EverAfterLand

A Happy {Honduran} Halloween!

{Your eyes do not deceive you - this really is a post about Halloween!  And your calendar does not deceive you, either, I am just very, very, VERY late getting this one posted.  Enjoy!}

I don't think it's any big surprise that Honduras has their own set of holidays.  Or that they don't celebrate all the same holidays that we do in The States.  They are a whole separate country, after all.

But, being the true 'Mericans that we are, we insisted on finding a way to celebrate Halloween, even if the rest of the country was clueless as to what we were doing!

Essentially, there are three main components to Halloween:

1. Costumes
2. Trick-or-Treating
3. Pumpkin Carving

Checking off this list in a Central American country is not always easy, but we were not going to be deterred!

Pumpkins

The big Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins that are the mascot of Halloween just plain don't exist here.  In fact, I still don't know what the word for "pumpkin" actually is in Spanish.  Hondurans call them simply "calabaza."  Which means "squash."  Technically true - a pumpkin is a squash - but so are a lot of things.  Acorn, spaghetti, and butternut, are some of the others, to name a few.  The lack of a separate word was made woefully obvious today when the Lunch Menu in the Embassy cafeteria boasted a side dish of "Pumpkin and Vegetables," only to be dissappointed by a tray full of baked zucchini.

The few actual orangey pumpkins that can be found stocked at the beginning of October are imported. 

And Imported = Expensive.

Miss Priss, Lil' Miss Sunshine and I were at the local PriceSmart (the Latin American Costco) when they spied a display of pumpkins.  Giddy, they ran over and each picked one up.

"PUT THOSE DOWN RIGHT NOW!"  I ordered, as if they were tossing around Fabrege Eggs.  "Those pumpkins are $30 a piece, and I don't want to pay for it if you drop one!"

Gingerly, they placed the fruit back on top of the pile.

Nope, no pumpkins for us this year!

But that doesn't mean we can't improvise. 

After all, a squash is a squash is a squash, right?

I found these little beauties at The Mercado one morning.  They're cute, they're little, they're very, very green, but with a little paint, they are just perfect!

PUMPKINS......... check!

Costumes

There are a few stores here in Tegucigalpa that sell some Halloween things.  Most, of course, are leftovers from Halloweens Past, as in "the stuff that didn't sell in The States."  Want the latest Frozen or Ninja Turtle costume?  You're probably not going to find it here. 

No matter, because my little princesses didn't want to be either of those things! 

Instead, we had a Rainbow Butterfly....

And Toothless the Dragon from the movie How To Train Your Dragon.

Fortunately, I'm not afraid to break out the sewing machine, or take on the task of creating a costume from the few working brain cells I have left.

COSTUMES...... check!

Trick-or-Treating

Trick-or-Treating is much tougher to accomplish in a country like this.  Not only do most of the population have no idea what you are talking about (or even why you are wearing a costume), there's that whole walking-in-the-streets-at-night-is-probably-gonna-get-you-shot thing to contend with.

Fortunately, we are part of an outstanding U.S. Embassy who takes care of our Holiday Yearnings!

The CLO (or Community Liason Office) managed to put on, not just one, but TWO fabulous events to entertain the kiddies!

The first happens on a Saturday in October, and fulfills the need of a traditional Trick-or-Treat experience.  The Embassy uses one of the gated communities (they're almost all gated around here!) in the area.  First, there's a little party, akin to an elementary school's Fall Festival, with a bounce house, face painting and little crafts.  Plus a potluck of tasty desserts (gotta get the kids hopped up on sugar before they go find some more sugar!)

After a little Costume Parade,  the Trick-or-Treaters are let loose into the small neighborhood to fill up those candy bags - only to the houses that previously agreed to participate, of course. 

The whole event is about the closest you can come to a US-style Halloween in all of Honduras!

Our second event is held during the week, and is a Trick-or-Treat throughout the Embassy.  Each department decorates their section of the four-story building, and then the kids are escorted through to get their candy! 

