2013, Day 300 - Back to work

Today was a day pretty much devoid of photographic interested.  We got up early to go to the United State Embassy which is a little bit of a production.  At the guardhouse we had to surrender our passports and were not allowed to hold on to our phones or cameras for security reasons and were issued visitor's badges.  The only reason we were admitted at all is because Tim works for the US Treasury and he is considered a diplomat so we were his guests.

Once on the grounds we had a little breakfast in the cafeteria.  Most of the people at the embassy are Salvadoran, I would say about two thirds, and the rest are Americans.  In the span of a little more than an hour I saw more tattoos than in my week traveling around El Salvador.  Once we had eaten Tim took us on a short tour and then we stopped by the travel office to see if they could be any help with the next part of our adventure but they weren't even remotely helpful.  I wasn't holding my breath but was a little surprised how indifferent they were because we received the same help that any employee at the embassy would get.  Oh well, we like the pick your own adventure style of travel anyway.

Since the travel office was a bust we stopped by the bank on the grounds to withdraw a little cash and change some large bills for smaller ones.  That didn't take long and soon we were leaving the embassy and heading to Salvadoran ministry of finance where Tim works.  Seeing as the travel office didn't offer any assistance we thought Tim's assistant might have some ideas.  Carmen was great, she is a tiny little woman that looks like a Latina Annie Potts from Ghost Busters, but when she ran into some difficulties we didn't push her to do more.  We were trying to resolve a very small issue and I think when the time comes it will be easily managed.

We left Tim at work and Luis drove us to run some errands.  Tim needed a printer so we bought one for him and then he needed some household tools so we picked those us as well.  Proud of ourselves, Francene and I headed back to the apartment to drop off the proof of our productivity and, once there, we decided to spend a day in catching up on some work be both had to do.  Plus we had all that food we bought at the Mercado Central that needed eating because Tim probably won't once we're gone.

It was a nice way to spend the afternoon, the views from this building are amazing and we got caught up on a lot of little things.  Before we knew it Tim was walking through the door and the next item on the agenda was dinner.  It took us a while to decide where to eat and by that time another spectacular storm had hit and it was pouring rain.  So we called Luis who picked us up and shuttled us to dinner at a nice Lebanese place not far away but it did mean navigating heavy traffic.

After dinner we came back to the apartment and I have been left as the last man standing to finish my post before hitting the sack.  I think the time has come...

Below is a picture I took yesterday at La Libertad of the pier.  The half closest to the shore is a covered fish market where the fishermen sell their catch.  Beyond that the pier is crowded with boats and at the end are the cranes that lower the boats into the water.  When we arrived it was dark and stormy with a choppy sea of big waves.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
24mm, f5.6, 6 sec @ 100 ISO