Saltboxes in Honduras

Saltbox back, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

I've been killing two birds with one stone the past few days. I've been using the posts from the SPS Daily Photo blog and posting them over here. It just seemed to be interesting enough for both blogs. I'll try to do a recap of some of the fun we had and show some pictures of the kids and the really cool cabin we stayed in on this trip in the next couple of days. But until then, here is some more images and info about the Americans in the little town of San Juancito.

The homes surrounding the US Consulate are colonial saltbox style clapboard homes. The picture above shows the back side of the house. At the front of the house (images below) you can see a stone marker probably saying something about the home and it's history. I didn't get a chance to read it as I was holding things up by stopping our trek up the mountain to take photos. I thought I might be a little nervous living in one of these homes with them being built along the slope of the mountain with long posts driven down into the ground to hold the home up. Something must have been done right in the construction to keep the house up for nearly 100 years now.

The larger two story house "next door" to the consulate was in such a state of disrepair. It is currently undergoing renovations. Either to preserve or to inhabit the home. If you can see the interior walls have been redone. Interesting the way the exterior is ripped wide open for all to see inside.

The photo taken from further up the road I also posted yesterday, but I just wanted to show again the steep incline these homes were built on. Yikes!

If no one minds, I'll probably have at least one or two more days of photos from our trip. I'll try to keep it at one photo though. Tomorrow we'll be visiting a graveyard.

Crazy Corn

Elote, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

This past weekend we went to a mountain festival in a town called San Juancito. It was a great time and I very much enjoyed the fresh air. The kids had a great time too. I know sister likes something when she asks if we can move there. There was very little electronics in use and it was a nice change to cool nights for cozy sleeping wrapped up in blankets. I haven't had time to compose a proper recap of the weekend, so until then, here is a short post from my other blog. The SPS daily photo blog.

These corn on the cobs are not sweet corn. They are called elote. They have a bland corn flavor. The bucket of corn is being cooked by a heater of some kind in the box with the corn cartoon. You can see the fuel tank with a line under the box. The corn is then put on a stick slathered in mayonnaise and sprinkled with grated cheese that is similar to parmesan cheese. This treat they call "crazy corn".

Here are some photos of a few young kids enjoying their treat.

Fast Changing Gas Attendent

My husband asked me to stop and get gas tonight. I had an appointment so I stopped on my way home. Most gas stations have attendants that pump the gas for you. It's a security measure so it requires prepay and no drive off.

On my way out of the house my husband hands me what I thought was five L100 bills. L100 = about US $5 and the capital letter L = lempira, the Honduran currency. He said "put gas in the car". I didn't count it at the time, but we had discussed taking L500 previously. Once at the gas station I hand the (5) bills to the attendant and he walks away. He punches some buttons on the gas pump or does something I couldn't see and then turns back to me and spreads the bills out in his hands and says (in Spanish) "only four hundred". I say, "no, five hundred". As he stood there holding out the four wrinkly bills for me to see as if to say, "no lady, see, you only gave L400". I started second guessing myself and wondering if I miscounted & misplaced a L100 bill or maybe my husband only gave me L400 not L500 as I thought. I wasn't sure and I didn't know how to argue the point.

There I was just screaming to be taken advantage of. I had just experienced recently that the customer is not someone thought highly of or respected. Who was going to believe me? I felt stuck. So yes, this white girl was taken advantage of, fast changed and lost a quick $5 bucks. You might think $5 dollars is not a lot to lose, but we live on Honduran wages, not US wages. Many people live on that much a day or less. It's hard to compare, but if I lose L100 here it is like losing US $20 dollars in the states.

Once I got home and told my husband, of course he said I should have called him, but in my confused mind it didn't occur to me. He confirmed that he did give me L500 and after a thorough search of my purse, my husband being so protective, wanted us to drive back to the gas station and try and set some things straight, but it was getting late and it was just not worth the time, gas, hassle and headache. I told my husband that we should just leave it up to God if he wants to teach that guy a lesson. I know I learned one. Be very, very careful and count out your money to the gas pump attendants and make sure you both agree what amount is being exchanged. Video tape it if possible.

Would you go back to the gas station and confront him?