Por Alla (insert lip pointing motion here)!

For anyone who has ever lived in a foreign country, you know very well that cultural differences are not only inevitable, they also can prove highly comical. Despite the frustration they cause, if you take them with a grain of salt, you find that they are truly hillarious. Moving to the city of la Ceiba from rural Honduras has proven no exception to this phenomenon.

As I faced my first few weeks in Ceiba, I in a very USA manner asked people for directions to new places, and expected answers that involved lefts and rights and the number of blocks I would travel. Why I expected such clear answers, I have no idea, apparently I wasn’t paying good attention during my first year here in Honduras. Whenever I ask anyone in La Ceiba for directions that either respond by pointing in the general direction with their lips (culturally here they point with lips not fingers, you get used to it), or when lucky they say “por alla…donde (insert random/ ambiguous place I don’t know)” which translates to “over there by the (insert random/ ambiguous place I don’t know),” not very helpful to a new person in town.

One night in the apartment Sor Keidy began to describe a location I had to go to the next day in the same way. I informed her that with all respect, I have no clue what por alla means. She then told me it was by the street light, suppressing my laughter I informed her that I knew of many streetlights here in La Ceiba. She then began to use an actual building name I know, but pronouncing its English title with Spanish vowels. She became so frustrated that she too gave into laughter. Eventually we figured out what the other was referring to. The girls now love to make jokes about this, and never fail to use “por alla” in every direction they give me.

Another fun cultural difference is walking speeds. Hondurans walk very slowly, or maybe Americans walk fast, either way they are two very different speeds. My girls always are nervous about being late to any social event, so they always pressure me to leave on time. Comically, even when they run late, they still refuse to walk even slightly faster to make up time. I have come to enjoy my strolls with them, once again finding the humor and joy that exists in cultural differences and teenage attitudes.