An Interesting Market and a Birthday Party

Christina and I decided to go to the market in town. Granted, we have a perfectly good mini-grocery store a block away from our house, but it is small and their stock is very limited. Plus, we predicted (rather correctly) that the town market would be more interesting. So as usual, we woke up at about 6:30am and, after eating our now habitual pancake breakfast, we headed out on our bikes.

Once you get into downtown, you better keep your eyes on the road. Cars come centimeters away from you, the streets are all one way, and there are treacherous ditches inches away threatening your life. I am convinced that before by time here in Honduras is over, I will fall into one and it will not be good for me or my bike. (The ditches are there to help with the annual flooding that occurs during the rainy season. Apparently it floods so much, people have to get around in boats. I can't wait!) Our first stop was the post office. We wrote letters and postcards weeks ago but they had no stamps so we thought we would try our luck again (since our trip to the post office in San Pedro Sula never came to fruition). The postal employees were very nice and had recently restocked their stamp supply so we were in luck. But first they needed to weigh our mail. The 60 year-old postal employee gently and precisely placed my envelope onto his 1930's scale and announced the need postage. When we asked how long it would take to arrive in the United States, he replied assuredly "doce dias (twelve days)." Yeah...we'll see.
Then we headed farther down the road to the market. At then entrance, I discovered a hotel of my namesake. (Pepsi apparently sponsors every hotel and shop here. All the signs are like this one.)
The market consists of numerous outdoor stands and buildings with stands inside. The first building contains fruit and vegetable stands. Christina and I were very disappointed to find there were no strawberries for sale. We have been craving them for a week. Each stand in this building sells exactly the same things. I am not really sure how people decide which stand to go to. You can find: cabbage, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, bananas (of course), and more.
Just outside are where they sell items that can be scooped such as: dog food, a variety of beans, rice, sunflower seeds, etc.
In between this building and the next, there is an outdoor seafood section. The fishermen bring their catches here everyday to sell so it is very fresh. The fish market is outside and the seafood is just lying in bowls (sometimes they have ice, sometime not). A man stands around whose job it is to swat the flies away with a filthy rag.The next building is the meat section. You already know I am a vegetarian, so maybe you think I might be biased, but Christina is a meat lover. We both agreed that it was very disturbing and we were both gagging while taking the photo. The meat section is not air conditioned and very claustrophobic. It was actually the hottest building in the whole market. It stank inside. Oh, and watch out below, I had to jump over a few pieces of random raw meat laying on the ground. I have no idea how the butchers work in there all day and then go home and eat meat. Yuck! And what do they do with the meat they didn't sell?
After the market, we walked down the road to the beach to put our feet in. It was another hot and humid day but so beautiful and the water was great. Then we headed back home to get ready for work.
By the way...the next day, Thursday, was one of our worst days ever. We went to the beach and Christina's bike was stolen (the same one she bought about 2 weeks ago). Then we had to get to school for a parent meeting which did not start until 2:00pm but we had to be at work at noon (to sit around and wait, I guess). We dressed our best in our uniforms and even put on makeup. While waiting, I, unknowingly, sat in a chair covered in glue. Great! Thus I had to go home and change my skirt. The parent meeting was one hour, all in Spanish, so Christina and I were quickly bored. After work, we came home at the Internet didn't work all night. Ah, the joys of Honduras. But we like it here anyway.

Here is us in our lovely uniforms (don't we look like sailors?). Luckily we only have to wear them Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Here are two photos from a birthday party at my school. For every birthday, the parents make a very elaborate birthday cake (does she even know who Strawberry Shortcake is?).
And my lovely students eating pizza (they have so much more individuality and creativity than the uniforms suggest):