Allan is a teacher at the school (Lake Yojoa Bilingual School--possibly referred to here on as LYBS, but we’ll see. I’m not a seasoned blogger) and super friendly. I think he’s about twenty-four, and he’s taking business classes at the university right by LYBS (look at that :) His English is incredible (Chele not so much, but he wants me to help him learn!) he almost doesn’t even have an accent. Not shockingly, I talked his ear off on the long drive from the city to our sweet little Peña. He didn’t seem to mind though, because he had a lot of questions too. He was raised by a couple of missionaries from the States, and that’s how he speaks English so well. His parents took in EIGHTEEN children. He said that part in English, so I know it wasn’t a mistranslation! He grew up about 6.5 hours from Peña Blanca, but has lived here since March and really seems to like it. March 2011 must have been a good time for this little town.
While we were in the city we stopped at El Colonial, the super (grocery store=super farmer’s market=mercado) and stocked up on all sorts of fun things for the house. I was the first teacher to arrive, so the kitchen was empty. I was so blown away by all the produce! I was sort of insistent on getting my produce from the mercado in Peña, but upon realizing I had exactly 4 limpira and no way to change my dollars (with a decent exchange rate) until at least Thursday, Allan and I decided it best to get at least a few meals of food. Thank goodness I had the kind, patient Allan guiding me through the store! Not for translation or anything, but because I was wide-eyed at so many of the fruits and vegetables. I kept asking what things were and how they were generally prepared and testing my Spanish and having some real fun with it. I wish I could remember the name of this root I bought—I really liked it and will be purchasing more, so I’ll jot the name down next time—malanga or something like that! It looked a lot like yucca except it had these purply veins going through it. How could I pass that up? They also had “normal” looking avocados and big “Mac Daddy” looking avocados. I’m talking softball sized suckers. So I’m gently squeezing through the bin of normals looking for the perfect few when I realize I’m sifting through the “aguacates mexicanos” and being that I’d just arrived in H-town, that just wouldn’t do. Who knew there were different types? Unfortunately, none of the Honduran aguacates were bien maduros (well-ripened) so I decided they could wait until I went to the mercado. I could go on and on about the different produce etc, but I’m sure it will come up on its own. Man I wish I had written down the names of all the dried spices and other new ingredients I saw. Good thing I have a few more months worth of shopping trips, eh? Toward the end of perusing el super I was getting pretty hungry, tired and a little overwhelmed. I had to shop for all sorts of toiletries (darn that saving suit case space…) and it just took more thought than I guess I was expecting. Doing the math between limps and dollars, trying to figure out what would be “best for my hair” and silly overthinky girl things like that! I was pretty relieved to be bagged up, paid and heading toward home.
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