Meeting Times

Yes, I know time is not the same in Central American. Ignoring the fact that we don’t observe daylight savings time and so sometimes I’m on Central Time and at others, on Mountain Time (this has mostly been confusing lately with the US, Mexico and Europe all changing daylight savings time on different weekends), the concept of time itself is different.

There have still been a few surprises, however. First all these events have taken place over just three days. I mean, I understand having issues here and there, but really?

One night it was decided we would leave at 8:00 in the morning. I thought I knew what that meant, but THEN, they said 8:00 in the morning, AMERICAN. You might think that it means actually 8:00, but it really means 8:30.

Another night at 7:30, it was decided we needed to have a meeting at 8:30. This actually means that no meeting will take place. I knocked on the door of one of the other people involved, but when I got the impression they fell asleep watching TV, it was my cue to give up really really easily.

When they say we’re leaving at 3:30 to go to Managua, it actually means 3:15. Yes, there are times when they are early.

So the conclusion that I’ve reached is that if they give you a time, you can at least count on it not happening at that EXACT time.