'm excited to have a dishwasher, and washer and dryer. The new place has A/C, too, so now maybe my mom will visit.
The thing I will miss most about our current place? That's easy:
Although the new place looks out over Jost van Dyke, as views in the BVI go, they don't get much better than the one we've got right now.
I'll miss this guy a little, too, creepy as he is.
Well, time to get going on the packing. Next time you hear from me, it will be from a new location.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
The Futilities Fight Back
Three days to go until we move into our new apartment, and the futilities are taking one last stand at making our lives miserable. While the new place has an automatic back-up generator, and water delivery to refill the cisterns when they run dry, we are still battling the inconsistencies of the city water system until Sunday.
So this morning, we have very weak running water at both sinks, but no water to the toilet or shower. I took what is hopefully my last shower out of a gallon jug last night, and we're having fun filling the toilet tank by hand this morning.
I had almost thought we'd get away with moving with no other futilities battles. Alas, my hopes are dashed.
So this morning, we have very weak running water at both sinks, but no water to the toilet or shower. I took what is hopefully my last shower out of a gallon jug last night, and we're having fun filling the toilet tank by hand this morning.
I had almost thought we'd get away with moving with no other futilities battles. Alas, my hopes are dashed.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Trash Disposal
A stinky subject for today, it occurred to me that while I've written about most of the utilities on island, one thing I've never addressed is what happens to trash in the BVI.
Shortly after moving to Tortola last August, it became apparent to me that I needed to find out the trash truck schedule. Moving always seems to involve a lot of trash -- boxes and packing materials and all the things you realize you didn't need after all. After a week, we had accumulated enough trash that I set it outside, and vowed to be vigilant to find out when trash pick-up was. A week later, with stinking trash accumulating on our porch and no garbage truck in sight, I went to my best source for information of this sort, the neighbor girl.
I asked Michelle, "what day is trash day?". She stared at me blankly. I rephrased, "which day does the truck come to pick up the trash?" She took a beat, and then explained that the trash truck came on Sunday, but only to the dumpsters. It took me a minute to cotton on, but I finally realized that there was no residential trash pick-up in the BVI. To dispose of all the trash sitting on the porch, I would have to load it into my car and drive it to the closest dumpster. I'm glad I talked to Michelle -- the idea of having to carry my own trash would never have occurred to me otherwise, having never lived anywhere before that didn't offer curbside pick-up.
I'm accustomed to this aspect of BVIsland life now. What I'm still having trouble getting used to is that there is no recycling offered on the island. Tortola is small, only about 22 square miles. There is no space for a landfill, and as a result, all the trash gets incinerated. While the incineration does prevent the island from being overtaken with trash, it also affects the air quality in this otherwise fairly-pristine part of the world. I can't help but think that recycling would help reduce the amount of trash going to the incinerator, and therefore improve the quality of air on island.
Shortly after moving to Tortola last August, it became apparent to me that I needed to find out the trash truck schedule. Moving always seems to involve a lot of trash -- boxes and packing materials and all the things you realize you didn't need after all. After a week, we had accumulated enough trash that I set it outside, and vowed to be vigilant to find out when trash pick-up was. A week later, with stinking trash accumulating on our porch and no garbage truck in sight, I went to my best source for information of this sort, the neighbor girl.
I asked Michelle, "what day is trash day?". She stared at me blankly. I rephrased, "which day does the truck come to pick up the trash?" She took a beat, and then explained that the trash truck came on Sunday, but only to the dumpsters. It took me a minute to cotton on, but I finally realized that there was no residential trash pick-up in the BVI. To dispose of all the trash sitting on the porch, I would have to load it into my car and drive it to the closest dumpster. I'm glad I talked to Michelle -- the idea of having to carry my own trash would never have occurred to me otherwise, having never lived anywhere before that didn't offer curbside pick-up.
