pay day

finally!

We've been waiting for this day since the first week we got here.
You know, we left with $100 in our pockets. That was kind of a bad choice on our part, mostly because it was gone in the first 24 hours of being in Honduras. We spent it on our hostel in San Pedro Sula... some mix up. I will share it sometime.
Anyway, our hostel keeper was nice enough to take us to an ATM on the way to the bus station the first day we were here. We took out about $50 more dollars, which was also another mistake on our part; we are changed $5 every time we use an ATM out of the country and another 1% on top of that. Should have taken out more!
Then a week later, when we barely had any money left and were wondering if we could get some out of the ATM in town, we learned that the closest ATM was an hour away. We didn't even have enough money left to allow both of us to go to Santa Rosa. So, Alex went with Marco, got out about $300, and brought back bath towels, kitchen towels, and a rubber bath mat. And with the rest of this money, we survived September. Albeit on pupusas and cup of noodles, but we survived.

Pay day is the last day of the month. We had to get an advance of L.3000 to pay for the month in our first apartment. For some reason, the land lady did not require money before hand. Additionally, our new land lady, who is more business savvy, wanted us to give first and last month's rent. So, this month, we are paying for 3 months of rent, or nearly 4 if you want to consider that our rent is now only L. 1800 a month. Next month will be a lot better.

For the both of us, we'll be getting about L.15,000. It's really not a bad deal.


On a different note, I've been kind of a night owl these past couple nights (10pm is now super late for us, don't you know). Part of it is due to my new found obsession with Ree. Oh, she is funny and smart and is officially my new role model. You can check out her website if you'd like: The Pioneer Woman. Thanks to her, and some other blogs I've been gathering inspiration from, I am really excited to start trying new recipes and learning how to make delicious food from scratch.

But, as I've been reminded several times in the past two hours, it is past my bedtime, and we must be at the market at 6am if we want to get the best veggies. Meat is ready for sale at 8am, so we can skip the shower first thing. Good thing, because I am going to be tired in the morning.

tour of the new apartment

 ¡¡Bienvenidos a nos casa!!

Ours is the door on the left.

what we see when we walk in.

Turning to the right...

Where we keep our clothes, books, and medicine.
The door on the left is to the bathroom.

See?

Sink, toilet, and shower

The most beloved feature in our house.
Shower with HOT water!

View from the far corner of the room.
Bathroom on the left, entrance on the right.

That's our window from the outside and the pathway we take to get in and out.
The building below and to the right is our landlady's house.

Looking from our door in the hall, we see the path to the kitchen.

Our kitchen! Fridge, Stove/Oven, Sink, and Microwave!

Our little portion of the kitchen. Just the bottom sections ... enough for us!

Our section of the fridge. Fresh squeezed orange juice, "wheat" bread,
oranges, limes, cheese, beans and rice.

Stepping outside the kitchen, we have a hammock.

A bit further to the left and there is a pila to wash clothes.
Not the best nor most fun to use.

And out in the yard, flowers, plants, and the hammock.
Take a look at the top right - bananas!

beans and rice

I now understand why the Latina's I've seen cook don't use measuring cups... there are none in 3rd world countries.

Beans -
- 1 lbs beans (that's two cups people)
- 4 cubes of garlic bouillon (or two table spoons of minced garlic)
- 2 small tablespoons of salt (not all the way full)
- 2 tablespoons of chicken bouillon
- a bunch of cilantro... there is no way to know how much, but it was a lot
- 2 packets of cumino (each packet is about a palm full)

Rice -
- 2 cups of rice
- 3 cubes of garlic bouillon
- 3 juicy limes
- 1 three finger pinch of salt
- a bunch of cilantro

Put the rice in a pan with some oil (enough to cover the rice, but not so much as to drown it) and lightly brown. Put all of the other ingredients in a pot with four blue cups of water (our cups here are blue.... I don't know how big they are or how much they hold!) and taste, adjust if necessary, and then put the rice in. Well, you people know how to cook rice...


Disclaimer: We have not tried the food that has come of these recipes. I will take this post down if it is terrible. I will add if our burritos turn out delicious!