Having made some 25 trips to Mexico since 1956, visiting most of her states at one time or another, I can vividly remember those early days of the “telephone calling stations” when you would wait in line for your turn to make a call back home to the US. Sometimes you could get through, sometimes you couldn´t. There was, of course, no internet, no email, no fax capability. Not that many years ago, in terms of technology for decent local and distant communications, Mexico lagged behind its neighbors with only some ten telephone lines per 100 inhabitants compared to Argentina with maybe 16, or the US with about 65 per 100. Also, not so long ago, only about one percent of Mexicans were connected to the internet compared to about 50 percent of the population in the US. Last September I finally decided to come down from the US for a try at living in one of my favorite spots in Mexico — Mazatlán, the Pearl of the Pacific. Although I had read my share of travel books on Mexico through the years, I seem to remember advice in one of the books (with a recent copyright date) that said something like “depending on location, it sometimes takes an inordinate amount of time to have a telephone line installed in Mexico” or “don’t rent a place that doesn´t already have a phone installed,” or words that effect. Soon after my arrival, I found an affordable, furnished apartment which is situated in a very agreeable environment with lots of flowers and plants. But, alas, there was no phone line! I must now confess that I am an internet “addict” and sometimes spend three or four hours a day online, so not having a phone line for a future connection was a big, big minus. I decided to take the place anyway, hoping that the experience of having a line put in at a future time