Chickens on a Stick

A few odd snippets of things from the last week’s activities.

On Saturday, I went into San Pedro Sula to visit my friend Eddy. We met at City Mall and headed to a baleada joint for supper. It is always fun to introduce someone to a new experience and introducing Eddy to this new place was no exception. For around one dollar we each had a full meal that was hot and fresh. It is, for me, fascinating to watch the skill with which the baleada ladies transform a small ball of dough into a 30 cm diameter tortilla with such speed and dexterity.

For the evening’s entertainment, we went to a movie and enjoyed the luxury of air conditioning and plush seating. The movie was thought provoking and featured the torment of a man who had killed seven people by careless driving and felt the only way to atone for this mistake was through suicide. It reminded me of how rarely in life do we take the time to affirm others and assure them that their contribution to our lives and our communities are worthwhile and valued. We assume that our silence is good enough and, because we haven’t said anything negative, the other person will be aware of the positive thoughts we have. As people become more and insular in their lifestyles where face to face contact is limited because of Television, Internet and cell phones, opportunities to be positively affirmed will become even less. Hopefully things like Facebook and other social networks will compensate for some of this.

My wife and daughter arrived on Sunday and we were able to rent a vehicle for the two weeks they are here. What a luxury that is. The small car we had booked was not available so we were given a four wheel drive pickup instead. Not bad. It has meant we could do some hauling of garbage and so forth for the school. Our yard looks much better and we have firewood stacked under the Lorena Oven. As well, we have travelled up roads that no car would have ventured so were able to see much more varied scenery.

My daughter spent several days in San Pedro Sula visiting with school friends and renewing acquaintances. Wednesday night we went into the city to attend a football game in the local stadium. It was fun to see the stadium and watch our favourite part of the game – synchronized referee warm ups. That is a source of never ending amusement to our family. We have yet to emulate that type of warm up in our own refereeing in Canada but we often talk about it.

Equal opportunity has hit stadium advertising. Previously, lithe young girls in fetching garments would parade signs touting various goods and services around the pitch before the games and at half time. They have been replaced by dowdy, middle aged men dressed in jeans and polo shirts standing casually near the centre line. Not sure that it is an improvement.

Tuesday evening, Ardythe and I drove the 20 km to Lake Yojoa and had a fish supper seated on a veranda overlooking the lake. We were there for sunset so it was a spectacular show. We watched the fishermen jigging for fish until it got too dark to see and they headed to shore for the night. The fish was huge. It was deep fried and then served whole on large platters (identical platters available for sale in the restaurant gift and candy store) with a side of fried plantain chips and two huge jars of pickled cabbage and pickled peppers and onions. Pretty good stuff.

Yesterday we delivered a wheelchair to a man who had been paralyzed in a botched robbery. He was held up for something silly like a cell phone and, in the process, shot and paralyzed. He lives in a tiny house with two 3 metre x 3 metre rooms, a small cooking shack out back and a whole passel of kids. I am not sure how they are going to get the wheelchair up and down the hill to his house but, once they do, he can roll up and down the shoulder of the highway and go visiting friends and neighbours.

As we turned a corner yesterday, we met a lady headed to town with a stick load of chickens on her shoulder. They were tied by their legs and hanging upside down with the occasional flutter of wings and, likely, squawks of complaint.

Travelling with Alyssa in Honduras is always interesting. Because she is short and of Ethiopian heritage, she appears to be Honduran. Often we will answer questions and so forth and then the person we are talking to will look at Alyssa and ask the same questions again hoping for a more intelligent answer. The speed and vocabulary of the questions increases incrementally. It happened yesterday again as we went through a checkpoint on the way to a dam nearby.

Two hot days in a row. When it hits the high 30’s it feels very warm. Fortunately, days are only 13 hours long and it does cool off in the evenings and at night. Sitting in the office under a tin roof does nothing positive for core body temperatures though.

One last thing. Never underestimate the mystery of Gringo thought. I forget at times how completely baffling many of my actions, questions and ideas must be. Yesterday I asked for some rope to hang my hammock with. I sent a girl to get the rope. Well, somewhere in the translation it came across that I wanted a solid rope and four pieces ten feet long. Between the translation and the return of the girl it turned into four nylon rope lassos. If I had asked the girl to hang the hammock there would have been no problem but once I asked for the rope, confusion set in. One can never be sure just what I am going to do next so maybe a lasso is what is needed. As well, the store owner assured her that these thirty foot ropes were ten feet long so there was no need to measure and check. There is no hardware store here with convenient rolls of rope that you can take whatever length you need. Regardless, we lassoed my hammock into place with one of the ropes and, should any stray doggies come wandering by my apartment, we are ready to rope, throw and brand the suckers.

TTYL
Bryan