The CLO holds a Decorating Contest, so some of these displays were pretty creepy!  Twice, Miss Priss refused to get her candy.  And, yes, Miss Priss is the older one!  One display in particular had a man dressed as Frankenstein's Monster.  An already tall guy, he taped styrofoam boxes to the bottoms of his shoes, to make himself even more intimidating.  He didn't use a mask, utilizing make-up for his green monster face.

Miss Priss made fun of the packing tape on his shoes.

And then refused go near him.

Not even for C-A-N-D-Y!!

After we were safely home, plopped on the couch, sifting through candy buckets, I asked Miss Priss if she knew who the Frankenstein was.

She thought for a while, made a few guesses, and then cried, "Just tell me who it is!"

"It was your best friend's dad!!  I can't believe you didn't recognize him!"

TRICK-OR-TREATING....... check!

There was a lot of fun to be had this past Halloween!  Still, I'll be glad when we are back in The States, where this holiday can be done properly.  I mean, what kind of decent Trick-or-Treat bag DOESN'T contain one single Snickers???

 

An Ode to Summer

First off, I should probably apologize for my lack of communication the past few months.

But it was SUMMER! And things just get squirrely when it comes to summer!

Normally, I feel a bit guilty when I've neglected my blog for this long. Regretting that I did not "buckle down" and "get to work."

Not this time! I have ZERO regrets this time around. Why? Because every second of our summer was spent having fun! If summer was an orange, we twisted up that rind until we had squeezed out every last drop of juice, gulped it down so fast we wound up chugging the seeds along with it, and then licked the glass until every speck of sticky sweetness was gone.

In the history of every summer vacation we have ever had, this one ranks at the top of the list. In fact, when they came up with the word "epic" it was THIS summer vacation they were referring to.

It had everything...

Adventure....

Drama.....

Romance....

But mostly Adventure!

And lots and lots of family and friends!

This is the vacation that all other vacations will be held up to in comparison.

This one will be tough to beat.

But like all great novels, all great films, and all great bars of dark chocolate and tubs of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food, it had to come to an end eventually.

School is in session now. The adventure has ceased, silently returning to a routine of early morning buses, loaded down backpacks and after-school homework.

Which is good, I suppose. Just like too much orange juice, there is such a thing as too much adventuring.

Kids need stability, right?

Sti ll, I can't help but wonder - if Miss Priss is in 2nd grade, but doing coursework at a 3rd grade level, doesn't that technically mean she could skip a whole year of school and still be on track??

Hmmm, that might be something worth looking into.....

Santa Lucia: An Escape From The City

I was lured to Santa Lucia, located just outside of Tegucigalpa, with the promise of two things.

1) A cup of excellent tea at a quaint little Tea House and

2) The ability to safely walk down the street.

I was not disappointed!

This is Santa Lucia...

Nestled in one of the surrounding mountains of Teguc, it offers a quiet respite for the world-weary city dweller.

According to my friend, Heather (aka: The Promise-Maker) the town is populated with artists and craftspeople. 

Bringing Kaye along, the three of us made the short drive to Santa Lucia on a bright blue Thursday.  No bustling crowds.  No husbands or kids to fuss over.  Just three single ladies looking for a nice cup of tea!

This beautiful symbolism of motherhood, entitled "La Florista," greeted us in the Town Square.  From there, we made our way up this staircase, straight from an M.C. Escher print, and onto a lookout point over the town.

You have to love a country that lacks litigation.  It makes for a lot less guardrails and a lot more thrills!

I call this one "The Lookout," Subtitled "Waiting For My Big Sister."  When we arrived at the top of that vertigo-inducing staircase, the first thing we saw was a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains.  The second thing we saw was a young couple sucking face at the other end of the park.  Right in front of this little baby....

Oh, to be young and in love and not give a snit about your poor little sister or the hell-fire that would surely rain down after such a hot session of tonsil hockey!

