First Real Day at Work

On Tuesday we had to be in the office at 7:15. The ACP operates from 7:15 to 4:15. We are only about 6 km from the office and Google maps claims it should only take 10 minutes to get to work. We had our driver pick us up at 6:30 just to be safe. We were a little late getting downstairs, but it took us about 20 minutes to get to work. We got settled in and then we worked on the scopes of our project. We still didn't have internet or computer access so we just worked from our laptops.

Around lunch time, Cindy realized that she didn't pack a lunch so we all decided to walk to the cafeteria with her so she and Mario could buy a lunch. I also ended up buying a lunch because it looked pretty good. Mario and Cindy each had roasted chicken with rice and beans. They paid $3.50 for a pretty large portion! I had sauteed chicken in a white sauce with rice and beans and I paid about $4.50. Right after we finished eating, we heard some thunder so we knew that the afternoon thunderstorm was on its way. What we didn't account for is that the storms always seem to form right over the canal and then move towards the city. We forgot that we were at the canal and not near the city... and the cafeteria was a good 5 minute walk from our building. As we were walking, Keith said "Hey guys, do you hear that wind? Its really loud..." I looked towards the canal and promptly responded with "SHIT!" I could see the sheets of raining pouring down and moving towards us. LUCKILY, we were right near two buildings that were connected with an overhang so we booked it to that area. We ended up having to stay there for about 25-30 minutes because it was just raining too hard. There is a lot of storm water management on the ACP campus like gullies and trenches, but they were all overflowing because the water was coming down too quickly that it couldn't be absorbed!

Once the rain slowed down, we made our way back to our building. As we were approaching the building, I pointed towards the canal and said "Hey cool!" because a ship had just finished going through the Miraflores Locks and was sailing down the canal. We knew where our building was in relation to the canal (directionally) but we didn't realize that our building was a few hundred feet from the edge! It was pretty awesome to see the ship so close up!

On our way home, we drove past the area where all the cargo containers are stacked and stored and moved on and off trains. We saw a bunch of them being moved by the pulleys and trolleys so that was interesting :) It takes us about 45 minutes to get home because the traffic here is just horrible. The driving is also terrifying! A marked three lane road is driven like there is 5 lanes and people don't use turn signals EVER.

When we got home, Cindy and I made dinner. Our kitchen is kind of small so we decided that we will alternate cooking in pairs of two. Cindy and I made pasta with red sauce. The red sauce was really thin and plain so we caramelized some onions, browned some beef and added a bunch of spices to gives it some flavor!

Keith is making a weird face, but Mario is excited about the dinner we made for him! Cindy is celebrating our first success in the kitchen with a glass of $6 wine :)

Dinner turned out very well! We were happy. We watched Big Band Theory and Two and a Half Men with Spanish subtitles to try and learn some words :)