Cardodging and a Ram's horn

You might be interested in an update of our Tegucigalpa experience so far, or at least hearing about what it's like to be newly married and living in a foreign country.

We've spent a good deal of time "cardodging", which some people might call running if it wasn't so exciting. Cars aren't used to navigating around people running for exercise or enjoyment and try to pretend like you aren't there - leading to some close calls. Whatever gets your heart rate up.

We went to church this morning. We found out from the armed guard in front of the church that the service started at 10am. It was fun and boisterous! We recognized some of the songs, and the sermon really challenged our Spanish skills. The people were really friendly and welcoming and we really enjoyed it. One highlight was a man in the front right of the auditorium who had brought his favorite instrument of worship, a HUGE Ram's horn, and blew it with gusto whenever he saw fit. Though quite out of tune and rhythm, it certainly added an interesting element of Old Testament tradition to the otherwise contemporary and charismatic service. You couldn't quite get accustomed to it though, everytime that thing went off, we jumped and then tried to deny the fits of laughter welling up from within. Pure joy.

We climbed to the top of a hill in the center of town with Parque la Paz crowning the top. From there you can see a good portion of Tegucigalpa and hear the incredible cacophony of car horns and city noises. Apparently the monument was erected as a peace tribute to the end of the Soccer War. The Soccer War ran a bit deeper than sports rivalry, but started when Honduras played Guatemala back in 1969.

We also decided it was time to start cooking for ourselves in earnest, partly because we've been eating out since we got married in August except for some lovely occasions with friends and family and some good home cooking. Partly because we like it. Partly because there aren't a whole lot of places to go out to eat in Tegucigalpa. We spent a couple hours at the grocery store today and made a project out of it. We made up a grocery list and realized that although many of the ingredients are available, it's hard to find substitutes for things like ricotta cheese.

We added more pics to the Tegucigalpa album in response to reader feedback (More pics more pics!), now you can have a visual of all that we've told you about. Tell your friends.

Tegucigalpa