one week down!

ive made it a whole week! technically a week and a half. i did finally get my bank account yesterday after jumping through a lot of hoops… apparently when there’s only one bank on the island, you pretty much just have to do what they say.

a few other things ive learned in the past week: money is a little different here. the currency is a lempira. L100=5USD. the common bills to carry around are L1-L500, meaning the sheer number of bills around is a lot higher. and then there’s coins below that! so not only are you carrying around bills equivalent to a nickel up to 25$, there’s also coins. not everywhere takes credit cards, so people carry around cash a decent amount, there’s just a lot more of it to get you just as far. a box of cereal is 9-13$. a handle of rum is 12-15$. whoa, whoa, lets back up. did everyone catch that? you read correctly, a box of cereal and a handle of rum are almost the same cost. at least Honduras has their priorities straight?

another difference: water usage. we catch all of the water we use, which means when it doesn’t rain, our water levels get a little low. i feel like we are much more conscious of the water we use, which is great. but this also means that when i shower, i turn off the water to shampoo, and turn it on to rinse, turn it off to soap turn it on to rinse, etc. luckily its warm here, so i dont mind the on and off.

on that note, im on a new diet, everyone! its called sweating. its where you eat food, and then you sweat constantly. so thats exciting. i dont do scales, but i can definitely feel a difference. i think im also a bit more active here as well, since i tend to hermit in the winter in colorado. i do have a/c in my bedroom, and where i usually work has a/c. but many of the businesses and restaurants around dont always run a/c since electricity here is EXPENSIVE! so it gets pretty warm. dont worry– when you come visit we can run a/c in your bedroom too!

we went on a search for whale sharks thursday, with no luck. it was still a nice way to get out and start the morning with a nice boat ride and a solid dose of seasickness. i kid, i kid– it really was a great boat ride around the east end of the island. Since we had no luck we hopped in the water for a dive when we got back home– here are some of my photos! yes, i’m still learning, no they are not great photos, but you know… im trying!