A Little Bit of Everything

I realize these posts are starting to lag.

Having too much fun, Adam?

Yes. No. I don’t know.

Puppy update:

I finally named him… Whiskey! He’s whiskey colored, it’s pronounceable in Spanish and English (along with meaning that delicious poison), and it happens to be the “say cheese” of Honduran photo shooting. But thanks for all the other name suggestions. They got the wheels turning, but in the end I went with simple.

Cold

So maybe you’ve realized (as I now am) that my posting wanes with my attitude. Or maybe it’s just the weather. It has undoubtedly entered rainy season here in Subirana. Fortunately, I live on a mountain and we don’t have to deal with flood issues like they did in Choluteca – southern Honduras. Some of my friends were evacuated while many Hondurans weren’t so lucky. However, it is actually getting cold here. They kept telling me it was going to get cold. But hey, I’m from Seattle, ‘cold’ is my middle name. But in what you don’t realize is that in Seattle you don’t spend much time outdoors or in buildings with no heat when it’s 55F. Oh, and need I mention the ongoing cold showers? Though I am currently in possession of a golden electroducha! OK, it’s not really golden, but it might as well be. Now I just have to figure out how to ‘safely’ run electrical wires from the outlet to the plastic device of questionable integrity spurting water above my head. Just get an extension cord, you say. Well, my town’s currently out of extension cords. But this is definitely worth an hour bus ride to the next town. (Just figured out what I’m doing tomorrow).

Today’s top story:

…started yesterday. The pastor’s son rode by my friends’ place on his bike. He was pre-selling beef. The pastor was going to sacrificar (sounds so much better than ‘slaughter’) his cow Saturday morning. I put in for two pounds. So flash forward to this morning. I’m up with the puppy making sure he’s doing his morning duty. It’s about 7:30 and this guy pulls up on his moto with a small plastic bag. Delivery! They killed the cow at 6:00am and had two pounds of the freshest meat imagineable hand delivered to my house. And how much did this premium service cost me? About $2.50.

Food:

It’s not always the best here, but it really doesn’t get any more authentic and fresh. I’m recalling the time when my neighbor, the high school ag teacher, picked a small sack full of green beans and gave it to me. I’m not one of those all-organic, all-natural-vegetarian types, but there’s something to be said when you watch the people pick your food. But my other source of produce comes from the back of a pick-up truck. Who knows where that came from or where it’s been. But bananas from the back of a truck make banana bread just as good as bananas from Trader Joe’s.

Also, you ever tried making tomato soup without any cans?

Ta da! It looks nice with my new table cloth and that lovely grilled cheese. They do have Kraft cheese easily available in Honduras. How do you say that in Spanish? Queso Kraft. Oh, and homemade horchata. It's a sweet, cinnamon-flavored rice drink. Super cheap to make and super great to drink.

Work?

Yeah, I do some of that on occasion. I have an ongoing business plan class that I enjoy. I’m sure I enjoy it more than the students that show up an hour late. But hey, I can’t have everything. I might have mentioned this class before, and I’m talking to some of the other courses about doing business classes. We have a Tico (Costa Rican) here helping to install the drying sheets and solar panels at the secadora (coffee dryer) and they tell me it should be pumping out dry coffee by November 15^th. Vamos a ver. We’ll see.

The View

It’s changed. Today. Overcast and gloomy. Just like the last few days. I’m dressing in 3 layers walking to the pulperia to grab some tortillas and margarine. It’s misting and the few people that are out walking around are wearing rubber boots and rain jackets. Definitely one of those days to stay inside, eat soup, bake banana bread and watch a movie with your puppy. And that’s precisely what I did. All of the cool weather makes for great mountain fog photography.

Adam & Whiskey