I'm accustomed to this aspect of BVIsland life now. What I'm still having trouble getting used to is that there is no recycling offered on the island. Tortola is small, only about 22 square miles. There is no space for a landfill, and as a result, all the trash gets incinerated. While the incineration does prevent the island from being overtaken with trash, it also affects the air quality in this otherwise fairly-pristine part of the world. I can't help but think that recycling would help reduce the amount of trash going to the incinerator, and therefore improve the quality of air on island.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Climate Control
For those moving to the BVI or the States, one of the difficult aspects to get used to is the lack of electronic climate control systems. The tropical latitude provides all the climate control the majority of residents need, and as a result, it is fairly uncommon to find HVAC systems anywhere on the island. With temperatures rarely dropping below 65F, even in the mountains, the heat component of the HVAC is simply not needed.
The same is not true for separate AC units, which are certainly more prevalent. High temperatures average close to 90F from mid-May to late October, and AC is definitely desirable during these warm summer months. Still, although most businesses have AC units to keep you cool during your workday, they are not as common in residences on the islands. Our apartment does not have any sort of electronic climate control, and a quick survey of apartments listed for rent indicates that only about 30% of available apartments have AC systems. Usually, if a residence does have AC, it is a small unit in the bedroom(s) only.
The up-side to not having AC at home is the smaller electric bill. Electricity is fairly expensive in the BVI. HB and I pay as much for electricity now as we did in Florida, where we were running central AC almost all the time. Having a bedroom AC unit can add about $100 per month to your electric bill. So although on still summer nights I miss the quiet, gentle cooling offered by the AC, the cost savings helps me rest easy, and our ceiling fan and oscillating floor fan help keep our bedroom cool enough to sleep
The same is not true for separate AC units, which are certainly more prevalent. High temperatures average close to 90F from mid-May to late October, and AC is definitely desirable during these warm summer months. Still, although most businesses have AC units to keep you cool during your workday, they are not as common in residences on the islands. Our apartment does not have any sort of electronic climate control, and a quick survey of apartments listed for rent indicates that only about 30% of available apartments have AC systems. Usually, if a residence does have AC, it is a small unit in the bedroom(s) only.
The up-side to not having AC at home is the smaller electric bill. Electricity is fairly expensive in the BVI. HB and I pay as much for electricity now as we did in Florida, where we were running central AC almost all the time. Having a bedroom AC unit can add about $100 per month to your electric bill. So although on still summer nights I miss the quiet, gentle cooling offered by the AC, the cost savings helps me rest easy, and our ceiling fan and oscillating floor fan help keep our bedroom cool enough to sleep
Monday, May 2, 2011
System Crash
I didn't realize until yesterday evening that I completely forgot to post. I was absorbed all day yesterday dealing with the aftermath of our reservation system crashing on Saturday.
Those who grew up in an era when power outages were more common probably know this, but one of the side effects of regular power outages is the potential destruction of electronics from the surge that accompanies the outage. My electronic alarm clock, for example, which kept perfect time for 10 years, has become undone by the frequent outages. It now gains as much as five minutes in a day, unable to keep good time as the mechanism has been fried by power surges.
Most companies, therefore, have all their more delicate electronics plugged into surge protectors; many of them have their computers plugged into a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) which also offers surge protection. Such is the case with the computers at my work. Unfortunately, the UPS we had the server for our reservation system plugged into had a completely drained battery, and so was no longer offering a power supply OR surge protection when we had a power outage on Saturday afternoon.
So if you plan on having a business or rely on any sort of computer system in the BVI, it is highly recommended that you not only use a UPS, but that you give it regular maintenance, and replace the battery when the UPS informs you that the battery is low. In this way, you can hopefully avoid systems crashes resulting from power outages.
Those who grew up in an era when power outages were more common probably know this, but one of the side effects of regular power outages is the potential destruction of electronics from the surge that accompanies the outage. My electronic alarm clock, for example, which kept perfect time for 10 years, has become undone by the frequent outages. It now gains as much as five minutes in a day, unable to keep good time as the mechanism has been fried by power surges.
