Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Coolest Thing So Far!
I can't wait until morning to download my pictures. Can't do it tonight, I'm running on limited battery power. The rain finally came with thunder and lightening and the power, which goes off randomly in normal weather, has been off and on all night.
Tony did get to talk to Carlos' mom. It went well and he was happy. Now Tony has her permission to enroll Carlos in school which is another long story, but it will happen in about 3 weeks. Carlos' brother, who is 14, said he wants to come to church and go to school as well. We are hoping he will follow through and come with Carlos tomorrow to watch the US vs. Honduras futbol game. Only time will tell.
But here is why tonight was the best night ever. Jairo invited me to sit in on a marriage seminar that he was giving for the people of the church. It was about finances. Marraige and finances in spanish until 10 pm was difficult and I was exhausted, but Jose and Karla asked did I want to go with them after the seminar to the mercado to buy fresh vegetables. I said yes and it was sooooo awesome.
Most of it was closed b/c of the rain and it was 10:15 at night when we got there, but I have never seen so many vegetables in my life. Once again it is little makeshift shacks or posts with roofs all gathered behind the soccer stadium in a huge area. During the day there are butchers and tons of plants and flowers - some of the flower vendors were still open, but most of them were covered with tarps. Jose pointed out that the people sleep there with their goods, but the mercado is only there on Fridays and Saturdays. Usually it is packed shoulder to shoulder with people but it was empty because of the rain. Lucky for us it rained on the ride there, and it POURED on the way home, but we were dry while we were there.
I saw the hugest head of broccoli I have ever seen. Now I know why it's called a "head" of broccoli - it was bigger than my head! I tried a bunch of fruit - the vendors let you taste everything so you just walk around tasting who has the sweetest fruit to buy. I tried this one thing which looked like a cactus from the outside but it was more round like a mango in shape. I think it was called guanavana. Inside it was white and had the strangest texture, kind of like a mixture of watermelon and mango - I know it makes no sense, it was really wierd - with big black seeds that sometimes stayed attached to the stringy texture of the fruit and sometimes popped free in my mouth. Karla broke one open and we ate it in the middle of the market. In the end we were laughing like little kids. Our hands and faces were covered in the juice. It was really fun. When we got home we took pictures of everything we bought - except the guanavana because we ate it. All of it together cost 300 limpiras, which is about $15. At the supermercado it would have cost much more and would not have been as fresh (or as fun!). We are going to go back when there are lots of people and the stands are all open. Jose pointed out that one cool thing about this mercado is that the people who go there come from all walks of life, from the richest to the poorest in Tegucigalpa. I can't wait to go back!
Tony did get to talk to Carlos' mom. It went well and he was happy. Now Tony has her permission to enroll Carlos in school which is another long story, but it will happen in about 3 weeks. Carlos' brother, who is 14, said he wants to come to church and go to school as well. We are hoping he will follow through and come with Carlos tomorrow to watch the US vs. Honduras futbol game. Only time will tell.
But here is why tonight was the best night ever. Jairo invited me to sit in on a marriage seminar that he was giving for the people of the church. It was about finances. Marraige and finances in spanish until 10 pm was difficult and I was exhausted, but Jose and Karla asked did I want to go with them after the seminar to the mercado to buy fresh vegetables. I said yes and it was sooooo awesome.
Most of it was closed b/c of the rain and it was 10:15 at night when we got there, but I have never seen so many vegetables in my life. Once again it is little makeshift shacks or posts with roofs all gathered behind the soccer stadium in a huge area. During the day there are butchers and tons of plants and flowers - some of the flower vendors were still open, but most of them were covered with tarps. Jose pointed out that the people sleep there with their goods, but the mercado is only there on Fridays and Saturdays. Usually it is packed shoulder to shoulder with people but it was empty because of the rain. Lucky for us it rained on the ride there, and it POURED on the way home, but we were dry while we were there.
I saw the hugest head of broccoli I have ever seen. Now I know why it's called a "head" of broccoli - it was bigger than my head! I tried a bunch of fruit - the vendors let you taste everything so you just walk around tasting who has the sweetest fruit to buy. I tried this one thing which looked like a cactus from the outside but it was more round like a mango in shape. I think it was called guanavana. Inside it was white and had the strangest texture, kind of like a mixture of watermelon and mango - I know it makes no sense, it was really wierd - with big black seeds that sometimes stayed attached to the stringy texture of the fruit and sometimes popped free in my mouth. Karla broke one open and we ate it in the middle of the market. In the end we were laughing like little kids. Our hands and faces were covered in the juice. It was really fun. When we got home we took pictures of everything we bought - except the guanavana because we ate it. All of it together cost 300 limpiras, which is about $15. At the supermercado it would have cost much more and would not have been as fresh (or as fun!). We are going to go back when there are lots of people and the stands are all open. Jose pointed out that one cool thing about this mercado is that the people who go there come from all walks of life, from the richest to the poorest in Tegucigalpa. I can't wait to go back!
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