Since I've been here, I've been working on this post of observations. The list has grown quite long, so I'll post the second part at another time! I don't really have pictures to go with this post, so I've included some random ones! Enjoy!
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| Normal 7:00 a.m. traffic. |
- Cell phones. I don’t know all of the ins and outs of cell phones here nor there, but here I haven’t heard of anyone paying a monthly amount for unlimited use. Everyone buys minutes as they need them.
- McDonald’s sets up kiosks in shopping areas where all they sell is ice cream. This is wise since ice cream is the only thing worth buying there! OK, I know that’s just my opinion, but I think it’s an excellent idea!
- Women here must REALLY like to suffer! Why else would they walk the mall in six inch platform heels?!
- There is no air conditioning in the majority of public buildings or vehicles, so you never have to worry about freezing inside when it’s hot outside like in Michigan. On the other side of the coin, you are guaranteed to sweat!
- It’s totally normal for men to walk around with their shirts pulled up over their bellies—kinda like the 70’s when men wore crop tops! This always cracks me up!
- Breast feeding in public without covering yourself is absolutely no big deal, even while walking around the mall or grocery store or sitting in church.
Here's where I've gotten to hang out for hours every two months to renew my visa--office of immigration. - This is an outdoor culture, and buildings aren’t constructed to keep out sound or to maintain an even temperature via heaters or air conditioners. Therefore, you can hear everything going on in the neighborhood: the man who hacks up phlegm loudly every morning, the mother yelling at her child, the dogs barking and howling, and the whole church service from down on the corner! Hallelujah!
- Churros here are chips like Doritos, Fritos, or potato chips. What we and the Mexicans think of as churros—the fried, cinnamon bread shaped like a straw—here are called American Churros. Hmmmmm…go figure that one out! I’m pretty sure they should be called Mexican Churros!
- Here people go to the mall to enjoy the eateries because not very many people can afford to shop in the stores. I think in Michigan, people go to the mall to shop and only eat at the food courts out of convenience, not because the food is that good.
- Perhaps this goes without saying, but there’s no flushing toilet paper here, ever.
- I would say that 95% of the roads do not have names, or if they do, they are not marked. Here everyone gives directions “like a woman.”—“Turn right just after you pass the Espresso Americano, go past the Farmacia Pronto, and it’s the second building after the big blue door on your left.” Seriously. Even mailing addresses are like that. Here’s the one for where our school is: Colonia Era Oriental, 3 blocks up from the taxi stand, Across from the Ferreteria Lempira. Seriously.
Randomly cool Mickey Mouse looking squash(?). - I’ve yet to encounter a straight north-south, east-west road here. Every road is winding. That’s life in the mountains of Tegucigalpa.
- The space between two lanes of traffic or on the side of the roads is for motorcycles. Duh.
- The weather is boring, so people don’t really talk about it much except when it rains or is cloudy—that’s something to get excited about! Here, 70 degrees is cold, and you should put on a sweater or jacket; gloves and a hat aren’t a bad idea either!
- Instead of trucks going through the neighborhoods plowing snow, we have trucks going through the neighborhoods spraying for mosquitos. Likewise, instead of snow days or fog delays, we close the school early so they can fumigate or because it’s so terribly hot. One day, school was closed because of political protests in the city.
- Grocery stores have a lot less variety and are very focused on the staples: rice, beans, oil, salt, margarine, chicken, mantequilla (like a funky sour cream), dry cheese, tortillas, and sugar in any form you can imagine. Of course, stores in Michigan don’t have exotic fruits like rambutan or mangosteen, either!
Just a super cute picture of Eli!
