Culture Shock 101

Let's just say that things aren't always what you would expect... Yeah, we were ready for differences in life but we weren't totally sure what to anticipate.

So here's a list of surprises we have encountered in Central America (not including the toilet surprise). We're in a whole other world. Our entries will almost never be this long, but there are so many things that we're absorbing right off the bat. Hopefully you'll find this interesting, or at least be entertained by it. We are certainly entertained by most of it, even though some experiences we could have done without.

1. Dog Days
The dogs are most definitely not the cuddly housepets that they are in America. Most of them wander the streets at all hours, hoping to find a morsel of food to sustain their scrawny, mangy bodies. They are dirty and sick, and many of them have serious infections that cause their bodies to either shrink or grow in abnormal ways. It is more obvious on the females, if you catch our drift, although the males are pretty nasty too. Be careful or they will brush up against you. One of the dogs we saw was a female who was so skinny her ribs stuck out, and her backside looked like elephant's skin with open sores all over it. She actually looked like a hyena. (See the picture to the right.) We've never seen anything like it. People certainly do not pet them, and often hiss or throw things at them to keep them as far away as possible. These sick dogs are the lepers of the current Central American culture we have seen so far.

2. Cold, But Clean
Just because a hotel says they have hot water, it does not mean that they ACTUALLY do have hot water. Either that or they take great liberties with the word: "hot". In other words, in some cases, "hot" = 70 degrees here.

3. What's The Rush?
Time here is given in very loose approximate generalizations. For example, we were told that a bus ride along the bumpy and mostly unpaved road from Belize City to Flores, Guatemala would take four hours. Let's just say that at the four hour mark, we had just passed through customs on the border and had another three hours to go. Almost double the predicted amount of time. Needless to say, this was not our favorite part of the trip.

4. Gone Without A Trace
So we're in the Middle of Nowhere, Guatemala on a pothole filled dirt road and our bus driver suddenly pulls over, puts the bus in park, and gets off. After 5 minutes, we start to wonder where he is, so the passengers get out.... but no bus driver to be found. He's vaporized, gone without a trace. Didn't tell anybody - even the native passengers - anything. We look around and notice the muffler is half gone. (See picture to the right.) We are reassured by all the people that stop to help and even get out - you'd never find that in the U.S. About 10 minutes later the driver is driven up in a car with the other 1/2 of the muffler in tow. I guess he'll weld it back on later... in the U.S. we'd have just trashed it.

5. To Sue Or Not To Sue
We left our clothes at the laudromat with very specific instructions of how to wash them. There are very few self-serve laudromats. When we returned to pick up our clothes, the lady informed us a pen had apparently fallen into the dryer and some clothes were damaged. Some... maybe she meant sum... sum of $300 damaged. Our only clothes are now tainted by blue speckles. Oh well, this is Central America.

6. Please Do Not Feed The Animals...
But feel free to touch them. We walked out of our hotel room in Belize one morning to find a leashed monkey sitting on a bench.
As soon as it saw our friend Emily, the little monkey (who you can see in the picture) reached out its extraordinarily long arms, stood on its extraordinarily long legs, and wrapped its extraordinarily long tail around her unsuspecting waist. After many laughs and pictures, we were finally able to pry Emily's new monkey friend away. The next day, we went snorkling out by the Barrier Reef off the coast of Belize in a spot called Shark Ray Alley. It is aptly named this, as nurse sharks and sting rays abound. Scary? Apparently these animals are very gentle unless provoked. To prove the point, our guide came up from the ocean floor with a giant sting ray in his arms, which he held until we could all give it a little touch. I tell you, Steve Irwin would have been impressed.

7. Beware The Water
We always knew that you shouldn't drink tap water in Central America, but what we didn't relize is that you shouldn't even use it to brush your teeth. After we discovered this fact and were really careful about not getting water in our mouths when we showered, the curiously ill feeling in Lisa's stomach magically disappeared. Nasty.

8. Follow The Locals
The best food is almost always found at little stands or holes in the walls where the locals congregate. Central American food and drink is surprisingly good, and very cheap. Our favorite place to eat in Belize was at a sweet El Salvadorian family's stand. The cook: Maria Estella. She's a genius with food. And we never paid more than $10 there for very filling meals.

9. Count Your Blessings
We are very, very spoiled in the U.S. Almost all of the houses we saw driving through Belize and Guatemala were run down little one or two room shacks. Electicty... maybe. AC... 99% without.
And that's just the beginning. They live very simply and really have not known any differently. As much as we love the comforts of home, there is great appeal in living simply. The picture shows a very common house for what we've seen so far of Central America.

10. You Can Always Surprise Yourself
Though many people in Central America at least speak a little bit of English, the easiest way to communicate with locals is in Spanish. We have surprised ourselves with how much we are able to speak, but are also very humbly aware of how much learning we have left. We really want to absorb the culture, and mastering the language as much as we can will help us do that. We're really excited about that part.

11. Big Hair
Since Central America is very humid, girls, beware: your hair can become 4 times the size that you know it to be. Bandanas have become one of Lisa's greatest friends.

12. Where's The Java?
Sadly, I have found only one coffee shop in all of Central America thus far that sells even halfway decent coffee. Ironically, a lot of the best coffee in the States comes from Guatemala. Go figure.

Okay, we won't bore you anymore, but with the good and the bad, we would not trade this experience for anything and are looking forward to all the lessons we have to learn ahead of us.