Grain Dryer Shopping – November 7

We needed to get a second load of computers – Mazda pickups not having a huge payload – so, I was to meet the truck at 8 a.m. at the junction of the main road to Tegucigulpa and the road to S.C. I boarded a collectivo (small cars or station wagons that ferry groups of passengers to the junction and back) and was at the junction thirty minutes early.
No problem with being early. The stand at the junction featured oranges and coconuts. I opted for the coconut. The proprietor swung a mean machete. She had the top off the coconut in a trice and had left just the smallest skin of coconut meat covering the top. The straw went through that easily and I was enjoying one of my favourite drinks. When I finished drinking the juice, she split the coconut in half and with three twists of a short, stubby knife, had the meat out in one piece. Amazing skill.
Finding parts to build something is always a challenge. Doing it without any Spanish just makes the challenge that more interesting. I went into a hardware store and began ordering (well, drawing and using one word sentences). The man quickly solved the problem for the last couple of items which we couldn’t get across (try describing rebar – the Spanish word is varilla – what connection does that have with an English word??) by phoning a friend who spoke English and letting me talk to him.
Met with the lawyer a second time to sort out things for our Education Project and other stuff. He likes soccer and invited me to come watch him play on a team of lawyers on Saturday. Not sure I would want to be a referee for a match between two teams of lawyers. Hmm. We will then go to the stadium in the evening to watch Reál España (my favourite team – and, incidentally, in first place) play Olimpia (his favourite team). He is a real fan and enjoys sitting in the Sol section of the stadium. The Sol section is facing west so gets the late afternoon sun (Saturday’s game is a night game so won’t be hot). As well, it is the “commoners” area. There are no individual seats – only long concrete steps. In the center of the area is where the real rabid fan base is located. These are the ones who bring fireworks, huge banners, drums and so forth. It is a mass of hyper, jumping, edge of control people. This is also the area that gets showered with beer after goals or calls that go against the home squad. We will sit up at the top and enjoy the game and the fans – never sure which will be more interesting.
Bryan