Cross Cultural Interactions with Just a Cosmo Magazine

Friday, September 24-Tuesday, September 28, 2010



Flooding on the way to the hospital

 Bright and early Friday morning I got up and headed to the doctor down in Choluteca. I caught the 6:00 AM bus, which put me into Choluteca around 6:45 AM; then, I decided to walk to the hospital for some extra exercise. Even though I hadn’t walked there before, I figured I could find it with my good sense of direction and the taxi trip the day before. So, I headed straight down the street. Once I got to the intersection I had to cross and make a left, I found myself at a loss for what to do. I stood before a deep river from all the rain that had been pummeling down on Honduras. So, I decided to take a right and venture on. After about another 15 minutes, I finally found the hospital and arrived just in time for my morning blood exam. Since the doctor was still trying to figure out what was wrong with me, the lab tech took my blood (sans gloves) and then asked for a urine sample. I gave her this willingly, in an old Gerber baby jar, then she told me to come back in an hour and a half. So, back down the wet gravel road I went to wait in the comfort of a wi-fi coffee café. Yes, there is one in Choluteca! I have made friends with the owners and a lot of Peace Corps volunteers come here when they are in town. It is a little piece of heaven, right in the southern part of the country. When the time came, I ventured back down the gravel road to the hospital and was given the results of my test…

An infection. That’s it. The doctor didn’t know exactly what kind of infection; simply that my white blood cell count was WAY TOO HIGH and I needed to keep taking my other meds, while he put me on another (so now we are up to five). He signed the prescription and sent me on my way. I headed over to the pharmacy where the pharmacist (only one b/c it’s not a big place) hands me the medicine and I see that it only has two side effects listed 1. Don’t take if you are pregnant (no worries, Doc) and 2. Don’t take if you have seizures (problem numero uno). So, I alert the pharmacist and she attempts to find another medicine, but that one causes convulsions, too; therefore, I call up the PCMO who calmly listens to me and finds a suitable replacement that won’t cause any more seizures than I am already trying to stop. Finally, I am sent on my way in an attempt to fight off an infection, which my white blood cells are already trying to fight off. I am a medical mystery.

Update: The rash is gone, it was not scabies and not really sure if it was a mild form of dengue b/c I had the headaches and the rash. The doctor called it an allergic reaction…to what I am not sure, but he made me stop wearing my Off! for a few days. I feel better.



The street in front of my house after Day 1 of rain




The main street of town after Day 1 of rain

 Later on Friday we received word that Huricana Matthew was headed towards Honduras. It was not headed towards the Southern part. This, however, still meant that all PCV’s were not allowed to travel anywhere on Saturday and all the PCV’s in certain regions (like the North and Central areas) were consolidated to one point. I went home and looked up the Hurricane’s path, then waited with everyone else in Southern Honduras to see what would happen. What happened was rain. A lot and lot and lot and lot of RAIN. It rained non-stop every single day from Friday night until now (it is now Tuesday). It has not stopped raining. I know that the hurricane has moved on (in fact, I don’t think it ever got to a “hurricane” just a “tropical storm” but anyway the rain has been crazy. The rivers surrounding Orocuina have risen as much as they can without flooding the town, the streets are flooded everywhere, the buses are not running to schedule, and people are sweeping water out of their houses. On Monday there was a large event to celebrate the paving of the road between Choluteca and Orocuina (like a two-lane rural highway). It was POURING DOWN rain and the event went on. Let me describe it for you:



All the mud at the event (this was the exit)

 There were several large white tents and all the important people were there. The Mayor of Orocuina, the Mayor of Choluteca, the engineers of the projects, the President of the Patronato (a group that was in charge of the project), and President Lobo was supposed to show up (but he didn’t). I don’t blame him….the rain was torrential. Everywhere you stepped was soggy mud. Women were wearing high heels, some of them wore white high heels; I wore my Teva’s. For several reasons. 1. I didn’t bring any high heels to Honduras. There are no paved roads and I hike everywhere. I don’t want to break my ankle. 2. It is flooding so I don’t really think it’s the time or place for high heels. So, anyway, after the event, the tents are falling down because they are holding too much water and I finally get back to Orocuina, I head off to the market and buy some rubber boots. The best purchase I have made in Honduras. Because it is going to rain here a lot and I figure I should be prepared. L160, or around $8; they will come in handy as I walk out to the campo trying to get projects going.

