Travels off the beaten path

Honduras, vegetable markets of San Pedro Sula, Part 10

Honduras-Part 10-The vegetable markets of San Pedro Sula

The fruit and vegetable markets are co-mingled, but for purposes of illustration, I thought I would separate the photographs and just show the vegetables in this post.  It probably makes it more interesting. 

Santos walked through the markets with me for the entire time.  Having a Honduran with me seemed to give me more credibility with the vendors.  Santos acted more like a bodyguard than a taxi driver.  He was always staying close by, looking around, watching the people, etc.  I finally asked him about it.  He said he used to be a security guard and it was just second nature to him to be watching the crowd to make sure no one tried to pick my pocket, or grab my camera.  OK with me.  Later, he told me I should never go into those markets alone.  Said lots of pickpockets were there.

While we were strolling through the markets, I could occasionally hear comments in the background about the American guy taking photos, but could not discern exactly what they were saying.  A number of the vendors just flat-out asked me if I wanted to take photos of their produce.  I think I was just an oddity there.  I was probably a break from their normal Saturday market routine.  Every time I spoke with one person, (3) three others would come up to listen just because they were curious.  Fine with me.  The more the merrier. 

Ok, check out these photos.  Pretty good looking stuff, huh?

After a few hours in the markets of San Pedro Sula, it was time to return to the hotel to get ready to leave for my 3 hour bus ride to the west to visit the little town of Copan Ruinas.  But first, lunch!!

Next: A trip to Power Chicken for lunch!

Steve Barrymore ssb11@prodigy.net

To read about my other travels click here

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Quito Ecuador (Cont’d)-Part 17 Food Pictures of Ecuador

Quito Ecuador (Cont’d)-Part 17 Food Pictures of Ecuador

 As I have mentioned in many of my blogs from my other trips, people are usually interested in seeing what you eat while traveling in foreign countries.  So once again, I will publish a few photos of some of the food I ate with the Ecuadorian family that I lived with in Quito, while attending school.

 The photo below is of Jesús and me.  Jesús is from Colombia and has a little storefront across from the Academia de Espanol.  Everyday he grills and sells plantains and corn on the cob.  Once he found out I had been to Colombia, we became fast friends.  He would wave at me everyday when I entered the school building across the street.

That’s about all the food photos I figured you would want to see.  My next blog about Quito will be my final one.  I will just select a few photos that represent what you may see when you visit. 

Steve Barrymore ssb11@prodigy.net

Read about my other travels click here

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Quito, Ecuador (Part 11) Presenting to the students at Academia de Español

Quito, Ecuador (Part 11) Presenting to the students at Academia de Español

After receiving the assignment to go to the market to buy fruits that I have never seen nor heard of; the next big challenge was to give an oral presentation in Spanish to the rest of the class about the various  kinds of fruit and what I had learned about each.  The other students all had to do the same, so we were pretty much in the same boat.    Thank God for the Internet to do our research!

I actually found the challenge of the presentation to be fun.  We were all sympathetic to each other’s plight so everyone paid attention.  It was a great exercise to help us improve our language skills.

Here I am wowing(??) the class with my presentation.

Notice the fruit on the platters in the foreground.  One of the teachers labeled each type with it’s name.   Here are some of them closeup:

The Tuna fruit was really sweet and delicious.  Once you understand it is not the same as the fish, you can really enjoy it!

After each presentation we all got an opportunity to sample each kind of fruit.  I thought it was a great teaching exercise and an opportunity to learn more about Ecuador.

To read about my other travels click here

Steve Barrymore ssb11@prodigy.net

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Quito Ecuador (Cont’d)-Part 10 –shopping the produce market of Quito

Quito Ecuador (Cont’d)-Part 10 –shopping the produce market of Quito

I really enjoy the street markets of Latin America because they are always so interesting, plus the vendors are always willing to talk with you.

The previous afternoon,  my teacher had given me the names of a bunch of different kinds of tropical fruits to research on the internet.  Most of them I had never seen nor heard of.  My assignment the next day(Wed.) was to go to the market, buy each of the fruits, and be prepared to give a show and tell report to the other students. I was supposed to show each fruit and tell some details about each one; like how it is grown, its growing season, flavor, uses, etc.  That sounded fun.  I was up for the challenge.

 We walked 3-4 blocks to a big indoor fruit market.  The best way to give you the idea of the market is to show a bunch of photos here.  You’ll get the idea.

Pretty interesting stuff….huh?  My next step would be to put it into words and do my best to explain it to the rest of the students in school.

Steve Barrymore, ssb11@prodigy.net

Next-Making the presentation to the other students

To read about my other travels click here

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