Most companies, therefore, have all their more delicate electronics plugged into surge protectors; many of them have their computers plugged into a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) which also offers surge protection. Such is the case with the computers at my work. Unfortunately, the UPS we had the server for our reservation system plugged into had a completely drained battery, and so was no longer offering a power supply OR surge protection when we had a power outage on Saturday afternoon.
So if you plan on having a business or rely on any sort of computer system in the BVI, it is highly recommended that you not only use a UPS, but that you give it regular maintenance, and replace the battery when the UPS informs you that the battery is low. In this way, you can hopefully avoid systems crashes resulting from power outages.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Internal Combustion
I am a little scattered the morning, the result of having to get up at 6:00 - an hour earlier than usual - to get a ride to work. Ordinarily, our Sunday morning routine involves HB driving me to work, but after our car caught on fire last night, I had to find another route to work.
Yes, our old Hyundai sedan apparently decided to thrown a little hissy fit, and after sitting, parked, not running for four hours, started gently flaming around 9:45 last night. Our downstairs neighbors noticed the fire, and hollered for us, so HB was able to extinguish the flare-up within a few minutes using the gallons of water we keep stored in the house. His diagnosis: an electrical short in the ABS computer solenoid caused the wiper fluid tank to overheat and catch on fire.
The firemen who arrived around 10:00 in response to our neighbor's phone call said that this is the second similar incident they've had in as many days, but that in the other case, the entire car was consumed in the fire. We're lucky that the fire was noticed so quickly, as only the ABS computer and wiper fluid tank were really damaged. Nonetheless, we have to wait until tomorrow to have the car towed to town for repair, so in the meantime, I'm bumming rides from co-workers.
Yes, our old Hyundai sedan apparently decided to thrown a little hissy fit, and after sitting, parked, not running for four hours, started gently flaming around 9:45 last night. Our downstairs neighbors noticed the fire, and hollered for us, so HB was able to extinguish the flare-up within a few minutes using the gallons of water we keep stored in the house. His diagnosis: an electrical short in the ABS computer solenoid caused the wiper fluid tank to overheat and catch on fire.
The firemen who arrived around 10:00 in response to our neighbor's phone call said that this is the second similar incident they've had in as many days, but that in the other case, the entire car was consumed in the fire. We're lucky that the fire was noticed so quickly, as only the ABS computer and wiper fluid tank were really damaged. Nonetheless, we have to wait until tomorrow to have the car towed to town for repair, so in the meantime, I'm bumming rides from co-workers.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Earth Hour
Last night, at precisely 9:00, we had a power outage. I was actually in the bathroom at the time, and initially thought that the bathroom bulb had just given up the ghost, but when I emerged, it was to find the entire house in complete darkness.
I initially attributed the lack of energy to a standard power outage -- perhaps a transformer had blown, or a line had fallen. Power outages aren't exactly uncommon in the BVI, but when HB and I went out on the porch to ascertain the extent of this particular outage, we realized that the entire island was without power. Seeing the blackness spreading out in all directions, we also recognized that neither of us had heard a transformer pop, or any of the other sounds generally associated with a power outage. It had, in fact, happened in complete silence.
That's when I remembered that Earth Hour was being celebrated throughout the world on March 26th. In an effort to raise awareness regarding climate change, the organizers of Earth Hour request that everyone turn off all non-essential electrics at 8:30pm local time for one hour. This year, organizers were also asking that people extend Earth Hour for longer than one hour, in order to pay homage to the recent earthquake in Japan.
Our lights came back on at 10:30pm. Exactly ninety minutes after the whole island had been bathed in darkness, we all were returned to the electrical age. There was no announcement that the BVI would be participating in Earth Hour as a whole - no articles in the paper or anything like. And perhaps I am giving BVI Electric too much credit; after all, our outage didn't happen until 9:00, and Earth Hour was supposed to start at 8:30. But I like to think this was the territory's way of participating in this global event.
I initially attributed the lack of energy to a standard power outage -- perhaps a transformer had blown, or a line had fallen. Power outages aren't exactly uncommon in the BVI, but when HB and I went out on the porch to ascertain the extent of this particular outage, we realized that the entire island was without power. Seeing the blackness spreading out in all directions, we also recognized that neither of us had heard a transformer pop, or any of the other sounds generally associated with a power outage. It had, in fact, happened in complete silence.
