A woman’s note:

So, after the 2 weeks of pampering: being served 3 meals a day and someone else washing our clothing by hand.  It’s time to get into real life.  We’ve got running water, separate drinking water, and electric so absolutely nothing to complain about!  Luis was kind enough to tell us that Santa Cruz has a new (2 week old – good timing!) “super market” and he stopped on the way to San Isidro to allow us to buy a few things since there is nowhere to buy anything more than a snack pack of “chips” or a soda in San Isidro and we don’t have a vehicle yet to drive the 15-20 min. into Santa Cruz.  The “super market” was awesome, more than I would have dreamed of.  It’s basically Aldi but only like 1/2 the size and selection.  Before this store came to town there were just several “pulperias” (mom and pop shops with a few of the basics) and then vendors selling their produce from time to time.

So as we walk into the store I pause…  What do we buy without knowing our future?  What do we have to work with?  Kaleb’s got pocket knives. We brought some utensils and a skillet.  The room has a mini frig (praise God and pray that the electric doesn’t go off too often).  Utensils= good, but the skillet will do me no good without a way to heat it.  Maybe they would allow us to build a little fire at the office? – but better ask about that first.  But, with a mini frig we can get some nourishment for sure!  So without knowing how long it will be until we’re back at the store we decided to go for a few things that will go a long way for 2 people.  A pineapple, some bananas, 3 bags of cereal, a gallon of milk, loaf of bread, a container of strawberry jelly, 2 bowls, and a small bag of laundry detergent.  Note: as many of you travelers know peanut butter is a hard thing to find in other countries.  

So our food is in order at home we’ll have fruit, cereal and milk, and jelly sandwiches until we can get back somewhere else.  

Our first morning on at our new place Kaleb was watching it rain and all of the sudden food fell from the sky.  He grabbed his rain jacket and ran for it before anyone else did.  He hollered to me that it was a guanabana (one of my favorite flavors) and I ran to join him.  We squatted like two starving children rinsing the dirt off and pulling the flesh out of the already split open fruit. We both tired it but fairly quickly spit it out – it’s super sour when you eat it fresh so instead we have it peeled, seeded, and freezing to keep.  We looked up ways to make juice (all require sugar). We discovered the office yard has a loaded guanabana tree and orange trees.  Needless to say we’ll enjoy the fruits.

With the “pila” (outdoor washing station with running water) at the office and my purchased laundry detergent I’ll be able to start washing our clothing by hand this week!

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If you wanted to get a glimpse of our time in Copan or interested in trying it out yourself:

Here’s the link to the family’s website where we stayed:

http://posadaernestos.com/

Here’s the link to the Spanish School:

http://www.guacamaya.com/