April 1, 2010
I have had a lot of emails and comments lately referring to my blogs not always painting a pretty picture, and a lot more concerns from people on us choosing to live in this less than perfect environment. And I just want to say that I think that some people are just simply missing the point!
Living in a third world country may not be easy; but when things are easy, they aren’t always appreciated. Living in the states, we are blessed with a zillion choices for everything. There’s an entire aisle dedicated to cereal – an entire aisle! There’s probably 100 or more different salad dressing choices. There’s even dozens of varieties of produce that is shipped in from thousands of miles away. Anything you could ever want, you can find in a store or order online – and voila – it’s there! We take those things for granted, and we never stop to appreciate the modern conveniences of our lives. And, to be honest, we are spoiled brats who expect nothing less than everything to be there whenever we want them.
Traveling through Central America a few years ago, I certainly noticed that you can’t find things as easily. But living here – in the third largest city in Honduras, nonetheless, I am learning that you can get by just as easily, yet be more appreciative for the things that you do get. It may take a couple trips to a half dozen stores to find what you want, but you’ll find it. And if you don’t, you learn to do without. And when you do find it, you are so much more appreciative of having it.
And it’s the little things. A couple that comes into our restaurant regularly took us out to an amazing Italian restaurant for dinner the other night. It was such a fantastic treat! This little restaurant is run by a family from Northern Italy who moved here a few years ago to be able to cook food for people, but also to be able to enjoy the slower pace of Central America. The menu is simple – it is written every day on a marker board when you first walk in and it changes based on the ingredients they have available. I was so excited to see that they had fettuccine with portabella mushrooms on their menu that night! I haven’t been able to find good mushrooms anywhere in this town since they apparently do not grow in this area. And mushrooms are a daily part of my diet back home. (Produce is shipped into a few select grocery stores in town, but it is almost always bad by the time it gets here. It is always better to buy from the local farmers and eat what is fresh and in season – something we don’t always strive to do back in the states!) The dinner was amazing and I savored every bite of mushroom! (Apparently, they do grow more inland and she has friends that deliver them to her when they come to the coast.) Amazing how you can take something so basic for granted.
Ceiba is a big city, and we really have more amenities and supplies than most cities throughout Central America. We may only have a dozen varieties of cereal (mostly corn flakes and sugary options). We may only have a choice of wheat or white bread (not 5 grain, 7 grain, 9 grain, 12 grain, rye, honey wheat, wheat, light wheat, dark wheat, etc). Our milk comes in skim and whole and nothing in between. And bandaids are near impossible to find – even in pharmacies! But, I am learning to appreciate the things that we do have.