First Impressions

I have now been here for three weeks.  Three weeks of meeting people, making new friends, learning about the language and culture.  It has passed very quickly.  I thought you might want to hear a little about my neighborhood.  Unfortuantely, I have pictures, but don´t have the proper equipment to upload them.  Hopefully next week I can show you the neighborhood also.  For now ... i will describe my neighborhod.  What I see here isn´t all of Honduras. It is simply my neighborhood.

Everymorning I wake up to rooster´s crowing, dogs barking and the sounds of children and adults talking as they walk past our house on their way to school or work.  Our neighborhood is full of noises ... the men talking as they hang out infont of our house (their favorite impromptu gathering place) ... firecrackers which the kids love ... trucks and buses passing by.  And it is full of the smells of cooking ... tortillas made fresh each day, plantains, beans, fried pigs skins and occasionally chicken or meat.

Tegucigalpa is built in the mountains.  It´s streets resemble those of San Fracisco in the grade as many are very steep and others not so much.  Our neighborhood has some very steep streets, like the one directly in front of my house where cars have to gain momuntum to go up the hill.  Many of our ´streets´are narrow alleys which are also stairways.  Others are just normal alleys.

Out side out neighborhood the streets are paved, but in our neighborhood only the five main streets have pavers, the rest are dirt.  Homes are all built next to each other usually sharing walls.  The nicer homes like ours have brick or stucco exteriors with a tin or terracotta roof, concrete walls and tile floors.  Other homes are make of tin or wood often with holes.  Rooms are often devided by curtains rather than walls and curtains often serve as doors as well.

We have lots of plants growing in our neighborhood ... hydrangea, hybiscus, azaleas, fruit trees and various grasses.  It really is beautiful in its own way.  Many of the homes are painted reds, blues and yellows, but many are also hues of brown.

The reason I love my neighborhood already isn´t the dogs and cats and chickens which wander in and out of houses or the close proximity of the homes of our friends, but the inhabitants who are warm  and whose children are playful and loving.  I am happy to be beginning to form friendships with them!