Cold Fronts

Unfortunately, it is raining here today.  This is bad news because it keeps me from taking another moto adventure.  Brag photos below:

But, fortunately, the weather is easily explained down here.  Any and all weather in San Pedro is caused by a cold front (or its absence).  There is no such thing as high pressure, southerly winds, frigid Canadian air, moist humid air from the Caribbean; nope.  Cold front.  The only questions are when the cold front arrives, leaves, and what number it is.  They number them.  I heard, "frente frío número 23" on the news back in December.  

I suppose it makes sense if that is really only the variable.  Hopefully it passes soon.  I'm hoping to head to the beach tomorrow to play some volleyball.

Semi Literacy

While the majority of Hondurans are literate (80%) they don't seem to place as high of a premium on accuracy of spelling as most Americans do.  Part of this is due to the fact that Spanish has far fewer wonky rules than English and it doesn't necessarily make sense to devote entire classes to the subject in primary school.  But in general, I think there is less importance applied to spelling.

Not a big deal but sometimes results in some funny situations.  For example, I'm working with one Javier Quan down here.  Javier is the man when it comes to bees in Honduras, let me tell you.  This guy knows everything about bees.  You might think that would mean he could give me a cost model for beekeeping but you would be wrong.  I digress.  Javier Quan.  I have his seen his name in various official documents as:  

 

Javier Kuang

Javier Cuan

Javier Quan (nice!)

Javier Quant (my favorite)

There is also my boy Marco.  Poor guy.  His last name is Teodorocopulus...

Literacy

A few weeks ago I had a visit from a locksmith, Carlos.  My apartment door lock had gotten stuck somehow and the key wouldn't open despite my best and repeated efforts.  Finally I caved and called in help.  

Carlos was a nice guy and we talked about what I was doing down here, his moto that was being held together by wires in many places, and the evils of drinking in excess.  After handing him my fistful of lempiras to pay for his work, I asked for a receipt.  He pulled out his pad of receipts and looked at it uncertainly.  Carlos was illiterate.  He said he had trouble with the long words so I helped him spell "llavin".  He was probably 25-30 years old.  Nice guy.  I have a standing offer to go and play cards with him and his friends at the gas station by City Mall whenever I want.  I've got his number so it just might happen.