PART II: THINGS WE WILL NEVER TIRE OF…
…WHILE LIVING IN CENTRAL AMERICA!
Part II of II
13) Nature and Animal Life
We are always amazed by the plants, flowers, birds, geckos, trees, monkeys, turtles, and even bugs and weeds here! And how about volcanoes, lakes and rivers too! Ai Ai Ai…it is so beautiful and abundant with life.
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| Flora Y Fauna |
14) The Freedom of Kids:
When most kids are done with their schooling and chores, they are free, free, free! Mind you, they are usually not too far from home or another family member, but they do not have a parent nagging, “Get out of the street, stop kicking the ball, be careful, don’t do that, watch out,” and so on all the time! They play soccer in the street whether it is busy or not, they climb way up high to get a mango, they jump from rocks into 3 feet of river water and they have fun doing it all. It seems to be that there is less worry of injury here. If they do get hurt, maybe they will learn from their mistake, or it was as God wills. I love this philosophy, although Jim and I often cringe when we see something that would be considered dangerous in the states. It just gives the parents less to stress about as well!
15) Cows in the Road:
I love it when cows are in the road slowing down or backing up traffic. I even strain my neck in the bus to get a glimpse of said rogue cows! Yes, some of them are rogue, like they are on their way to California or something, but others are just being herded to another pasture by way of a highway. My favorite thing about the cow in the road phenomenon is the poor soul in the back that is waving a little rag to warn the traffic. What I want to know is who is there to warn the traffic about the poor guy up ahead waving the red rag?
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| Cows in the Road |
16) Not Just the Children, But That the Children are So Well Behaved:
Once when I mentioned to our neighbor that children in Honduras are well behaved, he responded with, “Because we can hit them here!” The odd thing about him saying that, is I do not think he ever lays a hand on his kids. I have been on hot, sweaty 7 hour bus rides with kids and have barely heard a peep out of them. Kids walk near their parent without asking for a lot in stores. They do their chores usually without complaint, they finish their homework right away, and get this, they actually want to learn as well! Some of them actually complain about so many school cancellations because the teachers are always on strike or not being paid so they don’t show up. We need to bottle some of what they have and bring it back to the states. I know a lot of adults who would pay out their nose for some of it!
17) Meeting Great People:
We meet so many great people down here, whether they are people who volunteer, people who run non-profit programs, people who fund programs, locals, travelers, expats, taxi drivers, and tour guides. Most all have been great, interesting and very fun people. We are so lucky to be able to meet so many awesome people who we hope to keep in touch with over the years, whether here, there or somewhere else!
18) Honduran Body/Hand Language:
Just look at the below video, it should explain it all!
19) Licuados and Fruit:
The fruit, yes, we love the fruit. And there is nothing better than blending fresh fruit into something cold and yummy to drink! There are so many kinds of fruit here, many we have not seen or heard of before, like did you know there is a fruit (maranon) that is attached to the bottom of a cashew nut? Besides the typical tropical fruit like pineapple, lychee, mango, and papaya, we have also tried mangosteen, mora de castillo, maracuya and sepote just to name a few.
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| Fruit & Licuados |
20) Air Conditioning:
Do I need to explain this…as I sit here sweating, typing this damn post!
21) Open Air Markets:
We love them all, whether for fruit, veggies, crafts, arts, or cheap Chinese plastic crap. It is such a way of life here, many people do not ever go to a department store. Why go inside and pay more for panties, bras, shampoo, or shoes? And what can be better than meat hanging on a hook all day long?
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| Markets |
22) Negotiating:
And speaking of outdoor markets, you can’t have one without the other, the other being negotiating. We love to negotiate although less and less people in market places want to negotiate anymore. I will not pay more for something in Central America that I can get cheaper in a small shop on Haight Street in San Francisco for crying out loud! The regulars know us know in our fruit and veggie market, but we had to negotiate at first so we did not get charged the Gringo price every time. Mangos for 10 cents anyone? How about a freshly cut ripe pineapple for 50 cents?
23) The Mayhem:
At times there seems to be a controlled mayhem, like in the market place. Each stand is neatly kept with very organized and clean items, but then you try to walk through the market place and it is like a game of frogger or bumper cars. You have to dodge taxis, cars way too big for the tight streets, bicycles, delivery trucks, vendors with wooden carts, people, stray dogs, open manholes, broken sidewalks and piles of garbage. We serpentine through it all in one quick hot pass, but back in the day, we would have to wait until a car went by or for some shoppers to get into their taxi. But now that we are used to the mayhem, watch out old lady, man in a homemade wheel chair and you too, sick dog, we are coming through!
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| Mayhem |
24) Our great neighbors and landlord, La Familia Cole….for too many reasons to list!
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| The Coles |
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.WE.ARE.GNOMADS. 
That was a great video! Lot’s of Honduran body language, good stuff! I wish I could snap like Jim, that is a talent.
I can’t snap like that either…my index finger will never relax enough. Does anyone else have a problem with their type A index finger????
[…] with the 2 previous “Things We Will Never Tire of…” (click to read that post) and “More things We Will Never Tire of…” (Click to read that post) we are adding even more things we love and will miss about our second […]