The graffiti around town was so expertly done.  Next time I come back, I will be sure to bring along a permanent marker and add some script to this piece.  I don't think the past 10 years I've had with Hubster really counts until I declare my love for him in permanent ink on the side of a water tower!

I love this photo of simple town life.  The white steeples of the Catholic church rise up in the background as this mother walks with her son on a dirt pathway.  Perhaps heading home from preschool?

Eventually we made it to the Tea House.  What looked like a small wooden cottage from the street, belied an enchanting cafe.  I felt like I had stepped into a magazine.

A small garden, fit for a fairy.

The woman working in the kitchen (I had to go through the small kitchen in order to reach the bathroom, I was not just stampeding behind closed doors!) was a little bewildered that I was taking photographs of this wall.  A wall of teapots that she works to clean and restock everyday - such elegant simplicity had long ago been lost to her.

It was hard to leave little Santa Lucia after our teapots ran dry.  But there were children to tend to and households to run so, grudgingly, we made our way back down the mountain and returned into the hectic mainstream of big-city life.  Promising each other, all the while, that this is something we must do again.

Thank you for joining us on our little tour of Santa Lucia.  Check out my Instagram feed for a few more photos of that gorgeous church in this peaceful little town.  I hope you will join us again on our next journey and, in the meantime, be sure to discover the adventure around you!

The Color Of Money - Dollars and Dineros in Honduras

I am flush.

I am a High Roller. 

A whale, if you will.

I am a SugarMomma, a Fat Cat, a Big Tipper.

I am Rolling in the Benjamins!

Er, well, Rolling in the Rosas, to be more accurate.

Ramon Rosa, that is.  The Big Portrait of Honor gracing the 500 Lempira bill, the highest denomination of Honduran paper money.

The dinero here is known as a "Lempira," or "Lemps" for short.  The paper bills are a rainbow of colors that come in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500.

There is pocket change, too, of course.  Known as "centavos," the Spanish word for "cents," they come in either silver or gold in 1, 5, 10, 20 or 50.

So what does one U.S. dollar equal in Honduran lempiras?

Roughly, it's 20 lemps.

Let me go over that for you again one more time:

It takes 20 lempiras to equal 1 (ONE!) U.S. dollar.

As you can imagine, this took a little getting used to!

It was strange to look at the 60 lemp price on a menu, at first appalled that beans and chips could be so expensive, then realize that this equates to a mere three bucks.

It's even weirder when you are looking at price tags on clothes that are marked at 600 or patio furniture listed as 10,000.  For the first month or so, my initial reaction was shock at how high these prices were!  Then I would do the math and realize the clothes were $30 and the furniture was $500. 

Nowadays, that math is much more immediate, and I don't have to think too hard when I'm confronted with all these numbers.

How do I do it?  Well, I'm sure there's a wonderfully complicated formula, involving fractions and decimals and an 'x' that equals things, that Math Teachers everywhere would insist must be followed.

But I am just not a complicated-math-equation kind of girl. Here's my inexact, super secret formula:

1) Delete the last digit from the number.

2) Then divide it in half.

That's it!  So, if an item is 628 lemps, drop that last digit, which leaves 62.  Cut that in half and you've got 31.  So the item is $31 and change. 

Easy peasy!

But it wasn't just the math that took a little getting used-to.  It took a while longer to gain some respect for those lempiras. 

To realize that, while 20 lemps might look like $1 to me (and therefore, not much money) to most Hondurans here, who work tirelessly for the few lempiras that they get, 20 lemps is what puts dinner on the table.

Despite that new-found respect, though, you can still catch me gleefully counting out thousands of colorful lempiras, Scrooge McDuck-style, when I cash a check for the month's grocery money. 

A dollar can go far here.  And I'm going to enjoy watching how far that dollar can go!

 

 

 

 

 

At The Mercado - Mangos: The Deliciously Dangerous Fruit

Mangos.

