Internet from Aster City (finally)

Finally I've my Internet back. And what's interesting I had to say hello again to Aster City. It turned out that it's not so wrong. Spray customer service was much worse. They promised to install internet in 2 weeks and didn't even manage to call me in this period. After my call to the office they told me to wait even more! I got crazy and canceled my agreement with them then called Aster. They promised to re-enable internet and tv in 2 days for only 10 plz more than Spray, so I decided to do it. Finally Aster won this little battle. Spray owners can see what's important in this business. Not only price matters...

Trip to Olsztyn and Warmia

Last weekend I've attended company kick-off in Manor Hotel near Olsztyn. I've planned to leave for a weekend and bustle around trying to take some pictures. Unfortunately weather changed for the worse and I decided to get back home on Friday. But somehow I managed to take few pictures. Moreover my coleague decided to go with me and he also took some nice pics. Please find below some of my pictures. And one more comment is that I definitely do not recommend staying in Manor Hotel - it's below every standard...

1. Nice view in the Luknajno preserve

2. There's a lot of horses in the area

3. Another nice view in the swamp near Krutynia river

4. Marina in Mikolajki is really nice, especially in the sunset...

5. If you have luck, you can meet fox even during the day (Luknajno preserve)

Supai farewell (I hope it's temporary only)

It doesn't exist anymore! What the f**k is going on? It's another place that has been damaged recently (altogether with Wall Arch in Arches NP, New Orleans, Texas etc.) and even worse if we count what happened to WTC and Florida last years. World is changing for sure! So we should travel more to see it until it still exists, don't you think?
I decided to cite few sources about what happened to Supai:

"The Havasupai tribe is closing the village of Supai to visitors until damage from the August 17 flood is repaired, expected to take until next spring. There are reports of extensive destruction of the travertine deposits that make up the face of the waterfalls and form the pools at their base.

There was also extensive damage to bridges, campgrounds, and trails.

The Flagstaff Daily Sun posted a slideshow of the flood and its aftermath. [right, Havasu Canyon. Credit, Havasupai Reservation]"

"The trails leading to the village are not passable.

The bridges crossing Havasu Creek are washed out, and the waterfalls they lead to are unrecognizable.

“It’s devastating,” said Drusilla Clarke, speaking for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. “My grandparents lived down there. It’s going to be really hard for the people.” [...]

The beauty of that part of the Grand Canyon is an important part of the tribe’s identity, and tourists coming to visit it are an important part of its economy.

Billy Jack, with the Havasupai tourism office, said camping revenue alone generates $2 million for the tribe annually, and that, at best, it will be six months to a year before the area gets anywhere close to normal.

“I’m afraid it looks pretty grave,” Jack said. “The whole area’s unstable, especially toward the falls. “The tourist dollars are really critical.”

The BIA, Coconino County sheriff’s officials and tribal leaders were hesitant to guess when the village will become viable again as a tourist destination. Most of their knowledge of the damage comes from aerial tours and photographs."

It's seriously sad news. I'm shocked! I really feel compassion to Havasu Tribe. These nice people are temporary out of business and it's very sorry sight.
What I can do is to show you some waterfalls pics I've taken during my only two trips to Havasu (Autumn 2007 and Spring 2008). Here they're - hope it'll be possible to take better pictures in the future...

No Internet for 2 more weeks?

Currently I use Internet provided by Aster City. But they're very expensive and don't give you what you pay for. That's why I decided to change my provider to cheaper one: Spray. Of course I'm not sure if they're better, because it's hard to check before making an agreement with them, but at least they take half the money of Aster City, so I decided to take a risk and try. Unfortunately I have first bad experience with Spray - you've to wait maximum 30 days (actually they promised to do it in 14 days max.) from the moment of signing the agreement to installation of the connection! In Aster City you get it immediately (next day installation). What's worse it means that I can be without network for few days, because my agreement with Aster expires tomorrow and Spray has 25 days more to install their connections... wish me luck!

Visit to Alicante

As promised I visited Alicante last weekend. It's a very nice place on Costa Blanca shore with a lot of interesting real estate offers. My plan was to find some nice apartment, buy it, then rent it. Of course in the Internet everything is easy, prices are low, credits on good conditions and law is as simple as your native language. Everything changes when you want to finish the deal.
Finally (thanks to Magdalena & Team) we saw about 15 apartments, most of them were newly developed, but we also visited few second-hand. I have to say, that Costa Blanca got very expensive last years. In the Internet one can find many offers below 100k EUR, but they're completely unattractive when seen live. If you want to buy something nice, you have to pay at least 160k EUR (+tax and costs, that is another 20k EUR). And it's still about 900m away from the beach.
And we even found something nice and probably rentable, but it turned out that you can earn maximum 10k EUR/year minus costs of maintenance and cleaning. After thinking it over I decided to drop this idea and move my prospective business somewhere else - investments in Spain don't seem to be attractive anymore.
And please find few pictures below:

1. View from the bungalow for 130k EUR (net):


2. Swimming pool in a bungalow for 130k EUR (net):


3. Swimming pool in the crappy apartment for 160k EUR (net):