Did I mention it's hot?

So today, it was 93 degrees.  With the humidity factored in, the heat index was 110.  As you can imagine, this is unpleasant.  Once you're out in it for about 10 minutes, any recent showers or bathing you've done quickly becomes irrelevant.  That being said, I wind up looking like I did just bathe, but with my clothes on.  Oddly enough, the locals seem to completely unaffected by this.  Almost nobody wears shorts, instead wearing either jeans or slacks, and they don't seem to be sweating at all.  It stands to reason that any outdoor activity is out of the question.  They've told me that May and June are the hottest months of the year, so that's something to look forward to, however mid-June brings with it the beginning of the monsoon season.  We're told that some days you just can't even really get to work, as the flooding is too much for what meager sewer system they have can handle.  Furthermore, being a coastal city, the water table isn't far from the surface, so any heavy rains turn to flooding pretty quickly.  I can't wait to see what happens to all the trash and dirt in the street when that happens.  Hip waders may be an option to explore.

The traffic continues to be a source of amusement, and occasional consternation.  It backs up without much warning or common sense, and quickly becomes a snarled mess.  This, for example:

That was taken right out in front of my building, at 4pm on a Sunday.  Not even rush hour at all.  As mentioned before, the horn honking is a little ridiculous.  That being said, I think I figured out one aspect of it today.  The cars drive on the left here (opposite of the U.S.).  As I've seen in other countries, they prefer to have cars pass them on the driver's side (right side of the car).  When passing on the left side, it's some sort of courtesy/custom to signal that you're doing so by beeping the horn.  Almost every vehicle here that's not a motorcycle or regular passenger vehicle has some form of this painted on the back to emphasize this:

Horn OK Please.  At least they're polite about it, I guess.

All the rest of the honking appears to have no purpose, yet it's something everyone does.  It all fits in with the occasional moment's that I have begun referring to as the "Indian cluster."  For example, yesterday one of my co-workers decided to purchase a coffee maker for his apartment.  What would be a non-event back home turns into this sort of labyrinthine process that defies understanding.  First, he found the machine he liked, so an employee had to go check and see if it was in stock.  Upon returning to state that it was, in fact, in stock, it had to be repeated that yes, indeed, he did want it.  From there the employee goes over to a computer, and produces a sales invoice, which he brings back.  That invoice then had to be carried over to the cashier counter.  There another employee is summoned, who went to fetch the item out of inventory.  Once he returned with the item, the cashier proceeded to completely unpack and unwrap it, I guess to determine if all the parts were there.  From there, they proceeded to unsuccessfully re-wrap and package it the way it was before they messed with it.  Once it was finally handed over, he had to stop and talk to ANOTHER employee at the exit, show the receipt and coffee maker, before he was allowed to leave with it.  All that for a $30 coffee maker.  I can only imagine what going to the BMV would be like.