That's when I remembered that Earth Hour was being celebrated throughout the world on March 26th. In an effort to raise awareness regarding climate change, the organizers of Earth Hour request that everyone turn off all non-essential electrics at 8:30pm local time for one hour. This year, organizers were also asking that people extend Earth Hour for longer than one hour, in order to pay homage to the recent earthquake in Japan.
Our lights came back on at 10:30pm. Exactly ninety minutes after the whole island had been bathed in darkness, we all were returned to the electrical age. There was no announcement that the BVI would be participating in Earth Hour as a whole - no articles in the paper or anything like. And perhaps I am giving BVI Electric too much credit; after all, our outage didn't happen until 9:00, and Earth Hour was supposed to start at 8:30. But I like to think this was the territory's way of participating in this global event.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Shipping cont.
A commenter asked: Why not get a PO Box in St. John?
We tried to get a PO box in St. Thomas and were told at the post office that we had to have a St. Thomas address to get a St. Thomas PO Box. This is definitely untrue, as we know others with USVI PO boxes. There are also Tortola-based services that will open a USVI PO box for you.
We may give it another try in St. John, but there's still a question of cost. Ferry ticket is $45 round trip, plus $5 departure tax for leaving the BVI, and we would have to pay duty unless we got a generous customs agent at the West End ferry terminal on our return. Still, many companies don't ship to the USVI either, although it would definitely open up our options.
We tried to get a PO box in St. Thomas and were told at the post office that we had to have a St. Thomas address to get a St. Thomas PO Box. This is definitely untrue, as we know others with USVI PO boxes. There are also Tortola-based services that will open a USVI PO box for you.
We may give it another try in St. John, but there's still a question of cost. Ferry ticket is $45 round trip, plus $5 departure tax for leaving the BVI, and we would have to pay duty unless we got a generous customs agent at the West End ferry terminal on our return. Still, many companies don't ship to the USVI either, although it would definitely open up our options.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Shipping
We've recently been experimenting with new ways of getting things to Tortola. My mom has been kind enough to forward our mail every three weeks or so to the BVI PO Box for HB's work, but the time lag combined with the cost has made this impractical. We also want to be able to order things online, like clothing, and have them actually make it to the BVI. The BVI post is not reliable enough for this, and many companies won't ship to the BVI anyway.
So we recently opened an account with Tortola Express. For an annual subscription fee of $75, Tortola Express, working with Aeropost, provides you with a shipping address and P.O. Box in Miami, where you can have packages and mail sent. They then fly everything to the BVI twice a week, and send you an e-mail or text message to let you know when your items have arrived. Additional shipping charges apply based only on the weight of the items, rather than on quantity or size.
We tested the whole system by ordering some sheets from Target, figuring we could probably get them cheaper that way, than paying the $80 minimum a queen-sized sheet set commands at a department store on island. We were wrong. After paying for shipping the sheets from Target to Miami, then from Miami to Tortola, plus the 20% duty imposed on import of household items (and the BVI also charges duty on shipping costs), we probably would have been better off buying sheets here.
Shipping costs for mail are less than for packaged goods, and the convenience of receiving our mail on a more regular basis makes it a worthwhile expense. But all the extra hassle and cost of using Tortola Express for online ordering means we'll be buying things here when possible, and only using Tortola Express for things we absolutely can't get here and have to have - like K-cups for our Keurig coffeemaker
So we recently opened an account with Tortola Express. For an annual subscription fee of $75, Tortola Express, working with Aeropost, provides you with a shipping address and P.O. Box in Miami, where you can have packages and mail sent. They then fly everything to the BVI twice a week, and send you an e-mail or text message to let you know when your items have arrived. Additional shipping charges apply based only on the weight of the items, rather than on quantity or size.
