Gold Mine Property

Gold mine property, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

This is on some property on the mountain of San Juancito. There were Americans in the early 1900's set up there in Honduras. They mined for gold and processed it on this property. Not sure what these buildings are, but they looked interesting.

More photos of the Americans and the mark they made in San Juancito to come, so stay tuned.

Crazy Corn

Elote, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

These corn on the cobs are not sweet corn. They are called elote. They have a bland corn flavor. The bucket of corn is being cooked by a heater of some kind in the box with the corn cartoon. You can see the fuel tank with a line under the box. The corn is then put on a stick slathered in mayonnaise and sprinkled with grated cheese that is similar to parmesan cheese. This treat they call "crazy corn".

Here are some photos of a few young kids enjoying their treat.

Two Blue Buckets

Two Blue Buckets, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

Two metal pots sitting near the water spigot next to a pulperia in San Juansito. I loved the colors.

Decorated Eggs

Easter Eggs, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

I know it's a month past Easter, but I never got a chance to show off the Easter Eggs we made here.
In Honduras they don't celebrate Easter with much candy, bunnies and chocolate as in the states. We could not find anything to decorate Easter eggs either. You know those little kits you can buy with the little coloring pellets. Thanks to my sister she showed me a website that gave some really fun ways to decorate with things around the house. The decorating was fun and the eggs turned out really pretty, don't you think?

But one thing happened that I didn't expect. There was this film like stuff that made the dyes not stick well to the eggs. There was lots of peeling and flaking. I was curious why this was happening. Then I started thinking how in Honduras eggs are not kept in the refrigerated section of the grocery stores. They are kept out on the shelf at room temp. Why? A little strange for me at first to see, but now I'm used to seeing it. Then it occurred to me that this film that I was seeing while decorating my eggs must be removed in the states when they are cleaned, sanded and bleached to be perfectly white removing the protective coating making them more perishable. Thus, needing refrigeration.

Okay, that's my theory. Correct me if I'm wrong. I thought the eggs were pretty enough to share the photo.

Stuffed truck

Stuffed truck, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

This is a truck heading for the plastic recycling center. You can see the center on the left in the photo. It's the white building. Trucks of all kinds will carry as much plastic pop bottles as they can and drop them off for some cash. How high they can stuff the trucks is most often an interesting feat in defying gravity. As you can see the truck is literally being run into the ground. Also note the puff of exhaust. There is no exhaust regulations or clean air act in Honduras. At least they recycle.

Lazy Lagoon

lagoon, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

At the Parque Ecológico Infantil San Ignacio in Masca, Cortés. This is a water park and zoo about 20 minutes past Puerto Cortes on the north coast of Honduras. There is a lazy lagoon to take a relaxing stroll around. There is a monkey island that you can just slightly see in this photo where some more active monkeys live. When you walk by you can see them out there playing and jumping around the trees. Park staff take a boat out to feed them.

Now In Season

mangos, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

Mangoes allowed to ripen on the tree in the right environment taste so, so, so delicious. Like candy. One way locals here like to eat them is a little green and then they sprinkle salt, pepper, cumin and lime. It's an interesting mix of flavors. We like to eat them fresh or with some yogurt in our house.

San Pedro Sula Sunset

IMG_2050 013, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

This photo was taken by my daughter one night while on a walk. We were talking about how pretty the sunsets are in Honduras so she decided to take the photo. The city of San Pedro Sula is in a valley surrounded by hills. Driving out of the city always offers great views.

This photo is from within our residential so you can see the perimeter wall. The trees in the photo are not dead. They have dropped their leaves and will start to grow new ones soon. I've heard this time of year in Honduras is sometimes called "summer-fall" because it's so hot yet the leaves are dropping too.

Corn Grinder

This is a corn grinder that is used to make homemade masa. The best tamale I've ever tasted was made from corn ground in the grinder the same day it was made. There is nothing like fresh.

Form Follows Function

You can see how form followed function in bathroom design in this photo.

This is the sink to wash your hands after using the bathroom at Casa de Todo in Copan Ruinas, Honduras.

As I start out the blog I want to say that I live in San Pedro Sula, but will also share photos from around Honduras. In the next few days I'll be sharing some photos of one of my favorite places in Honduras, Copan Ruinas. This city is about 4 hours by bus from San Pedro Sula up in the mountains.

Seed Pod Puffs

seed puffs, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

Seed puffs released from seed pods this past week in our neighborhood. I tried to figure out which type of tree they come from and think I've narrowed in down to the Kapok tree.

I would have liked if they were more like dandelion puffs or cottonwood tree seed puffs that blow around when you walk through them. It would have been a little more fun. There was a cottonwood tree up the street from where I grew up in MN and when the seeds were released it always looked like it was snowing in July and I enjoyed running through the cotton "snow". These seed puffs are a little more dense and tend to stay in one place once they've landed.