They're lovely, right?  These softball sized fruits that look like a sunrise, all at once green and red and golden.

Tearing open the flesh reveals a savory sweet and delectable treat.  Crimson pearls piled high on tables and spilling out of baskets amongst the fruit and vegetable stands at The Mercado.

Mango trees are plentiful here in Honduras.  And while we do not have any in our yard, they can be seen reaching over the walls of our surrounding neighbors and in the gardens of many of our Embassy friends.

But there is a dark side to this sunshiney fruit.  One that us norteamericanos have little knowledge of, since most of us hail from areas where the mango is considered exotic and expensive.

One that poor Hubster had to find out the hard way.

Hubby woke up one morning with open blisters on his neck surrounded by red, swollen skin.  It looked like a really bad sunburn, but in such a localized area that there was no way to sunburn so horribly in such a pattern.

After checking in with friends and the Health Unit at the Embassy, Hubby discovered that the source of his angry rash was the sap of a mango tree.

Because mango sap = poison ivy.

I know, right!  Who knew?

Hubster had stood under a mango tree after a run the evening before, shaking a branch so the freshly fallen raindrops would cool him off.  A green mango fell and bounced to the ground, freeing up the sap to flow along with the rain.

We just didn't know!

As I discovered through a quick Google search, mangos contain the chemical urushiol, the same oil that gives poison ivy its potent power.  The chemical can be found in the skin of the mangoes, as well as the sap of the tree and possibly the bark and leaves themselves. 

So the next time you are in a tropical mood, and feel the need to devour a plump juicy mango, please take great care. 

If a mango gives you Mango Burn, and you have to take steroids to conteract the pain and swelling, then you might end up with Roid Rage, turn into Godzilla and destroy your whole town.

Don't let mangoes destroy your whole town!  Eat your mangoes with caution!

Pico Bonito Mountain, La Ceiba, Honduras: A Child-Sized Day of Wildlife Adventure

La Ceiba, on the north coast of Honduras, is a spot with enormous potential for adventure.  But the best part is that you can dial that adventure to however much you think your family can handle, which makes it a great place to travel with children!  Last week I took you on a kayaking trip to the beautiful Cacao Lagoon.  This week we are traveling to the Pico Bonito Mountain, on the other side of La Ceiba, for some kid-friendly fun in the jungle!

We saw in our visitor's book of La Ceiba that there was a butterfly garden somewhere, but we were a bit confused as to where that somewhere was.  The book has listed the location as "The Lodge at Pico Bonito," but was it really located at a hotel, or just near the hotel?  Honduran directions can be extremely vague, but after an online search, we set out to see what we could discover.

Following the direction of a small sign we turned off the main drag and towards The Lodge at Pico Bonito located at the end of a long, winding dirt road.  The men at the entrance gate explained that, yes, the butterfly garden was located inside, and for a small fee, we were permitted to spend the day on the grounds.

Perfect!  We paid our lempiras, and headed in to find a parking space.

After slathering on sunscreen and bug spray, a guide led the way to the Butterfly House.

The guide, thankfully, spoke English, so it was much easier for all of us to understand.  For instance, did you know that this area is technically a rainforest?  It's not exactly the vine-covered, tall-canopied, parrot/macaw/cockatoo-filled thing that you see in the movies, but it is, by definition, an actual rainforest.  If you look closely, you might even see Diego swing by!  Go, Diego, go!!

Halfway through our walk, the guide stopped and pointed to the cacao trees a few yards away.  The guide strolled off the path, walked straight up to a cacao tree and picked off three fruits.  He banged one onto the side of a tree until it split apart, revealing the milky-white insides.  The dark seeds in the center are the main ingredient of chocolate, but the white encasing is edible as well. 

Finally, we reached the clearing that housed the butterflies, as well as some other interesting sites.  First we stopped inside the Larvae House to see where the caterpillars are fed and looked-after until they burst out of their cocoons.

