Lempiras

September 3rd 2009 8:30pm

Today, I learned the true value of the lempira. It is not the 15:1 ratio that I had previously assumed, but it is infact much closer to 19:1, which means that the appartment that I am renting costs only 450$US per month, which includes electric, hot water, telephone, cable, and internet. On top of that, my sheets are washed, my trash taken out, and my bathroom is cleaned every day.

Just wanted to say a little something about how great my apartment is.

Other than that, today was a very average type of day. On our way to the office we talked about the layout of the city. I found it kind of confusing because the roads are not only set up in a typical square fasion (largely because the terrain won't allow for it), but also because most of them aren't labeled and don't have names. If you ever get a chance to see a map of Tegucigalpa, you will understand what I mean. For some reason, though, the traffic today was not nearly has heavy as it has been, and the 45 minute commute was shortened to a mere 15 minutes, which then led to Freddy and I arriving half an hour early to an office without internet.

Luckily Bethsave (or Betsah as I call her) was there and we talked for a little bit about various music. She likes to sing and told me about some of the concerts in the area. I told her that the only Spanish song that I knew was "Sabor a mi" and she laughed. It is along the lines of "Fly me to the Moon" and is very much a crooner song.

Slowly, people started to filter in, and we all made small talk as we realized that the internet probably was not going to work for the rest of the day. Edgardo, Betsave, Patty, and I decided that we would like to go to the movies next week to see "Amor y Frijoles" or Love and Beans. We decided to go next week because on Tuesdays and Thursdays they have half priced movies.

Edgardo gave me a couple of books to work on my class planning with, but with them being at college level and with me lacking an online translator, I really struggled through the chapters that would have helped me. I was able to outline the classes in English, and was working on the Spanish translations for most of the rest of the day. Around 11, I gave Hector (another guy from the office) 45 lempiras, or a little over 2$ for lunch, and around 12:30pm, we stopped work for a lunch break. We laughed and joked around for a while before the food got there, and Edgardo and I came up with our "saludo", or handshake which became incredibly involved.

I was able to eat an entire chicken breast and a plate full of fries before becoming full and declining the rest of my lunch, and giving what was rest of my platter to Maricela. Then it was back to work, but I had little work that I could do with the internet being down. I felt bad about pulling up a game of Minesweeper, until I saw that Patty was also working hard a computer game.

After playing for a while, Patty started looking through her desk and found a map of Honduras and a tourist book in both English and Spanish. We spent some time looking through both of them with her telling me the things that I absolutely need to see and the places I need to go while I am here. I need to go to the Copan Ruines, The Bay Islands, and a few of the cities on the Caribbean coast. San Pedro Sula is "alright" but I think she was mainly saying that because she really loves Tegucigalpa.

I spent most of the rest of my day at the office perusing through the book and the map trying to determine where and when I could travel a bit. Around 4:30, we all piled into the CCD's van and went to leave. When we backed up, however, we found that our spare tire had fallen and was scraping up against the ground. Elmer and I got out and fixed it, by which I mean I turned a screw in various ways according to what he asked, while he manuevered the tire and its holder under the van.

Soon we were on our way, and we all got out when we reached Plaza Mira Flores. We said goodbye to Elmer, and most of the people got taxis, while Maricela, Christiana, and myself walked across the street (by means of a bridge over the roadway) to the Plaza. I needed to buy a backpack for my computer, because I was warned that laptop bags are a target for muggers, and Christiana took me around to a few stores , where she helped me pick out just the right (cheapest) one that I could get.

Once I got the backpack, Christiana and I parted ways and I went to go looking for food. I wanted to try pupusas, a typical Honduran dish. I got the food to go, and was about to leave when I passed a store with pants on sale. I knew that I had left my nice pair of black pants at home, and so I decided to go in and purchase them. They were much nicer than I thought, and cost 350 lempira, and I got a belt and some socks to go with it for an additional 150 lempira, which totals around 27 $US.

After I got done shopping, I returned to my apartment, and called down to the front desk to see about payments and about a couple of other things. They answered the phone and I said that my name was Alan "Ohhh, Ahlahn! Como esta? Todos esta bueno, si?"

The response has led me to believe that this building is very aware that there is a gringo here, and I'm not really sure how to take it. After talking with the nice lady on the other end of the phone for a while, I went dowstairs to the farmacy in our lobby and got a 20 oz pepsi in a glass bottle for 8 lempiras, or less than 50 cents. There, I was also greeted with a very large "Ahlahn! Como estas?" From another person who I had never seen before in my life.

I imagine that the owner of the building might have said something like...we have a customer in 12, his name is Alan.

The staff said...Alan, who is he?

Oh...you'll know who he is. You'll know...

After I got my pepsi, I went back to my room and ate my dinner of pupusas and pepsi, which was both delicious and filling, on my balcony. I watched the sunset, and the clouds roll in filled with silent lightning. When I had finished eating, I continued to watch the sky for a while as it occasionally lit up my night.