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*I put together a quick Photo Gallery*

I imagine I'll be posting a little more frequently these first few days, especially with a semi-working semi-close internet connection. It's a bit of an adjustment, lot to work through and post about.

First night went well. Thought it might be a little eerie, but it's not too bad. It's very, very dark- I don't see myself being out past daylight. And the jungle is loud and rustling with critters of all sorts.

But the river always churning in the background is calming. It's kind of like I left a few of those Nature Sounds CDs on at once.

The place isn't exactly hermetically sealed. There were a bunch of ants as the previous occupant left a little bag of sugar behind. A glowbug got in and made itself at home. Thankfully not too many mosquitoes have made their way inside, yet. I just try not think about what crawls on me while I'm sleeping :D

No grocery stores or restaurants up here, but I brought a five pound bag of rice with me from the city, and about 30 pounds of quarantine weight, so I'm not going to starve anytime soon.

Water is no problem. Cold showers only of course and it's probably not treated, but I brought a filter to cleanse it for drinking.

Dinner last night was simple. I made a little bowl of rice and mixed in some mayo and mustard packets I pocketed from the hotel. I pocketed the bread roll, too.

Was actually pretty tasty, as far as undercooked rice and condiments go. Yes, I can enjoy some of the finer (expensive) things, but I'm also down with roughing it. Not exactly the Ritz up here, but it's a few steps above camping.

In other news, I found out there's no Daylight Savings Time in this country, so the clocks didn't go back. I'm now one hour ahead of Florida, and four hours ahead of Cali. Guess there's some kind of metaphor to be made there, about me being out of sync with the lands I left, something something.

Anyway, I woke up naturally around 6 and started working on coming up with a new routine. One needs to have a routine up here to stay sane, plus it's part of the whole self-improvement shtick. Routine becomes habit becomes change.

Usually the first thing I would do is reach for my phone, check my email and texts, a bit of Facebook, and then I'd spend hours reading the news while I went about my morning.

It's only been a day but I'm glad to be done with that shit. Wasn't even tempted to track down the wifi signal and log on.

My new routine is still a work in progress, and I'll update again once I get it nailed down, but so far I've done some Yoga and stretching, bit of exercise, practiced the guitar, did some writing, and spent a good amount of time just watching the river and the trees, butterflies, and lizards.

Did a lot of reading, too. My fiction pick is an old fave to settle me in, 'The Princess Bride' (Yes, it was a book first). For non-Fiction, if philosophy can be called that, I'm studying 'The Meditations' by Marcus Aurelius.

I think I'm going to be reading a lot of philosophy up here- as if I wasn't unbearable enough :D

The project for today was figuring out the food situation, and budgeting for it. There's not an ATM or place within twenty miles of here that takes credit cards, and my cash is limited. Probably should have taken some more up here, but I'll make do. Most have to do with much less.

Spent most of the early morning walking around the area, scoping out what kind of markets and local eats were available so I wouldn't have to make the trek all the way down into town, but not everything in life can be easy.

Just houses and shacks up here. There seems to be some farms and plantations higher up the mountain but they go to town to sell.

Early tomorrow before it gets hot I'll make the trek down to secure provisions. In the meantime, for tonight I'll have rice again (and a pop-tart I brought from home as a treat)

For now though, it's about 2pm, and I think I'll take a nap.

Doesn't get much better than this. Life is good.

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