"... the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time" -Bill Bryson

The past couple of days have been rather slow. Due to all the political unrest the presentation with the first lady was canceled, two of the non-profits we worked with had their funding frozen, World Camp sent its volunteers home and most people stopped working. This left Matt and I without much to do. One day we spent at the beach and the other walking around and re-discovering Tela. Here are some of my observations.

• You can by water in bags here. Also when you buy a drink off the street they but it in plastic baggies then tie a knot around a straw.

• The people here are very formal. They ony use the usted form when talking. I think they may also use vos (instead of tu) like in Argentina but I'm not 100% sure.
  

• You can't flush toilet paper here. Also a lot of hotels/hostels don't offer hot water. In San Alejos I took a shower using a bucket of water.

• There is a little old lady that sells fruit on the street corner. I watched her the other day while I sat in a coffee shop waiting for Miguel. She would cut up a mango and would eat half it and put the other half in a little bag to sell. It was so unripe (it was white) but with a little hot sauce I guess it was good.
  

• There is only one place you can buy newspapers and they are all gone by 11am.

• I think most of the problems in the US could be solved if instead of handshakes besos were used. Although I still can't figure out the proper way to introduce myself because every time it switches from a handshake to besos and I'm not sure if they are doing that because I'm American and they want to be considerate or if I just don't understand the social norm.

• Oh the Spanish language. I butcher it a lot. IHNFA (social work office) is my new favorite place because the people we work with speak really slow spanish, explain things well and are really patient with me.

• Baleadas are a typical Honduran food. They are grilled tortillas with beans, cheese and eggs. Liquados are also common (like a milkshake but without ice cream. just milk, ice, fruit and sugar blended) and so are juices made from fresh fruit.
  

• In order to get anything done here you have to be persistent. All the organizations we met said they would be in contact with us last week. Yesterday we spent walking around and talking with them again. They didn't really plan on calling us. But once we offered our help they got really excited (again). This time we made concrete plans. Matt went to play soccer with the youth at IHNFA this morning and I'll get to help out in their day care any day I want.

• The movie store rents out pirated movies. You can hear people coughing in the audience during the movie.