This is a Blue Morpho butterfly.  The outer wings contain a beautiful mix of browns and auburns, but turns into a real stunner when he spreads his wings and displays the gorgeous azure on the inside.

Next we stepped into the screened-in Butterfly House, home to Blue Morphos and many other beauties that are not commonly seen in the U.S.  In the above collage, that bottom pic on the left has a little butterfly in it - can you find it?

Nearby, housed in a seperate building, was the Serpentarium.  Here they had a small variety of locally found snakes and lizards.  The girls were excited to hold one, then repelled at the revelation that they were actually touching a snake!

Also located in this area - an Iguana Farm.  No good shots of the iguana's residing here, though.  They were too busy hiding from the strange alien creatures, screeching and howling and running in circles around their house.  (I tried to hide from the aliens, too, but they kept finding me!)

After an exciting morning of discoveries we were tired and starving.  We trudged back to our parked car, right in front of the Lodge at Pico Bonito, and were thrilled to find a lunch menu in their charming restaurant.  It was pricier than what we are used to in Tegucigalpa, but the food was excellant and we were too hungry to care!

While we waited for our order, we passed the time watching a tribe of hummingbirds zip from feeder to feeder and other little birds and creatures wandering about in this peaceful paradise. 

Well, as peaceful as paradise can get when you are being visited by strange, screeching aliens.

The Lodge at Pico Bonito also boasts trails and other birding opportunities, but, even after our tasty lunch, we didn't have enough steam for any more walking.  Near the front desk, though, was a sign that let us know what all we might have seen if had been up for a hike further up the mountain.

Thank you for coming along on our trip to the Pico Bonito Mountain in La Ceiba.  I hope you will join us on our next journey, and in the meantime, be sure to discover the adventure around you!

My Deep Dark Secret: I Have........A Housekeeper!

Hubster told me excitedly before we had even begun packing, "Housekeepers are very affordable
there, and it's very common for people to have full-time housekeepers.  You could even have a nanny!"

His excitement was palpable. 

Now, I could understand his enthusiasm for a housekeeper, after all, it wasn't like I would win any Good Housekeeping Awards for, well, my good housekeeping.  Lord knows he didn't marry me for my ability to weild a mop.

But the nanny thing was going too far.

"Hold your horses, there, buckaroo," I responded, "I am lazy by nature, so you might want to think twice about starting something that you can't continue to pay for when we return to The States!"

I learned when we went house-hunting just how prevailent housekeepers are, here in Tegucigalpa.  Every house (every single one!) had an "empleada" room ("empleada" is the Spanish word for "female employee" and what many people refer to their housekeepers as).  These rooms were typically located off of the kitchen or laundry room and were about the size of a walk-in closet, with just enough space for a twin size bed and maybe a small bookcase.  These rooms do not have closets, but normally contain their own small bathrooms.  I mean really, really small.  A stand-up shower with just enough room to turn around, a toilet and a tiny sink basin.  And, yes, many people here have live-in empleadas who regularly sleep and live in this space. 

Pay-rate, work schedule and living arrangements are different depending on what the household wants and what the empleada wants.  Some housekeepers prefer to live-in, they are usually older or younger.  Older women have adult children that they live with and an absent or deceased spouse, so they don't mind living in someone else's home.  The younger ones don't have a husband or family of their own yet and live with their parents, so they also don't mind living in the boss's home.  Many housekeepers are in that in-between, with kids or husband at home, and prefer to live-out so they can be with their own families in the evenings.

And the hours can vary greatly from home to home.  Awaking the girls at 5:30 in the morning for school, I frequently see from their window the empleada across the street sweeping the rooftop patio.  I assume she is a live-in, but I can't say for sure.  Some homes want their housekeeper there to make breakfast in the morning and get the kids ready for school.  Others may prefer she be there to cook dinner, bathe the kids and do the dishes.  Many prefer to have everything done by their empleada, and these are the homes that hire a live-in. 

