These are just some things that make me laugh…
I think of these as normal now, but when I think back to the States, they are not at all normal.
The man you are buying a coke from is wearing nothing but a Barbie towel wrapped around his waist… and you think nothing of it.
There are bugs and little lizards everywhere! Including where you sleep. This is a bug I killed and then moments later there were hundreds of ants carrying him and his dead friend across the floor we slept on. We watched for a bit and then rolled over and went to bed. Didn’t think anything of it.
You don’t shower for 4-5 days… but sweat enough that you would have probably showered 2 times a day back home.
Bathing in dirty water makes you feel clean…
You wear the same outfit 5 days in a row.
You eat crazy things you would never eat back home… like balut (a baby duck just days from hatching)
And you don’t typically ask what you are eating if you don’t already know… its better left unsaid.
No water to wash your hands.
In public, you sometimes have to pay to use the bathroom, and even then, you are not guaranteed to have toilet paper provided. So I save my napkins when I eat out at a restaurant to carry as emergency toilet paper.
When you do find western toilets (Since being in Asia, they are usually squatty potties), there are sometimes signs like this to show how to properly use one…
There are no road rules… lanes don’t really exist and you often see people driving on the wrong side.
You can have as many people in a car as you can fit…like the taxi Thomas and I rode in for an hour and a half… standard sized car with 8 adults in it.
Babies on motorbikes… I have seen up to 5 people on one motorbike.
You decide if you can buy something based on the size and weight… we have limited space in our packs.
Animals are everywhere… dogs, chickens, cows, monkeys…
Street food… not always the most sanitary. This is a pineapple from the place we buy smoothies. Yes… those are bugs all over it. And Yes… I did still get a pineapple smoothie.
You get used to not being able to understand anyone around you.
People laugh at you constantly because you can’t understand them.
You set up your tents indoors to keep away mosquitos.
You live in constant messinessbecause you live out of a bag.
I definitely have new views on what a luxury is…
Trash is everywhere…
Rice… all the time.
You can’t go anywhere alone.
Kids follow you around like you are celebrities.
After this trip, the sketchiest hotels in the US are going to seem nice.
You become the group of white people everyone is starring at… Or when you are out in the boonies and you see other white people, you are shocked.
You ride in all different forms of transportation… whatever shows up, you hop in.
You sit with people for hours who you can’t even speak to… Like my family in Nicaragua…
Tents… your only chance for your own room…
Naked kids…everywhere
You are invited to be the front row, guests of honor at a graduation on your first day in the village when you
know nobody.
Food markets sell every part of the animal… and its all just sitting out in the heat and bugs.
Plastic chairs and hammocks are common house furniture.
You play kickball with the village kids on a dusty road covered in duck poop and sewer water…barefoot.
Kids follow you around trying to sell you things… and I usually give in to them.
Hope those made you smile…
It is crazy the things that don’t seem to surprise me anymore. They are just part of everyday life now. And to think, this is only the beginning. We were absolutely spoiled in Central America. Things are just starting to get good… we are starting to rough it now. I love it!