We tested the whole system by ordering some sheets from Target, figuring we could probably get them cheaper that way, than paying the $80 minimum a queen-sized sheet set commands at a department store on island. We were wrong. After paying for shipping the sheets from Target to Miami, then from Miami to Tortola, plus the 20% duty imposed on import of household items (and the BVI also charges duty on shipping costs), we probably would have been better off buying sheets here.
Shipping costs for mail are less than for packaged goods, and the convenience of receiving our mail on a more regular basis makes it a worthwhile expense. But all the extra hassle and cost of using Tortola Express for online ordering means we'll be buying things here when possible, and only using Tortola Express for things we absolutely can't get here and have to have - like K-cups for our Keurig coffeemaker
Friday, January 7, 2011
Epiphany
Not commonly celebrated in the United States, January 6th marks the holiday of Epiphany, often referred to as Day of the Magi or Three Kings' Day throughout the rest of the world. January 6th is the 12th day of Christmas (Boxing Day, or the 26th of December, being the 1st day of Christmas), and marks the day that the Three Magi/Kings/Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem to present their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.
Just like in the US, Epiphany is not celebrated in the BVIs either. Here, it was just a standard work day. No parades or special religious services, just another January day.
But HB and I had a little celebration of our own. You see, a gift finally arrived that had been a long time coming. It may be as valuable to some as gold, frankincense, or myrrh, but to me, it is indeed a prize. Mailed on September 1, the blanket that my mother sent finally arrived yesterday.
More properly, it arrived in the BVI on the 26th of September, to the East End Post Office. Since I'd already checked the East End Post Office for it twice before that date, I had no idea it was sitting there. But yesterday, someone from the Post Office called my work to let me know I had a package that had "been [there] for quite a long time", and when I went to collect it, it proved to be the blanket both my mother and I had long ago given up as missing.
I hope you all had such a fruitful Epiphany.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Cooking in the Dark
I know I promised there would be more, exciting information about how to import pets to the BVI today, but I am afraid I am going to have to postpone that until later in the week, as I want to share with you the difficulties we've been having lately with our utilties.
I've been avoiding writing about the inconsistent nature of our running water since it began a few days before Christmas. Having written so much here already about the questionable quality of our utilities, I didn't want to make it seem like the entirety of our existence on Tortola concerned battles with intermittent electricity and water.
You see, city water has been shut off about every other day since the 21st of December. Ordinarily, we could rely on the cisterns in our building to fill in the gaps of city water service, but our main (largest) cistern has a clogged pipe right now. We have three cisterns, but the two functioning cisterns have seemingly run dry trying to keep up with the demand. As a result, we've been making do with only having water occasionally.
We've had to take a few showers using one-gallon jugs of water that we'd stored for just such an event. Those have been ... refreshing(ly cold). When we hear the toilet tank start to fill at 4:30 in the morning, we both get up to take showers, in case the water cuts out again before the alarm goes off. Essentially, we've been doing our best to simply accept the situation and move on.
Last night, though, we returned from a swim at the beach to find the water still off, and as HB took a jug-shower, I started cooking dinner. I grabbed a gallon of water and filled a pot to boil my pasta, started sauteeing some vegetables, and the power went out. Now, thankfully, I did not need the oven for anything, as it cannot be lit without the electric starter. Also, thankfully, the stove burners can be lit quite easily with matches. So as I stood there in the dark, trying to cook dinner and maintain a semblance of normalcy despite the lack of electricity and water, I decided it was time to write about utilities again.
We lit some candles, and used our battery-operated lamps, and the electricity came back on about 20 minutes later. Dinner was delicious, and we had water again when I left the house this morning. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the water will still be on when I get home tonight; otherwise, it's more jug-showers for HB and me.
I've been avoiding writing about the inconsistent nature of our running water since it began a few days before Christmas. Having written so much here already about the questionable quality of our utilities, I didn't want to make it seem like the entirety of our existence on Tortola concerned battles with intermittent electricity and water.
You see, city water has been shut off about every other day since the 21st of December. Ordinarily, we could rely on the cisterns in our building to fill in the gaps of city water service, but our main (largest) cistern has a clogged pipe right now. We have three cisterns, but the two functioning cisterns have seemingly run dry trying to keep up with the demand. As a result, we've been making do with only having water occasionally.
