A few years ago I visited a small town high on the top of an Andes mountain in Colombia that I’d been familiar with for decades. On this particular visit I had stopped at a small establishment that purchased coffee beans from local farms that transported their wares to it by vintage Willy’s jeeps . While there I noticed a shirtless laborer sitting on the corner awaiting the opportunity to unload one of those jeeps for pay .
I witnessed something else . I witnessed the Google Earth camera car drive by to take its 360 degree pics and film of El Aguila, Colombia for the very first time . I was delighted a few months later to Google Earth that town and find that shirtless laborer sitting right where I saw him sit that day .
Google Earth is fun in that you can type in an address and suddenly get a satellite pic from space of the neighborhood and a red marker showing your point of interest . You can then scroll in closer and closer until you reach street view and actual film of that street and particular house of your interest .
I did that years ago to seek my own address and was very disappointed that the Google Earth camera had passed but two weeks prior my painting the place and doing something about the landscape. So for near ten years Google Earth showed my house painted a beyond ugly color , crappy landscaping and my 4 x 8 trailer in the drive .
Two or three weeks ago the wife mentioned she thought she saw the Google earth camera car drive by and I said ….. Really ? …that’s perfect timing . The house is freshly painted , all the orchids are in bloom and the landscaping improved . I thought about that this morning and so entered Google Earth to seek out my own abode once again .
Yup , Google Earth has updated pics of my neighborhood all right though their timing could could have been better as the pics show my house obscured by a Mexican crew digging holes in the yard , large vehicles with trailers and heavy equipment . All in the seemingly endless effort to submerse my power lines under ground .
I’m thinking in ten years when the Google Earth camera car comes by for its once a decade update the place will look like shit again , and that’s OK . By then I’ll likely be sitting shirtless with that laborer on a corner in El Aguila Valle, Colombia .
