July 27, 2006 Contrasts in pictures 
July 11, 2006 Fun Stuff in Honduras June 20, 2006 Day to Day life in Honduras
Our typical days would begin at 6am. The sun rises around 5:30 am year round. Honduras being near the equator, you would have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness continually all year long. It made every morning seem like summer time, and every evening seem like winter because of the early rising and early setting of the sun.
The dust and dirt everywhere in this hot, humid climate requires that you sweep and mop your floors daily. We had only solid, cement floors, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Just a bit time consuming to start your day mopping.
We actually DID have an automatic washing machine, but most people did their laundry in the rivers and streams…alongside the cattle drinking or people bathing. Our washing machine took about 2 hours to run through one cycle because the water pressure was so low…it was gravitationally based…the higher your 'water tank' sits on your house roof, or hill, the higher the water pressure! We finally moved to a place where our tank sat up on a mountain side, so we had real pressure then. Only cold water though…which made showering very thrilling!
The 'clean' clothes then hung outside in the dusty, dirty windy yard. Not that they were very clean after coming from the river anyway! Or from our wash machine for that matter…the water in Honduras is VERY contaminated and not too clear!
This is me in 2000 hanging out our clean clothes. Don't you love our Suburban?
This is a neighbor with her clean laundry hanging out.
Meal preparation took a bit of time too. Not like you could get lunchmeat, peanut butter or quickie meals or convenience foods at the store. You had to plan and begin the meals at least 1 1/2 hours before you plan to eat. Every meal….Every day. Everything was bought fresh at the markets so had to be used in a couple of days and nothing was convenient or quick. Well, we could get cereal (see this Cultural Contrast post) and milk so breakfast was easy in that regard. OH, but the milk had a shelf life and did NOT require refrigeration! And boy, was it GROSS!
And the fresh produce would require sanitation before using. Not just washing off like we do here…but first a wash in bleach water, a rinse in clean bottled water, and then a second rinse in clean bottled water again. Then you would be able chop and prepare them for the meal.
Because we lived in this hot, humid, tropical country where mosquitoes were rampant and diseased, we had to go inside and stay for the evening/night around 5pm everyday as the sun was beginning to set and the mosquitoes were coming out in abundance. And I do mean in ABUNDANCE! They would be so thick on the screens that you couldn't see out the windows! Bug repellents are not safe for little children, and rarely work like they say anyway, so it's best to just avoid the little critters at all costs. Malaria is a real and present danger in Honduras. Just ask DH.
That's a good run down of a typical day. I miss it though. Too many choices and too much convenience for my taste here in the US of A.
~Betsy
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May 23, 2006 Transportation in Honduras
The rule of the road is, the bigger the vehicle the more right of way you have. That's why we drove a 1984 Chevy Suburban in Honduras. Big, strong, and no one wanted to mess with us.
The downside to our Suburban was that the glow plug (it was a diesel) would not arc without some assistance. This means the truck wouldn't start unless someone lifted the hood, held a screwdriver or other piece of metal to the spark plug while someone else started the engine. Well, of course this gave a bit of a spark to the holder of the metal, but that's the point! The engine needed the extra spark to get started…every time.
DH and I got quite good at this method of starting the engine. Sometimes, though, we would leave it running with someone staying in the car while someone ran into one of the numerous stops we made when we did get into town for errands. Saves the sparker's fingers.
A Honduran driver's license is required to drive in that country, however, knowledge, skill or any type of no-how is not required to obtain a driver's license. Only money. Money talks in this country. You pay someone to verify that you can drive and, VOILA, a driver's license will be issued to you.
Driving required slalom type skills. You must learn to dodge huge, car swallowing pot holes, buses, trucks, people, horses, cows and of course, other cars. All going everywhere all the time. Driving at night is not advisable because you can't see the aforementioned items in time to avoid any type of collision.
The rule of thumb in the city is that North-South traffic stops at intersections and East-West traffic does not (or was that visa/versa?) There are not many stop signs. You must just remember if you are driving N-S or E-W. And pray the on coming traffic remembers which way they are driving too.
And did you every wonder what happened to your old yellow school buses? They are shipped to third world countries and used for public transportation. Yellow buses are everywhere and they are NOT transporting children to school (school is not required…we may talk about that more later). Also there are no bus stops…well, make that EVERYWHERE is a bus stop. If you want to stop the bus, the technique is to just wave from the side of the road just seconds before the bus is there and they will slam on the brakes and stop for you. So you must also be on the lookout for stopping buses and waving pedestrians while driving. There is no maximum capacity for a bus either. People will be standing in the aisle, squeezed into seats or hanging out the doors.
A lot of people own pick-up trucks and they are hailed as 'free' transportation. You can get dozens of Hondurans in the back of a pick up truck. Something like this:
Although this seems to be only one family. I couldn't find a picture of an overcrowded bed of a truck. Must not have taken one.
Whew, lots of info about transportation here. I'm sure I left out other issues you would need to know if you ever drive there. Just don't...that's my advice.
~Betsy
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May 18, 2006 Shopping in Honduras
Some of you may know that we spent two years as missionaries in Honduras, Central America. I thought that it might be beneficial to write a series of entries about Cultural Contrasts of living in a third world country compared to the USofA. Hence, my first entry "Shopping in Honduras".
Shopping for anything in Honduras was always an event. First you have to decide what you need (want). Then try to find a shop where they sell that item. You see, most all shops are little garage like, cement block, one story buildings that sell one type of thing. It was the same in Mexico. If you want to buy a lense for your headlight...you find a shop that sells headlight lenses. If you want a spark plug for your car, you find a shop that sells spark plugs. Every shop is unique and specialized...and tiny.
Nothing like running to Lowe's for building supplies. If you want lumber you go to the lumber yard. If you want nails you go to the hardware store. If you want plumbing pipes, you go to the plumbing store. Do you see my meaning here? Finding what you need (want) usually takes all day. Then you don't have time to get your project done that you finally found all the parts for.
a local hardware store
Once my boys were sent an electronic game that required batteries. What to do, what to do. I asked several Nationals and other missionaries to see if anyone knew where to buy batteries. Someone mentioned one store in particular, and lo and behold...a package of batteries! I don't know how old they were, but they were the right size and I think they DID work. I mentioned to the lady who gave us the game about the trouble of finding batteries and she said, "well, don't you have a Wal-mart or something?" Some people just don't understand what a third world country is like.
Grocery shopping was a bit easier. The stores that sold food, usually sold all kinds. And if they had it, you bought it. Like cereal for instance. If the store had a box of cereal you BUY it. Whether you need it now or not. There might not be any in the store when you do want to buy some. And the secret is you BUY THEM ALL! It may be months before they get any more in. And there wasn't all those choices we have in the States. There would be one kind of coffee, one kind of ketchup, one kind of sugar, and one kind of cereal (if any).
Produce was usually bought at the market or a roadside stand and the Nationals don't understand buying ahead of time. They shop every day for the day's food. The reason being that the Nationals are paid daily for their work (if they found work that day), so they buy food for supper that day (if they found work, that is). One day I needed a bunch of broccoli for a meal on a Monday and I was at the market on Saturday. I mentioned something about needing this on Monday, and the clerk says "why don't you buy it on Monday, then?"
I could go on and on, but will write more later.
~Betsy
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