We've had to take a few showers using one-gallon jugs of water that we'd stored for just such an event. Those have been ... refreshing(ly cold). When we hear the toilet tank start to fill at 4:30 in the morning, we both get up to take showers, in case the water cuts out again before the alarm goes off. Essentially, we've been doing our best to simply accept the situation and move on.
Last night, though, we returned from a swim at the beach to find the water still off, and as HB took a jug-shower, I started cooking dinner. I grabbed a gallon of water and filled a pot to boil my pasta, started sauteeing some vegetables, and the power went out. Now, thankfully, I did not need the oven for anything, as it cannot be lit without the electric starter. Also, thankfully, the stove burners can be lit quite easily with matches. So as I stood there in the dark, trying to cook dinner and maintain a semblance of normalcy despite the lack of electricity and water, I decided it was time to write about utilities again.
We lit some candles, and used our battery-operated lamps, and the electricity came back on about 20 minutes later. Dinner was delicious, and we had water again when I left the house this morning. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the water will still be on when I get home tonight; otherwise, it's more jug-showers for HB and me.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Paying Bills
As yesterday's post may have hinted, the process of paying bills in the BVI is rather different from in the US. The lack of a well-organized postal system is probably the chief factor that makes receiving and paying bills a bit more complicated. Some companies are happy to send a bill to a postbox, but since the post is somewhat new (postal codes were introduced in 2006), many companies don't even send a bill.
Not receiving a bill means not knowing account numbers or balances, so in turn, mailing a check to pay a bill is often out of the question. If I were to mail a check to BVI Cable, for instance, without an account number written on it or a stub to accompany it, I'm sure they would happily deposit the check and never credit the account. Mailing a check also means a trip to the post office, as there is no easy "dropping it in a mailbox" or "letting the mailman pick it up" here; neither mailboxes or mailmen exist here.
Not receiving a bill means not knowing account numbers or balances, so in turn, mailing a check to pay a bill is often out of the question. If I were to mail a check to BVI Cable, for instance, without an account number written on it or a stub to accompany it, I'm sure they would happily deposit the check and never credit the account. Mailing a check also means a trip to the post office, as there is no easy "dropping it in a mailbox" or "letting the mailman pick it up" here; neither mailboxes or mailmen exist here.
But what of online bill pay, I hear many of you asking. HB and I paid nearly all our bills online in Florida, after all. Hah! The internet is an even newer advent in the BVI than the postal system. Admittedly, many banks here are now offering online banking (a recent addition), but few of them offer an online bill pay service. Even more rare are companies that have the capacity to pay bills through their corporate website.
All of this means that most folks are left with one option: to go to each company's headquarters and pay the monthly bills in person, no small feat considering many utility companies and banks are open only from 9:00 am to 3:30pm, Monday through Friday. Take a moment, those of you who work a 40-hour week, and imagine trying to pay all your bills given those parameters. Thankfully, I'll be permanently switching to Thursday and Friday off, which will make it infinitely easier to pay our bills than it has been over the last few weeks, when both HB and I only had Sundays off.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Power Play
Last night, after a long day of working and grocery shopping, HB and I came home to discover that the electric company had shut off our power due to non-payment. Lest you think that HB and I are deadbeats who don’t pay our bills, let me explain that the electric bill goes to our landlady, who then passes it along to us.
The only electric bill we’ve ever seen was handed to HB by our landlady’s son in early November. It was for August and September, and HB paid it in full, plus gave the son some extra for October’s bill. Apparently, the landlady’s son has been too busy to either give us October’s bill, or pay it, and so BVI Electric shut off our power yesterday.
