Sunday, August 30, 2009

Bounty for the Weekend

Saturday morning we had our first trip to the local “farmer’s market” for fresh fruits and vegetables. Although we didn’t take our camera to the market, we did get some photos of some of the stuff we bought. Someone recommended that we clean them first with a 15-minute soak in a weak bleach solution followed by a 5-minute soak in plain water. Here is a picture of the fruit drying after the final soak.

The strangest thing we got was a small red prickly fruit with a grape-like center and a large seed in the middle. The outside looks like one of those fuzzy stress balls. We had seen these in Honduras so they were not a total surprise, but they are unique, nonetheless!

We had several other surprises… the carrots were about as large as normal size cucumbers;
the “oranges” had generally green skins but were normal on the inside.

One more thing we are still getting used to is how many items are packaged in bags… salad dressing, mustard and mayo (we found ketchup in a plastic bottle, although it is sweeter than in the US), laundry detergent, milk, and a host of other things. We even saw plastic containers you could buy to put the bags in... a form of recycling!

Please understand we are only noting the differences, not saying anything about better or worse. We find it fascinating to see how different cultures use the resources they have and consider this part of our education.

We have one more day of orientation on Monday, August 31, and then classes start on Tuesday… woo-hoo!

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