We found paletas (popsicles made with real fruit!) in Valle de Angeles… This DOES happen in Nashville, and oh how I miss them!!
1. Drinking coke or water not from a bottle or a can, but a plastic bag! Little tiendas all over town sell small bags of water for 1 Limpira (5 cents!), just take a small bite out of the plastic on one corner, and there you go. You can buy a bag of coke, complete with straw, for 8 Limpiras (40 cents!)
2. Becoming addicted to card games, so much so that when the power goes out, you are forced to play by light of your headlamps. (If you've never played Dutch Blitz, give it a try…)
3. Going to the mall and hanging out for hours become a regular, cherished activity, and no, we are not 15 years old. We just need our internet and our Dunkin Donuts!
4. Taking cold showers, and not dying. Don't worry though, we got the hot water problem fixed after about a week and a half. You better believe I was rolling out of my tent about 6:30 a.m. on my shower day to ensure a hot shower! Never, never, never will I take hot showers for granted again.
5. Taking "bucket showers." This is what happens when there is a crack in the water tank. Did you know that 70-ish people (52 World Racers plush our ministry contact, Tony, and all his adopted family) use a LOT of water? Here's what you do: Grab a bucket (about the size of a large bucket of paint), fill with freezing water, use a bowl to pour over yourself, lather, rinse, repeat… When it's cold outside, these might be worse than cold showers… But hey, it's all in the name of cleanliness!
6. Sniffing your clothes before putting anything on, and/or handing your clothes to a friend to have them take a whiff as well. Clothes tend to take on a certain… fragrance when you wear them for several days…
7. Becoming best friends with my "Sensual Amber" body splash from Bath & Body Works. When in doubt, a spritz (or seven) seems to do the trick to cover any unpleasant odors. Thank you past World Racer, Hannah V., for this tip!!
8. Taking a bucket of water with you to the toilet so you can flush it. Sometimes, when the water tank is broken, toilets don't flush on their own…
9. Seeing HUNDREDS of power/telephone lines tangled up and lining the streets. When power lines go dead or stop working, they don't take the old ones down, they just add new ones.
10. Having traffic lights, stop signs, yield signs, etc. but no one actually heeding them. They're really more of a suggestion here…
11. Washing laundry by hand in a 'pila' (giant sink with built-in washboard). In Guatemala I had gotten used to line-drying my clothes, but never, never, never will I take a washing machine for granted again. It takes about an hour and a half to wash what would be a small load of laundry in the States.
12. Cutting the lawn with machetes instead of a lawn mower. This might have been one of my favorite activities in Honduras, don't ask me why!
13. Sleeping in a tent becoming preferable to sleeping with a roof over my head. Privacy and alone time are hot commodities when you're living in community with 52 people!
14. Becoming comfortable (uh… kind of) with co-ed bathrooms. I won't go into the details of this… But, I know a lot more about my squad-mates than I used to, that's for sure.
15. Eating tortillas, beans, and cheese for breakfast everyday, and LOVING it. I will really miss the food here in Honduras! Apparently, our cook, Esperanza, makes the refried beans with two sticks of butter… our little Honduran Paula Dean!
16. Falling in love with baby wipes. Baby wipe showers have to suffice on your non-shower days, and you gotta clean your grimy feet off before you stick them in your sleeping bag at night!
17. Finding the most random, ridiculous ways to entertain ourselves, i.e. teasing our hair and wishing we lived in the 80's…
18. Having no chairs to sit on… so you just sit on the floor. Or lay on the floor. Or cuddle on the floor.
19. Instead of throwing your trash in a dumpster, having it hauled away by a garbage man… you just burn your trash. Yep, all of it: paper, plastic, aluminum, etc. This makes for some pleasant smells that whaft into your nostrils at all hours of the day.
20. Falling in love with sweet Honduran teenagers and them becoming like my own little brothers. Oh, how I will miss their sweet hugs.
See all my pictures from Honduras HERE!
We are in Nicaragua now! Can't believe we're on Country #3!! We are working at New Song ministries, a church in a remote village called Candelaria. I'll be working in a medical/dental clinic ($5 teeth cleanings!!), running a soccer tournament and zumba classes, hanging with children and youth, teaching bible studies, praying for people in their homes, and teaching English! More news to come!