When I called the electric company’s main line to see if I could rectify the situation, I was told that the office was closed and nothing could be done until the morning. Five minutes after I hung up, though, a BVI Electric truck pulled into our parking lot. Thankfully, someone at BVI Electric was very generous and dispatched one of the on-call technicians to turn our electricity on for the night
Ultimately, what could’ve been a long evening of not being able to put away refrigerated groceries and sitting around in a dark, hot house was salvaged. I went in and paid our electric bill this morning, and after a forceful talk with the landlady’s son it was determined that HB and I would take full responsibility for the electric bill going forward, so hopefully this situation will not happen again.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The Bathroom
For the past 6 days our toilet has been broken. It works if you take the lid off of the tank, and fill it with gallon water jugs. The water works at every other location in the house, just not the toilet. I've tried to fix it, but it seems like the water is turned off, even though that is most definitely not the case.
So after a day or so of filling the tank with water from the kitchen sink, I went downstairs to tell the landlord. Of course I've never seen her, but I do know her housekeeper(who speaks no English). I did my best to describe my problem and asked that the landlord get it fixed. Now, after four more days I am still without a functioning toilet, and I haven't seen hide nor hair of the landlord, or the housekeeper since.
Meanwhile the bathroom and kitchen are filled with empty gallon jugs. The moral of this slightly disturbing story is: You can never, ever, expect things to happen in a reasonable amount of time when you live in the Islands. Never. Everything takes at least twice as long as it would in the states, and if you get mad about it, then you should probably live somewhere else. Well that's enough for now. I may need to use the bathroom tomorrow, so I'm going to get ready now.
So after a day or so of filling the tank with water from the kitchen sink, I went downstairs to tell the landlord. Of course I've never seen her, but I do know her housekeeper(who speaks no English). I did my best to describe my problem and asked that the landlord get it fixed. Now, after four more days I am still without a functioning toilet, and I haven't seen hide nor hair of the landlord, or the housekeeper since.
Meanwhile the bathroom and kitchen are filled with empty gallon jugs. The moral of this slightly disturbing story is: You can never, ever, expect things to happen in a reasonable amount of time when you live in the Islands. Never. Everything takes at least twice as long as it would in the states, and if you get mad about it, then you should probably live somewhere else. Well that's enough for now. I may need to use the bathroom tomorrow, so I'm going to get ready now.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Futilities, Part 3
Although the lack of water and occasional outages of electricity were difficult to get used to, they've become fairly easy to cope with in our daily routine. The water pressure has definitely improved since I opened our cistern valve all the way, and there simply isn't anything that can be done about the power outages, except enduring them.
As a result, our current most-frustrating utility problem is the cable. The first step in getting cable is to go to the cable office, make your deposit and first month's payment, pick up your cable box, and schedule your installation appointment. We were admittedly a little delayed in doing this, as we had a lot of errands to run when we first arrived in Tortola. HB finally made it to BVI Cable to pick up our box on the 23rd of August.
When he asked to schedule an installation appointment, BVI Cable informed him that the soonest they could get to it was the 31st of August. Pressed for an earlier appointment, BVI Cable insisted that all of their cable technicians were at a training conference in Puerto Rico and would not be back until the 30th of August. Hence, the earliest available appointment was the 31st of August.
In the meantime, we went ahead and hooked the cable box up to the TV, and were gratified to get reception on several channels, including PBS, National Geographic, the Weather Channel, the TV Guide Channel, and a handful of local access and religious networks. We figured that would be plenty to make do until the 31st of August.
On August 30th, Hurricane Earl passed over the British Virgin Islands, tearing leaves off trees and downing many power and cable lines. We knew our August 31st appointment would have to be moved. On September 1, I called BVI Cable to reschedule our installation appointment, and was told that they were handling too many downed lines to reschedule at that time, but that they would call me by the end of the week to reschedule.
On September 8, with electricity completely restored to the island, I made a second call to BVI Cable, where they again told me that all their technicians were busy fixing the damage from the storm, and that they would call me to reschedule my installation appointment when they had available technicians.
On September 15, I made my third call, and was given the same story.
Sometime in late September, HB's co-workers informed him that all of their respective cable channels were fully restored, an event which we noticed because our previous line-up of channels expanded for a brief period to include TBS, TCM, ESPN2, and the WB. I made my fourth call to BVI Cable around the 28th of September, ever hopeful that I could schedule an installation appointment. Not surprisingly, they told me again that they were still fixing damage from Earl.
