Internet Access?

El Lobo Marino bar in El Campello

The apartment in El Campello does not have internet access. The owners did not promise that we would have internet, but said that it was available just across the street at the waterfront bar. When we contacted them and asked about this, they suggested that you could sometimes pick up the Wi-Fi from the bar out on the balcony. I was a bit concerned about being able to access the internet because we did not have a cell phone and had no way to contact anyone other than through e-mail. As well I was hoping to write a few blog entries if I could find time.

We tried the “Balcony” thing the day we arrived and although we were picking up four or five Wi-Fi signals, the one from the bar across the street was not one of them. We tried this off and on the whole time we were here and could never pick it up. I suspect that the bar owners have moved their router from when the apartment owners accessed it. It is now in the side of the bar facing the beach so the signal would have to go through the concrete building for me to get it, so I am not surprised I cannot pick it up.

Oh, well, that just means I have to actually go to the bar to use the Internet, and I'm not going to just go in and use their Wi-Fi; I'm going to order at least one beer. Someone suggested we just go out front and “Steal” their internet by sitting on the bench out front, but that just doesn't seem right to me. Of course anyone who knows me, knows that I am not adverse to forcing down a beer every so often if there is a good reason to do so.

I tried the Passatge Bar across the street first, and was able to get on with both the Mac and the IPad, and I checked my e-mail, and let everyone know that we were here and doing fine. However, the next time I went over, the Mac would not find the Wi-Fi and I couldn't get on. The IPad worked fine, but I was typing up my Blog entries in OpenOffice and pasting them into the blog, so I had to use the Mac. I tried a couple more times and couldn't figure out the issue, so I gave up.

Then walking down the beach I noticed that the bar on the corner also advertized Wi-Fi. When another attempt at the Passatge Bar did not work, I packed up and went down the street. This bar is called the “El Lobo Marino”, and it has become my Internet connection to the world. Like most of the bars along the El Campello waterfront, it has a small inside bar, but depends on a waterfront patio to provide room for most patrons. We usually have the inside to ourselves. The bar is decorated in a nautical theme, and reminds me of one of my favorite “pubs”, the Knot in Lunenburg Nova Scotia. It is decorated with pictures of ships, with rope wrapped pillars and framed “Nautical Knot”. I have never found anyone working in the bar that speaks a word of English, but we communicate well. I hold up two fingers and point to the draft beer spigot and two nice cold beer appear before me. If the server sees me first, she does the same and waits for an affirmation from me. The first time I went in, I had some problem figuring out the password for their Wi-Fi, and finally the server that evening simply motioned me over to the bar, and she pulled the Wi-Fi router out of the back room and handed it to me – problem solved!

One thing I do not understand, and have never been able to figure out is that the bar plays great English music all the time. I have heard 50's rock & roll, modern pop, country and one evening I went in and B. B. King was filling the room with his great blues. I tried to ask why the American music instead of Spanish music, and although the owner knew I was asking about the music, she couldn't understand, so after several attempts, she shrugged her shoulders and I simply gave her a thumbs up to show that I appreciated the music, and we left it unanswered.

Actually, I think the fact that I have to order a beer every time I post a blog probably keeps them coming on a regular basis.