La Tigra

Friday, July 30, 2010

Role playing in Spanish class

The results of my second round language interview came back today and I am still at the same level. This was slightly frustrating to me after I had worked/studied so hard all weekend (and all month), but I decided to take it with a grain of salt since next week I will be working one on one with a teacher instead of in a classroom alongside 4-5 other people. I know this will give me the opportunity to get the attention I need to really focus on my past tense verbs. In my review they said I can comprehend and write Spanish excellent, I just need to focus more on speaking it in full and complete sentences. So, I expect this next week to be great for my work. I will also be getting a new teacher who has over 20 years of experience working with PC trainees. Otherwise known as “special ed” PC trainees as I like to call them. She is really nice and I have no doubt that together we will knock out this little situation. In the early afternoon I ended up getting a migraine (who wouldn’t) after all this, which led me to take off of training early and head home. After taking my migraine pills and crashing for a few hours, I woke up to attend my first Cabildo, or town hall meeting, here in Cantarranas.

The Mayor of Cantarranas

A few days ago my friend Morgaine and I had gone to the town hall and asked if we could help out in any way. They had said sure, we could help with the list of people who attended and to show up at 6:00 PM when the meeting started. So, we showed up at 6:00 PM, but there was no electricity, and not enough people to start the meeting. So, we walked around the town, got some ice cream, and came back at 6:30 PM, but there was still no electricity. The firemen were there and they started talking to us when they said “Jen, you run fast around town!” When a girl runs here, people notice. Then, they all want to “accompany” you, which I kindly say no to, b/c I am not looking to get married to anyone. Although, the fireman here in Cantarranas are very nice and protect the town well. So, anyway, there is still a large spotlight holding up the front table, and at around 7:00 PM the building fills up with about 70 people. At this point the electricity flickers back on and the Mayor hops up to the podium where he leads everyone in the Honduran national anthem. Now, I know you might be wondering how that goes. I know I was. Because, you don’t hear it a lot…like at the Olympics, or the World Cup. But, it’s really long and subdued and if you’re interested, I suggest you click here
So, moving on, then the secretary invited a priest up and he led everyone in a prayer that involved holding your hands up in the air to God and yelling really loud. By this point the secretary has given me sheets of paper to go around the room with and collect everyone’s name, residency card number, and signature. While this would of course been more efficient to do when everyone walked in the door and passed by a table, I am not living in the land of efficiency. So, I spent the next 45 minutes walking up and down the aisles of the meeting collecting signatures. Which, I’m still not sure why they even need. But, I am impressed that they had about 70 people there, way more than I’ve ever seen at a town hall meeting in the states unless there is a large topic people are just there to complain about. After about an hour of the mayor going on and on and on about random topics and then throwing in some votes not on the agenda, some other PCV’s and I decided to take off. Because by this point it was 8:30 PM and I was super hungry and way past the time I told my host mom I would be home anyway. What did I learn? Town hall meeting agendas in Honduras are pretty much like they are in the states…once the electricity comes on and your quorum shows up. Basic boring town stuff that needs to be addressed every once in a while.



Saturday, July 31, 2010



Happy Birthday to my good friends, D’Ann and Catherine! Hope you guys have awesome days and a lot of fun!

Today was the day I finally got to hike La Tigra! Another PCV is living with a host mom who teaches at the colegio. Today the colegio is going to La Tigra for a field trip and said we could all come along as long as we paid for the bus ride there. They were already paying for the guide. So, a bunch of us said yes! That sounded good to us. The plan was to meet at the bus station at 7:00 AM and head on down to La Tigra, but of course things here never go “as planned.”



I woke up this morning to find my host mom had packed me 12 sandwiches, 4 bananas, 1 orange, and a large bottle of orange banana soda for the day. I’m not sure exactly how long this hike is, but if I get lost in the wilderness, I will be well prepared. After packing my backpack, I wait for my host sobrina, but now it’s 7:10 AM and I am getting worried. My phone has already rang once with the PCV’s looking for me. Finally, at 7:15 AM we take off up to the busses, where there is a big group of teenagers and hormones waiting. I remember now why I didn’t go into teaching. At 7:30 AM we all pile on to the bus and I am all the way in the back, where there is a big circle of boys and girls doing who knows what, all I know is that every few minutes I hear “Whoooaaa!” There are two busses of kids, three to a seat, and only one teacher chaperoning this trip. You can use your imagination to see where I am going here. So, after riding for about 40 minutes, we make it to the town of San Juancito, where there are a few pulperias and the beginning of the hike uphill. And by hike uphill, I mean YOU HIKE UPHILL FOR TWO HOURS TO THE BEGINNING OF THE LA TIGRA HIKE.

La Tigra National Forest

This is about halfway up

What they should do is have tram system of sorts to get you up there and then let the hike begin, but I am in Central America, so that’s not how it works. As we begin, I will tell you the main differences between Americans hiking and Honduran colegio kids hiking. American PCV’s have backpacks. The backpacks are full of water, and what we have tried to make healthy snacks. Colegio kids have purses full of make up or cell phones loaded up on music blaring, while carrying 3 liters of Coca-Cola and cookies. It takes about two hours to walk up this massive incline to the beginning where we see a sign welcoming us into La Tigra. Supposedly it’s going to be L20 with the colegio kids and there is a guide included, but I haven’t seen a guide anywhere yet and along the way the teacher hopped into a jalon (hitchhike) and stopped to eat fried plantains at the top. We decide to try and get the “PC” discount at L10 which works at first, until some big director guy comes out from a door and tells us that no, it’s L20 for us, too. This doesn’t include a guide, but it does include a map, so even though I think he’s just trying to rip us off, we pay it and go inside. Another 4K walk straight uphill, we eventually make it through La Tigra and into the massive cascading waterfall. Along the way I see caterpillars, mushrooms, beautiful flowers, a diverse tree selection, and all kinds of other neat things. There are some campers about halfway up and at the top there is another ministry group singing songs, which is very nice to listen to. After having lunch by the large waterfall, we begin to head back down, which is peaceful until the colegio kids come screaming and running past us in a race to see who can get to the bottom the fastest. Really? I give so many props to my friends that are teachers in the middle/high schools. Your patience surpasses me on so many levels. Finally, we crawl back in the bus and head back to Cantarranas just in time for the rain to start.

The big waterfall at the end of La Tigra