Speaking of projects, since it rained all weekend, I took the time to research projects and come up with ideas for my town of Orocuina. Then, Monday I presented one to my new counterpart in the oficina de mujeres (office of women). Some of you guys might remember a few months ago when I went to the Centro de Evaluacion de Estufas Mejoradas, in Zamorano, Honduras and learned how to build stoves. Well, this week Secretary Clinton announced partnership opportunities with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves; along with it a ten-year, $250 million public-private commitment in support of a bold new global response to enable 100 million households to adopt clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels by 2020. The woman here in the oficina de mujeres had approached me last week about trying to work on a microempresa project, so I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to put the two projects together. On Monday I took the idea to her to approach the women of the community to form a microempresa and use it to build better and more efficient stoves. Stoves cost as little as $25 to build, and can make a huge difference in the lives of women and children…many who spend up to ten hours a day working over the stoves. The smoke has been proven to be as harmful as smoking ten cigarettes a day! So, my counterpart liked the idea and on Wednesday we set a date for next Wednesday to have a meeting with women members of the community to see if they are interested in the idea. I hope they are interested b/c I think it will be a good project for the community. If you are interested in reading Secretary Clinton’s press release on the subject, click here http://cleancookstoves.org/blog/release-secretary-clinton-announces-global-alliance-for-clean-cookstoves/ Also, you can learn more about cook stoves by clicking here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook_stoves



The small river in my town after Day 1 of rain

 I am also working on another project called the World Wise School program. This is where I work with a school here in Honduras and a school in the USA. I have chosen to work with my mom’s kindergarten class and a kinder here in Honduras. Last week I went to the jardin de ninos (kindergarten class here) and spoke with the director. She really liked the idea, but wanted to involved ALL the classes, meaning that all three classes will be working with my mom’s class. That’s how things go here. So, now my poor mom will be working extra hard to provide cross-cultural interaction to 60 little kidergarteners in Honduras. It is a great program, though, and I know both classes will learn a lot. On Wednesday I headed back to the school to get the first project from the classes; however, due to the rain we haven’t had any school this week. That’s how things go here. It often cracks me up how there is no school due to rain, b/c it rains here ALL THE TIME, except that if you saw the roads in person you would know that many students simply can not get to class. Another reason to work harder on improving the infrastructure. Because already kids have missed four weeks due to a strike and now they miss more because of weather. Crazy.

I also have another idea for a leadership program and scholarship/recycling program here in town. There is another volunteer here in Honduras who has been very successful with recycling in his area, so I hope to implement some of the sustainable steps that he has taken here in Orocuina as well. I’m going to see if the colegio is interested in recycling, then using the money towards setting up a scholarship program, so that all the kids who participate in recycling have an opportunity to apply towards the scholarship money and use it towards university here in Honduras. There are other PC leadership programs in other countries, too, that have been successful. Orocuina is already using an internship program with the colegio, so I hope to further these students leadership skills by getting them involved in some of the PC leadership camps. We will see, it is going to require a lot of research on my part and a lot of involvement on the community’s part. I have only seen my original counterpart twice since he dropped me off, and both times were at a large event when other people were around. Amanda (another American here working with an NGO) and I are also going to try and start a walking club and next week are having a meeting to see if people are interested. Hopefully people show up!



LOVE from my Phi Mu lil' sis Jessica!!! So thoughtful!




LOVE from Mom-gotta make sure I'm healthy!



The best days are mail days!




