Buying Shoelaces (2/22/01)

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People often ask, “Why isn’t the hospital finished?” or “Why did it take so long to fix your roof?” or “Why does it take all day to get groceries?” 

What they don’t understand is that shopping here is not like shopping there!  For example, when I go to town to get stuff to fix up the house, there is no Home Depot or Wal-Mart.  Usually, I need to go to three or four different hardware stores to get everything on the list. Even then I sometimes can’t find what I need.  No one store carries everything.  When we go for groceries, we usually visit at least three grocery stores; one has the best vegetables, another has the best meat, another has granola; plus visit two street markets, one for oranges and another for bananas, pineapples and melons.  No superstores here!

 

Let me illustrate with my recent quest for black shoelaces.  In The States when you need shoelaces, what are your choices?  You can get them at a shoe store, at Wal-Mart, and even at the grocery store.  Here?  No way!

 

Having broken my shoelace for the third time, and not having enough left to re-knot again, I decided to buy some new laces.  The first stop was at a shoe store that even sold the shoes I was wearing.  Did they have laces?  No way!  Another shoe store?  Same thing.  None in the grocery store.  They sent me to the fabric store.  I was getting closer.  They had giant shoelaces that were three times too long and only in red and green.  They sent me to another store.  They had some in the ballpark for size, but only in white, red and gray.  I bought the gray ones (only 6 cents a pair!).  They don’t look too bad in my black shoes!

 

Such was my morning looking for shoelaces, and such is life in Honduras.

 

Dave Drozek with

 

Thoughts from Honduras

 

 

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