I was resistent to having any sort of housekeeper.  After all, how do you know what sort of person you are inviting into your home?  And we're not even THAT dirty, what would a housekeeper DO five days a week?

But as we toured all those homes trying to decide which one to choose, there was one thing you couldn't help but notice.

Tile.

Tiled floors in every room of every house.  Tile, tile, tile.  Even the most luxurious of homes featured tile from top to bottom. 

And I hate mopping.

Like, no, really, I HATE hate it. 

Suddenly, I was beginning to warm up to the idea of a housekeeper.

As I met and spoke with more and more Embassy families and found out that they ALL had housekeepers (and nannies as well, for some) in one capacity or another, I gave in and agreed that we would hire one as well.

But only for three days a week.

And then along came Mary.

Two of my new friends, both Embassy wives, raved about Mary.  "She's so wonderful!  She's so fantastic!  I would've hired her myself, but we inherited a housekeeper from the family before us!"

When I first met Mary, I was struck by how young she was.  Her petite frame and model-high Indian cheekbones belied her actual age.  What I thought was a girl in her 20's was, in reality, a woman in her mid-thirties - the same age as me.

Through a translator, we spoke for a bit, then got down to business.  Mary was firm about what she wanted from her next job.  Because she still has a child at home, she would live-out.  She wanted full-time employment, which for her meant five days a week, eight hours a day.  And she wanted insurance.

"But she prefers to hire someone for only three days of the week," the translator explained to her.

Without hesitation, the answer was no.  It was either full-time or nothing.

I decided to move forward and see how much full-time would actually cost. 

When it turned out to be not-much-more than what I was planning to pay for part-time, that was it.

"You're hired!  When can you start?  How do I say that in Spanish?"

It's been seven months now since Mary came into our home, and as it turns out, we are THAT dirty!  I am thankful she was here during burning season, when particules of dust and ash would pile onto shelves and cover the floors on a daily basis.  I am thankful she is here now during rainy season, cleaning up soaked towels from our leaky roof and working with the contractors to repair it.  Through our daily conversations she is helping me learn Spanish.  And, when I ask, she teaches me how to cook Honduran dishes and explains to me about Honduran life.

Her life. 

Which is vastly different than this walled-up world that I live behind.

Thank You, Tiny Prints! (I'm glad SOMEBODY appreciates me around here....)

This past Mother's Day came and went much like most Mother's Days do. 

The girls gave me adorable cards.  Miss Priss, in particular, is getting good at manipulating my heartstrings with her adorably misspelled missives.  (I can't ever imagine where she got THAT from!)

Hubster cooked up a delectable breakfast and even ran out to Dunkin' Donuts to procure my favorite chocolate creme-filled treat.

I'm not the type to expect lavish gifts on my Mother's Days, I just enjoy my family lavishing love on me all day long! 

Well, and food.  Cause, you know, calories don't count on Mother's Day!

So what a wonderful surprise it was that afternoon, when I finally got around to checking my email and found this buried in all the promotions....

What's that?  Twenty bucks??  There must be a catch.

I scanned all the fine print.... coupon could not be used on photo books, calendars, one brand of planner, shipping or taxes.  But there was no minimum, which meant I could get twenty dollars worth of free (just about) anything!

Delightfully, I headed over to Tiny Prints, already knowing exactly what I had in mind.

Now, I have been a customer of Tiny Prints since that time, many years ago, when I won a giveaway on a fellow bloggers site and received a $50 gift card, just in time for ordering Christmas cards.  I've been ordering my holiday cards from them ever since.  And with their new Treat line, I've also been sending photo cards directly to grandmas and grandpas for birthdays, Easters and, actually, this past Mother's Day, too!

On the Tiny Prints website, I clicked over to the photo mugs.  Hubster hates (HATES!) my mug collection, but he couldn't complain about this one.  It is a Mother's Day gift, after all.  And it's FREE!!!

