Our adventure to the Post Office and Market

So, just when we thought we were going to make that long, annoying trip to the post office that is 1 1/2 hours away to get stamps, we find out that our post office here in Tela finally got stamps. Sara and I sent out a few "practice letters" to see if those would get to the US safely, and to see how long it would take. Then, if all goes well, we were going to send out all our other letters. Our entire time in the post office felt like we had traveled back in time.....just take a look at the picture! The man who helped us was nice enough to let us capture this hilarious moment. He carefully and very slowly, tore the stamps out one by one, and we had to lick all of the stamps one by one, and then he continued to place the letters on this dilapidated, metal scale to weigh them.

For the past 2 weeks Sara and I were convinced that the word for "letter" in Spanish was "correr." So for those 2 weeks, as we talked to numerous people, looking for the post office and stamps, we kept asking, " Donde esta la oficina de correros?" and everyone would give us the most awkward, confused looks. We didn't understand why, we both reassured each other that we were saying it correctly, but people just didn't understand us because of our accents. Then sure enough, today, when I finally think to actually look up the word in my dictionary I realize "correr" means "to run" and "correo" means "letter" No wonder everyone looked at us like we were crazy, we WERE crazy because the entire time, we were asking for a "running office" or office for running?! That totally put me in my place!

The next day, we went to visit the market in town, we were excited to find fresher, more inexpensive fruits and vegetables, there were stalls after stalls of fruit and vegetables, lust like I had imagined..... but nothing, nothing, could have prepared us for the traumatizing meat section. This just solidified the vow I had made to myself while I'm here, that I will NEVER eat the meat here, and maybe even turn into a vegetarian.......maybe......The picture could never do this horrible place justice. The meat section of the market was completely closed off , it was a dark, and narrow hallway, with only a small doorway to allow the smallest amount of ventilation possible, and I don't need to remind you about the heat and humidity here, which only worsened the unbearable stench of raw meat! Instead of stalls, like where the produce was, there were tiny "butcher" rooms with entire carcases of animals hanging from the ceiling as men in plastic aprons cut away at the meat, all while flies and bugs flew around (it seriously reminded me of the movie, Hostel). As we passed by we had to literally plug our noses for fear of throwing up. Even the few seconds it took to take this picture were unbearable, and as soon as I snapped the picture, we ran out of there as we tripped over chunks of meat randomly laying on the dirt floor.

The next pictures are of Sara posing next to

bags of rice, seeds, and beans, right beside those

bags, were numerous bags of dog food! And the picture after that, is a picture of my new best friend, only because his produce stand is where I was finally able to find broccoli!!!! Sounds pathetic I know, but it was the highlight of my day!!!!