Coyol

The pride and joy of Olancho, Coyol. I have been told it only exists in Olancho, I am not completely convinced. It is a type of palm that during the dry season ferments (by itself) the liquid that is inside it to create a alcoholic drink. True Olanchano style. The pictures I have included below are the nasty nasty spines on the palm, the coyol fruit (kind bland tasting to me) and the palms themselves. Coyol it self is one of the few things that smells much worst than it tastes. I am not a huge fan of it but esposo I think might start a fan club.
Coyol I have been told use to be prominent around Olancho but now only in the higher elevations can you find it due to a nasty beetle that kills the palm. So I have never seen a live Coyol palm...
The video I put below is Coyol the drink being taken out of the palm. I think it is pretty fascinating.

My Semana Santa in Photos

The Anonas are coming but the jobos are here!

See, they are coming!
The Anona is the fruit that sorta looks like an artichoke, it is opaque creamy inside with watermelon sized seeds. The flavor is hard for me to describe, sweet but not too sweet. Anona is generally just eaten plain. I looked up and apparently this is a fairly common fruit around the world. In English it called a custard apple.
The jobos (pronounced hobo- yup like a bum) are about the size of a large grape, the jobos in the photo are not ready quite yet they get a bit bigger then turn slightly yellow-red. When they are eaten, they are eaten plain or with hot sauce, salt, and cumin. Jobo trees are to me very odd because when there is fruit they have no leaves, so it looks as if it is dead, but then they have fruit... a bit bazaar. The seeds the majority of the mass, only a little layer of fruit is what you eat.

The good part of they dry season is that most of the good fruits are in season. The bad part is there is so little time to eat them all... he he he

No water

My pila is dry, my faucets are dry, and I am taking buckets showers. The dry season is here, samana santa is on its way...and the city of Juticalpa goes dry.
Living without water is not really possible, so we use the stores well water by filling up a few barrels and taking it home. Some people buy water to fill up their water tanks, I am a bit cheep so I don’t do that.
The water comes eventually; the water is rationed barrio by barrio but the river becomes more crowded as more people head there to wash their clothes and take a bath rationing the water they have themselves.

A few photos around olancho

Here is a few photos I took around Olancho this past week. enjoy!

No tell-Motel

Hotel and Motel in english are different, right? one outside, one inside. Well in Honduras there is a bigger difference. Motels are no-tell motels. Let me explain, they are hotels where you take your other significant other or if you just want to get the deed done. I have posted a picture of one above. This one includes an electric door so you don't even have to get out of you car to close the door, and once it is closed get out of the car and enter the room. Amazing what people will think of.

Betting on Chickens

Closer...
Closer...
yes, yes...

Let me start this of with saying yes I know I am going to hell.

Sundays afternoons are the only free time I have -but because it is Honduras I usually have no clue on what I am doing till that day.

This past Sunday was of a similar story, then at about 10:00 a cousin of esposo comes and tells him about a cock fight they are having at their house, and apparently you just can’t pass up a good cock fight. So after we closed- off we go to a cock fight passing up two perfectly good birthday party offers in the process.

The entrance fee for the cock fight is one hundred lmp (about five dollars) luckily cousin lets us in for free. The people bring the roosters in cages; they are weighed before each fight to make sure it is a fair fight. The bets are taken, and the fight begins.

There are two types of hooks that they attach to one foot of each rooster, a big hook or a little hook. The big hook fights last no more than a minute and it seems to me luck has more to do with who wins than anything. The little hook fights last longer but it seems the better fighter of the two who wins.

To win the fight one of the roosters must die, but if both the roosters are injured and can’t really fight it is a tie. I am unsure where all the roosters come from- I did meet one man from El Salvador but I don’t know if he had any roosters there. They say that you have to train them to fight- and that the gringo chickens are the best (yes, I managed to get a few good jokes out of that statement.) The people who were betting did not bet small change one of the fights had 20,000lmp in the pot- betting on chickens.

I am not a fan, I suppose in the end they do end up eating the chicken and having chicken soup, but the killing process is a bit too gruesome for me. Needless to say next Sunday you won’t find me at a cock fight