Mercado Jaceleapa

*Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce the name of the market, neither can I.

Wednesday we made our way to Tegucigalpa (Teguc), the capital city, to explore one of the markets and the bus stations. First we explored the Mercado, which had fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese and some random clothing and accessory items. I bought a pineapple for $1, 10 oranges for $.50 and two pairs of earrings for $1. Pretty good prices, except I have to remember that my ‘walk around allowance’ is only about $2.75/day during training. When we get to our sites and have to pay for everything ourselves it will of course me more, but now everything is provided by our host families.

Then we went to the ‘bus terminal’ to practice asking bus drivers where they were going, when they left and how much it cost. The Honduran idea of a bus terminal is anywhere a bus leaves from. This may be a gas station, outside the supermarket, next to the Mercado, etc and may include from 2-10 buses.

Next we went to the Supermercado, also know as a grocery store American style. I bought soap and Q-tips.

Finally we went to the Peace Corps headquarters and enjoyed the air-conditioned ‘library’ and free internet.

Overall Teguc is not a very nice city. It is sprawling, dirty and hot. Actually Peace Corps volunteers are ‘not allowed to go there unless they need to’, whatever that means.