28 Days later

After being here for a full month, it is safe to say that there are no lion's, zebras or giraffes on the island (Not all of Africa looks like a scene from The Lion King).

So far, so good. I think I can get used to this foreign work opportunity thing. I assume that being single, with no pets or a mortgage makes it a little more simple an enjoyable. Kind of an ideal situation in my life for an opportunity as such, one might think...

Road into our Billion dollar bubble

Quick facts on this country:

• Equatorial Guinea is composed of both a continental and Island Region, with Bioko Island located in middle west Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea
• It is the richest country per capita however, the wealth is distributed very unevenly, with 70% of the population living under the United Nations Poverty Threshold of $2/day. 
• Equatorial Guinea has one of the worst human rights records in the world
• The political situation here is a bit complicated. I wont get into that or even mention the Presidents name as it will likely set off a red flag and I might likely have one of the hired Russian fighter jets circling my building in a matter of minutes. 

 
Where we are:
We are on the northern tip of Bioko Island, Punta Europa, in our very own isolated, barb surrounded bubble. Big time American companies have set up shop here with one goal in mind; pump as much money out of the ocean floor as possible, and they do a darn fine job. 60,000 barrel of condensate per day. ($$).

Morning view, one of the volcanoes that created the island. Military outpost at the peak

The airport for the island is less than 1km away, which provides a lot of aviation sight seeing. The average day is usually comprised of at least one fighter jet taking off engines blaring, a few commercial airliners, Military logistic and combat helicopters and sometimes the Presidential entourage if he feels like burning a few dollars.

What the heck am I doing?:
We are installing a brand new  communication system/network for the three petroleum product companies here. Two-way radios (Like police/fire/ambulance use at home "10-4 Rubber Ducky, Over", ya know?), pagers, fibre optic links, and GPS tracking on vehicles (so that Joe Slacker can't detour to the local hideout for an extended nap). Techy electronics stuff. Always been my forte I think?

 I still have 3 weeks of "stuff" to catch up and update on here, however I'll be out to sea for the next few days on the offshore platform. Will update in 5 days or so providing no encounters with Somalian pirates