Day 3 - Smithsonian

After the usual morning ritual (waking up, eating breakfast, brushing our teeth, et cetera), we got in the car and went to a little town called Gamboa, to visit our contact at the Smithsonian. The ride itself, which took us about 45 minutes, was quite nice, since we basically drove straight through the jungle. Sadly, or rather luckily, since the walk was quite nice, they were doing maintenance on the bridge we had to drive over, so we had to walk the last part. Gamboa was originally built for the Americans working on the Panama canal, but since the canal has been finished decades ago, the town was half empty. One of the things that were there, however, was a research facility of the Smithsonian, a very famous American scientific institute. We met our contact, Roberto Ibanez, who is the head of the Amphibian research project, and he gave us a little tour. It was very interesting to see the things they do there. After smoothing the last details, we agreed to start working there for a week, starting thursday. When we got home, we had to fill in the last forms (things are very strict at the Smithsonian), and after enjoying the nice weather, which sadly includes some unexpected downpours since the raining season started a few days ago, we had diner, watched a movie, and went to bed.