I wanted a mug to represent our time here in Honduras, and I already knew which photo I wanted to use.  Unfortunately, Tiny Prints does not have a completely blank template for mugs (at least not one that I could find) but I found something very close.  I was able to put my single photo across the entire mug, with just some text to one side.

My order came to a grand total of $5 for the shipping.  I was ecstatic! 

It took two looong, sloooow weeks for my mug to finally arrive (and that's not too bad, considering how far it had to go!) but it finally showed up (despite what looked to be a perilous journey, judging by the box) last week.

And here it is!

This photo was taken in a little town just outside Tegucigalpa called Valle de Angeles.  We are sitting on the outside window sill of a shop that had this bright, beautiful mural painted all along the wall.  The Honduran flag is hanging inside the store behind us, and that white t-shirt in the mural to the right of the window says "I heart Honduras."

I love it!!!!  And what did I choose for that little bit of text I had to include?

JenEverAfter!  My online alter-ego, and possible super hero name if I ever contract amazing super-human powers or give-in to the urge to wear underwear outside my leggings, whichever comes first.

(And everybody say 'hi' to Eddie!  He decided to photo bomb my pic, and he was too cute to crop out.)

So thank you, Tiny Prints, for my free personalized mug!  Not only did you make this girl feel marvelous on Mother's Day, you delightfully tortured my husband in the process!!!!

(This might sound crazy, but I did not receive any sort of compensation for this post.  I don't even think Tiny Prints knows I have a blog!  I wrote this of my own volition as a special Thank You to Tiny Prints and to needle my husband just a wee bit more!)

The 31 Day Blogging Challenge - Day 31: The Finish Line

That's it!  31 days.  31 topics.  31 times I hit "Publish" on my compose page.

31 posts.

Some were great.  Some were not-so-great.  But they are all there.

This whole month of May saw more writing than I have done in a long, long time.  And in the course of all that writing, I made a lot of realizations and discoveries about myself and what I am doing than I have in the last several years of pondering and journaling and reflecting.

First off, I did the one thing that I had most hoped to do through this challenge - I turned on the faucet.  The more time I spend writing, the easier it is for the words to come to me.  That flow has been missing for a while now, due to all of my inconsistency.  It's back.  And I love that feeling of sitting at the keyboard and have things just COME OUT.  If I were a runner, I would imagine this is what a "runner's high" feels like.  The "Writer's High."  It's amazing.

A side-effect of my endless blogging was a head-first dive back into social media.  Blogging and social media really do go hand-in-hand.  After all, there's no point publishing all of these thoughts, pictures and memories out into the world if nobody but your mom (Hi, Mom!) is reading it.  Bloggers blog in the hopes that somebody out there will take notice of what they do.  And after they take notice, they'll come back and read more.  But social media can be a time-suck and a life-suck.  I dove in, and then I burned out, and that's fine.  It's all part of the process.  I will continue twittering and pinning and graming and plusing, but I will have to put time limits on these activities.  Online life is fun, but I prefer living in my real-world life with my real-life family.

I overcame many of the fears that had been plaguing me and my writing for so long.  My perfectionist tendencies (I posted without photos, for crimeny sake.  More than once!!) and the fear that if I write about all of my "good ideas," I won't have any good stuff left.  But that's what's so amazing about turning on that faucet - it's not just the words that flow, when the tap is off, ideas are still dripping out. 

The only fear I have now is that I have reached the end.  Now that my challenge is over, my focus has to be shared with more than just what the post for today will be, I have a fear that I will return to my old, inconsistent habits.  That our upcoming month of summer vacation will undo all of the work I've done, or when things get hectic during the Christmas season, or next year when it is time to pack up and move our whole lives either back to The States or another new country, my faucet will dry up.  This is not a fear that is at the forefront of my mind, though.  Just a little shadow of a thing in the back of my thoughts. 

For now, I am proud and even exuberant that I gave myself a goal and I succeeded in making that goal a reality.  It's something that I hadn't done in a long, long time.  And my plan is to keep at it for as long as the words will continue to come to me.  I still have quite a lot of work to do in the realm of time management, but my new goal is to keep this blog active AND spend time with my family.  I am determined.

