How to set up your Tigo USB modem’s SIM card to work with your Android phone

Posted on February 17th, 2012 webmaster No comments          Print

The hostel I’m staying at now has good Wi-Fi so I haven’t used my Tigo USB modem for a couple of days now.  Since I still have about a week of free Internet left, I decided to take the SIM card and use it on my Dell Streak Android phone instead.

My Dell Streak took the SIM card and showed “TIGO” as the network provider.  When I opened the web browser I got a prompt if I wanted to auto-configure the data network.  I chose “yes” but then I got a text message from +211005:

The terminal cannot be configured remotely, please visit the self care web site on ?URL for further assistance

For some reason instead of giving me the actual URL, it just gave me a question mark.  I remember seeing the APN on the Tigo desktop software so I decided to just configure it manually.

On the Dell Streak, go to Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Access Point Names.  Then simply add a new APN.  I set the Name to TIGO and the APN to broadband.tigo.gt.

As soon as  I saved my setting the data connection started working!

My phone also has an option to have it configured as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot so I gave that a try as well.  Pretty straightforward, just set up the SSID and password.  It worked quite well and seems to be just as fast as when I was using the USB dongle.  If I had thought about this before I probably would’ve just purchased a SIM card and use my phone to share the connection with my netbook.

Unlike AT&T and Verizon, you don’t have to pay extra to allow tethering with Tigo.  You can also purchase credit anytime when you need it, with the cheapest option at Q10 (about $1.28) for an hour of Internet.

RTW Trip Day 30

Posted on February 15th, 2012 webmaster No comments          Print

Yesterday was day 30 of my RTW trip.  I can’t believe 30 days have passed already!

Looking back, though, a lot has definitely happened.  I’ve seen so many things, met a lot of people from all over the world, and learned so much.

In one month, I’ve been to about 3 countries and 9 cities.  It’s actually quite a lot in a month.  I’ve been taking things slowly and I feel like I should slow down even more.

So far I’ve met other travelers of all ages from the following countries: USA, Canada, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Israel, England, and Spain.  The majority of them are from the USA and Canada, which I guess makes sense because of the proximity to those countries.  I’ve even met a few people from New Jersey, where I used to live.  For some reason, though, they all live in southern New Jersey (I was from the north).

I also kept running into the same people I’ve met in other cities/towns and even other countries.  Just this morning, in Quetzaltenango, I was just walking around the city for the first time (got here last night) and I ran into someone who was staying at the same hostel I was staying at yesterday in Lake Atitlan.  She said she just got here today and just checking out the city as well.

Apparently, this is pretty common.  I’ve met other travelers who have said the same thing.  It really is a small world.

I’ve also been keeping track of all my expenses so I know when I can splurge a little and where I can cut down.

Here’s the breakdown of my expenses in the last 30 days:

• Food: $376.83
• Transportation (includes initial flight to Cancun): $370.98
• Accommodation: $279.20
• Activities: $382.68
• Miscellaneous: $91.05
• Travel Insurance (World Nomads): $64.38

I thought it looked a little funny to see accommodation costs lower than food costs.  It certainly makes a huge difference when you’re not paying over $100 a night for a nice room in a hotel.  I’m actually currently overspending a little bit this week as I booked a private room with a private bathroom in a hostel for about $16/night.  They gave me a big room with 3 beds as it seems business is pretty slow for them.  I can’t help but think that so much space is being wasted, I almost want to go looking for two other people to share the room and cost with.

Looking through my food expenses, there are definitely ways to cut down.  I’ve ate out quite a bit and drank quite a few beers.  This month I’m aiming to drink more water instead and do grocery shopping or buy from bakeries.  For example, for less than $2, I can buy enough bread from a bakery for 2 or 3 meals.  My hostel provides free water, coffee, and tea so I’ll use those.  A bottle of beer alone usually go for about $2.  A can of soda for $0.65 to $1.  Those things add up.

My transportation costs seem pretty high as well.  But it includes the $162 I paid to fly from New Jersey to Cancun and I’ve moved around quite a bit in the last month.  I’m expecting my transportation expense to be much lower this month as I plan to stay longer in one place.

Activities expense look about right.  It includes excursions and Spanish lessons (40 hours total).

Miscellaneous are things like laundry, toiletries, Internet, and border fees.  Not too bad, expecting it to be lower this month as well.

Total cost for 1 month of travel is $1,565.12.  I budgeted $2,000 a month so I’m actually doing pretty well.  But I’m always looking for ways to save on things that don’t matter much to me as some places will be more expensive than others.  I will probably still continue to splurge once in a while as it’s part of the enjoyment.  Right now, for example, where I have my own room, bathroom, a desk, and a TV.  It’s definitely nice to be able to fully unpack all my stuff and get some really good sleep, but after a week it will probably feel just normal and I won’t appreciate it as much.

Learning Spanish in Guatemala (Week 2 – Lake Atitlan)

Posted on February 14th, 2012 webmaster No comments          Print

I decided to continue my Spanish lessons in Lake Atitlan.  I stayed in La Iguana Perdida in Santa Cruz La Laguna and signed up for the package of 5 days of Spanish lessons, 7 nights accommodation, and 6 days allowance of Q75 to spend in their restaurant.

The view from this hostel is just beautiful!  I start my morning every day staring at the beautiful Lake Atitlan and the volcanoes.

My teacher actually lives in Panajachel, about a 15-minute boat ride from Santa Cruz.  She comes over to the hostel at 9AM and teaches me for 4 hours, where we usually sit somewhere where we can see the lake or the volcano.

This week I learned all these different ways to form sentences.  There’s a lot of them!  I’m still having a hard time remembering them.  All these different tenses and conjugations confuse me.  I have a lot of things to review, but I now have a better idea what people mean when I hear them say words with a different conjugation.  I’m finding that there’s really not that many verbs used in daily conversations, but there’s so many different conjugations for each word that if you didn’t know about them they may sound like they’re different words.

Chances are, though, that if you conjugate a verb improperly, the person you’re talking to will still understand you.  So I’m trying not to think about it too much.  I think it’s more important to just keep practicing speaking, which is actually a little hard to do in Lake Atitlan as most people I met where I’m staying speak English.  A lot of the locals in the area also speak a different language, which appears to be a Mayan language.

My next stop is Quetzaltenango (or “Xela” for short).  This city is very popular for learning Spanish as there’s not many English-speakers in the area which really forces you to immerse yourself.  Not sure yet if I’m signing up for classes at a language school.  I’m thinking of just working with a private tutor for 2-3 hours a day to start with.  I met someone in Tulum who recommended his teacher to me, who I hope is available.