Monday, July 11, 2011

Streets Look the Same

Things I noticed in the States:
  • People obeying traffic regulations of all sorts. Including speed limits. 
  • I didn't go over one speed-bump!
  • Beer. Delicious. Plentiful. DIFFERENT!
  • Food. Delicious. Plentiful. DIFFERENT!
  • I didn't experience dramatic cultural shock per se, but rather I would expect Honduran things to happen and then be disappointed when they didn't occur. Like the fact that there was no one trying to sell me stuff on the Metra. 
  • The lack of dogs in the street, chickens waking you up, or burning trash at the corner. 
  • I have access to good supermarkets in La Ceiba, and so as a result I don't lack for much, but Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are incredible because they are able to offer so many options.  
  • I didn't feel tall. 
  • Diversity of all sorts was the main thing I took away from my time in the states. Whether it's the types of peanut butter available in WF, or just the incredible cross-section of people on the street, the US has never looked more mixed up. Hell, even the television shows are all different, not just soccer and televangelism. We are lucky to have lots of diversity of all sorts and blends. 
  • Great friends, looking forward to getting back in 14 months...
They tried. Not staged. 
Guatemala: 
  • Chicken busses are even more packed than Honduran ones.
  • A more lively and colorful culture than in Honduras. A lot more history it felt like, both colonial and pre-colonial.
  • Traveling with Dirty Mike is always an adventure. Watch out for his now fluent Spanish.
  • Guatemala was lots like Honduras in the sense of varying landscapes and geography, but even more dramatic. Lago de Atlitan contra Lago de Yojoa. Maybe not better, but more dramatic. 
  • More developed in the sense of infrastructure and planning.
  • Lots of Honduran words absolutely do not work, like cheque or jalon. 
Antigua, Guatemala