things that i have gotten used to

shades of brown are normal and yet so beautiful to me!

living in a third world country begins to seem 'normal' after awhile and here are a few things that i have gotten used to:

~ seeing children ride on motorcycles without helmets
~ drinking from a water cooler and never from the tap
~ buying my vegetables and fruit from the back of a truck
~ cars driving on the beach
~ horses grazing on the side of the road
~ people stopping to ask me for money, or food, or whatever
~ roosters crowing at any hour of the night
~ killing cockroaches with a passion (i haven't gotten used to them.. still hate them!)
~ hearing the sound of spanish all around me daily
~ cattle drives on the road and having to wait for them to pass
~3 lane traffic on a one lane road
~ men carrying machetes
~women balancing things on their heads
~children begging on the beach
~ police carrying machine guns
~ bank guards with hand guns
~ trucks carrying at least 10 - 15 people in the back
~ sweating profusely almost all day long
~ kissing on the cheek instead of hugging
~ taxi's stopping in the middle of the road at any time to pick up someone
~ buying fresh fish from a cooler on the street
~being sticky
~hearing dogs bark all night long
~having gecko's live inside with us (they eat mosquitos and bugs!)
~shutting off my phone when i go in the bank
~snorkeling regularly
~watching TV in spanish
~going to a church where we are a minority
~passing cars on a corner, passing at any time! driving is crazy here.. i love it!
~no lines on the road
~seeing prices in limpiras.. imagine peanut butter costing 75.00L
~watching a sunset every night
~ seeing skinny starving dogs
~people selling whatever they can whether it be food, souvenirs, or second hand clothes.
~using LOTS of ice in my drinks.
~going to bed with an icepack to help cool me down
~ the fan blowing warm air in the heat of the day (at this point it is time to go outside to the sea!)
~locking up the house (we never did that in canada)
~carrying an umbrella in rainy season since it is too warm for a rain jacket
~eating rice and beans at our friend's houses
~drinking fresca!!
~the garbage truck being a dump truck that is loaded to the top and seeing men sitting on top
~never wearing jeans ever!
~only wearing flip flops
~a usual trip to the bank takes about 40 minutes to one hour.
~having most people around me not understand english
~not talking much (yes that is normal .. strange huh?!)
~begin to understand and speak 'island-ese' (they shorten all their words and speak fast)
~daily picking up avocados that fall off the tree on our deck
~having a gardener and a maid
~having fans on as a lifestyle (we have 4 fans in the main room plus 4 ceiling fans)
~seeing food products written in spanish
~hanging out clothes and having to shake off the ants when i bring them in
~seeing palm trees as common as evergreens.
~having sand in our car all the time!

the only thing that will never be normal is being so far away from all of you. seriously, i will never get used to that.. ever!!!