In early October, we lost the additional channels and returned to PBS, Weather, TV Guide, and Nat Geo, but now, Nat Geo was unreliable at best, often skipping and freezing during a show. Then, on October 6th, 7th and 8th, the tropical wave that would become Hurricane Otto dumped over 15 inches of rain on the BVI in three days, and the landslides and fallen trees downed many more cable lines.
Since I left the BVI on October 10th, HB has informed me that he is down to just PBS. He no longer has any other stations, not even the local access or religious networks. Additionally, with the repairs necessitated by Otto, BVI Cable was estimating that it would be another three to four weeks before they could schedule installation.
It has been over two months since HB picked up the cable box, and nearly two months since our original scheduled installation. While we understand that natural disasters happen, and that they may interfere with our plans to get cable TV, the complete inefficiency and ineffectiveness of BVI Cable in responding to the disaster leaves me speechless, especially considering the rapidity with which the BVI Electric Company restored complete power to the islands.
Perhaps it's time to look into getting satellite.
As a result, our current most-frustrating utility problem is the cable. The first step in getting cable is to go to the cable office, make your deposit and first month's payment, pick up your cable box, and schedule your installation appointment. We were admittedly a little delayed in doing this, as we had a lot of errands to run when we first arrived in Tortola. HB finally made it to BVI Cable to pick up our box on the 23rd of August.
When he asked to schedule an installation appointment, BVI Cable informed him that the soonest they could get to it was the 31st of August. Pressed for an earlier appointment, BVI Cable insisted that all of their cable technicians were at a training conference in Puerto Rico and would not be back until the 30th of August. Hence, the earliest available appointment was the 31st of August.
In the meantime, we went ahead and hooked the cable box up to the TV, and were gratified to get reception on several channels, including PBS, National Geographic, the Weather Channel, the TV Guide Channel, and a handful of local access and religious networks. We figured that would be plenty to make do until the 31st of August.
On August 30th, Hurricane Earl passed over the British Virgin Islands, tearing leaves off trees and downing many power and cable lines. We knew our August 31st appointment would have to be moved. On September 1, I called BVI Cable to reschedule our installation appointment, and was told that they were handling too many downed lines to reschedule at that time, but that they would call me by the end of the week to reschedule.
On September 8, with electricity completely restored to the island, I made a second call to BVI Cable, where they again told me that all their technicians were busy fixing the damage from the storm, and that they would call me to reschedule my installation appointment when they had available technicians.
On September 15, I made my third call, and was given the same story.
Sometime in late September, HB's co-workers informed him that all of their respective cable channels were fully restored, an event which we noticed because our previous line-up of channels expanded for a brief period to include TBS, TCM, ESPN2, and the WB. I made my fourth call to BVI Cable around the 28th of September, ever hopeful that I could schedule an installation appointment. Not surprisingly, they told me again that they were still fixing damage from Earl.
In early October, we lost the additional channels and returned to PBS, Weather, TV Guide, and Nat Geo, but now, Nat Geo was unreliable at best, often skipping and freezing during a show. Then, on October 6th, 7th and 8th, the tropical wave that would become Hurricane Otto dumped over 15 inches of rain on the BVI in three days, and the landslides and fallen trees downed many more cable lines.
Since I left the BVI on October 10th, HB has informed me that he is down to just PBS. He no longer has any other stations, not even the local access or religious networks. Additionally, with the repairs necessitated by Otto, BVI Cable was estimating that it would be another three to four weeks before they could schedule installation.
It has been over two months since HB picked up the cable box, and nearly two months since our original scheduled installation. While we understand that natural disasters happen, and that they may interfere with our plans to get cable TV, the complete inefficiency and ineffectiveness of BVI Cable in responding to the disaster leaves me speechless, especially considering the rapidity with which the BVI Electric Company restored complete power to the islands.
Perhaps it's time to look into getting satellite.
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