And when I'm determined, it's pretty neat to see what I can accomplish!

Hecho En Honduras - A Day At The Bazaar

It had been a loooong week, highlighted with power outages, late nights, spotty internet connections, and a call into the principal's office.

(It had to do with a butter knife, a detention, everybody learning from their mistakes, and no need to discuss it any further!)

Oh, yeah, it was quite the week!

And when you've had a week like that, there's even more appreciation for the bi-annual bazaar held in the garden of the U.S. Embassy.

Not only do us Embassy people have a chance to purchase crafts and handiwork from all over Honduras, it is another event that allows all of us to socialize for the afternoon.

Truthfully, you could not ask to be lumped into a better group of people than the folks that are stuck with right now.  We are truly blessed with all the new friends we have found here!

But enough about me! This week, we interrupt our regular Mercado Programming to bring you a Special Presentation of Hecho En Honduras: At The Bazaar....

Nothing can make you feel as great as chocolate! (Or maybe that's just me.) That large yellow fruit at the top of the photo contains the seeds/beans that cacao is derived from. Quite a lot of the cacao produced here is actually exported to chocolate factories in other countries. Although there is chocolate in the grocery stores here, it's the same M&M's and Hershey's Bars that you'd find in The States. The brightly colored bags in this photo that are holding little Honduran-made chocolate bars are created from fabric produced by the Lenca Indians, one of several types of native Indian peoples that many Hondurans can find their lineage with.

Ok, so a nice glass of this would be a good substitute if the chocolate is all gone. (Not that I'm the one who ate it all....I plead the fifth!) This is wine made from fruits that are commonly found in this country. There's ones that most of you are familiar with, like strawberry (fresa) and blackberry (mora). Other varieties I was not familiar with before moving here. The bottle to the left is made from maracuya, the middle one is a fruit called Jamaica, and the one on the right is a maranon.  A maranon grows on trees and looks like a kid molded a little red sweet pepper out of playdoh.  It also contains something we are very familiar with in The States - cashews.

And, of course, there had to be coffee. This is Honduras, after all!  I'm sure you remember our trip to Marcala, a major coffee growing region, located in the department of La Paz.  A "department" here is similar to a "state" in the U.S.  The coffee in this photo is from Intibuca, a department just west of La Paz.  I am attempting to taste-test coffees from as many Honduran regions as I can while we are here.  We'll see how far I get!

A bazaar is not a bazaar without jewelry! I don't believe any of these materials came from this country, from what I've been told, they mined all the silver out of the mountains years ago.  But these colorful orbs for the ears were handcrafted here.

What looks like rope strung together is actually pine needles lashed together with thread and then fashioned into baskets, trivets, napkin holders and more. I'm told these cheerful items were crafted by women in the Southern part of Honduras.

Paintings here are colorful and vibrant. This is a work by cubist artist Maury Flores.  Born in Tegucigalpa, who is a popular artist in Honduras and is internationally recognized.

Some beautiful pottery. I was told these are crafted by the Pech Indians, but I am having a hard time varifying that online.  Either way, these little treasures are hand-crafted and striking!

And, lastly, hand-carved wooden pieces, which can readily be found all over Honduras. Mahogany trees grow here, as well as pine and cedar, just to name a few.  Here, we have boxes of various sizes, wall plaques, and even a cup of coffee!  It is also commplace to find large trunks with ornate carvings of flowers or pueblos, tables and chairs adorned with floral motifs, and large, smooth bowls perfect for salads or paella.  And it is unbelievably cheap for the amount of work put into a piece!

I left the bazaar loaded down with new items for our home and tasty things eat and drink.  It was an amazing day, and I am looking forward to the next, sometime in late fall, when I'll be scouring the tables for the perfect (not-too-heavy!) Christmas presents to send back home!