Spreading America one Cosmo issue at a time

 On Tuesday I headed in Tegucigalpa for the day. I had to go to the Peace Corps office to pick up my migraine medicine (since I took it all thanks to the headaches caused by my infection) and pick up my mail that had been there for several weeks. This meant that I got up at 4:30 AM to catch the 5:00 AM bus out of town, then connected in Choluteca to another bus for Teguz. I rode that bus for another three hours, with various people coming on and off the whole time. While on the bus there was a small child, of about 5 or 6, with his head hanging out the window and rain pelting down on his face. It was really cold that early in the morning and I was cold, even with my jacket on. All I could think was he would probably get pneumonia later, but what do I know? He got off with his dad about two hours later. Next, there was a guy sitting in front of me who liked to have the window open, also. I asked him to close it, then he kept it open a little bit more. Apparently he was “bus sick.” I don’t think a three hour bus ride to Teguz is gonna help; so at our one rest stop I switched seats. When I did this I ended up sitting next to an older man, about 80. I pulled out my Spanish Cosmo, with Shakira on the cover, to study Spanish. I have decided that if I’m going to read Spanish, I’m going to enjoy it. As I began flipping through the magazine, I notice that every article is something I probably shouldn’t be reading on the bus “How hot is your sex life” “50 places you’ve always wanted to take your clothes off in public, but haven’t until now”…you get the picture. These are all complemented by Latino women practically nude and I’m rethinking my reading selection, until the old man next to me points to the pictures and says “Muy bonita!” What is going on? I am totally embarrassed at the fact that an 80 year old man might be reading something that says “Focus on your G Spot” until I realize that he can not read. So, I ask him where he lives, what he does, etc and he tells me where he lives and that he works in the fields and has since he was 10 and only went to school until the second grade. He asks if I can keep showing him the pictures, so I keep flipping on through (next page is a guy in his boxers…seriously, next time I will bring Women’s Health in Spanish or something!) and when I get to a page with a girl holding a Blackberry he asks me “What is that?” So, I explain to him what a blackberry is and he is totally amazed. He doesn’t even have a cell phone. Then, he really likes the page with all the perfumes on it and I explain to him the ones that are really popular in the USA, but the page that is his favorite is the one outlining all the “new and hip” pairs of jeans. Why you ask? Because everyone in Honduras wears jeans all the time, so he could easily relate to them. He enjoyed pointing to the different pairs and telling me which ones were his favorite. At the back of the magazine I read him his horoscope, which included a lot of love coming his way and he laughed (he has 10 children, so I’m pretty sure he’s seen his share of love) and then said “when is your birthday? Read yours also!” When he got off at his stop I waved goodbye and wished him good luck (his son was in the hospital), then leaned back in my chair. It’s days like this that make living in Honduras really special.

Once I got to Teguz I found two big packages waiting for me!  YEAH!  A great big care package from my Phi Mu little sister, Jessica, filled with French Vanilla coffeemate (she really loves me), Reeses Pieces, and a Spa Kit!  Holy Moly!  Spa day it is tomorrow~ Thank You Jessica, Mark and the boys for the fun goodies to make me feel like a girl when it's 100 degrees outside!  And what else did I find?  A big box full of vitamins sent with love from mom.  Just to make sure I don't get anymore illnesses while I'm down here.  Thanks, mom!  I don't know when I became old enough to take Women's One a Days, but now that I am I have to have them shipped from another country.  I remember when life was simple and I just went out for HH on Friday night, then stumbled to brunch on Saturday.  Now I volunteer in Honduras while taking supplements.  When did I become old?



More cross-cultural interaction

 A little more cross-cultural interaction happened this week when my abuela anfintriona came to visit (host grandma). She spent three days with us cooking, cleaning, and looking after my host mom who has been sick. During the days she spent many hours hanging out over the stove slaving away making soups, beans, tortillas, etc. So, when I walked in for lunch one day and dumped some instant tortilla soup into a liter of water and five minutes later had soup, she was a little intrigued. It had just taken her six hours to make soup and she looked at me intriguingly, then took a spoon and tasted what I had. Then she smiled and nodded her head approvingly. She asked where I bought it and I told her at the MaxiBodega for only L5, or 25 cents. Seriously, I’m all for making homemade goodness, but there is no reason to spend six hours of my life and L100 on soup when I can buy the instant stuff just the same. It was then that I began to ask her about her life and she told me that she had 13 children (Holy Crap!), had lived in Teguz when it was a beautiful city and her father had been a millionaire. All I could think was…13 children! I can hardly imagine having one child, much less 13 coming out of you! She had so many stories I could hardly keep them straight, but just sitting down and listening to an elderly Honduran woman for one night taught me a lot about recipes, family, and the history of the country.



Cooking with my host mom (the stoves I hope to improve)




These boots really are made for walking!!!

 That's it from here. I hope the rain stops soon so things can get back to "normal." I am starting to look for apartments in Orocuina because my time with host families comes to an end in November. As great as it's been, I am looking forward to moving out and enjoying Honduras on my own. If you've been waiting to send my some awesome photos from your summer trip, or fall visit to the fair/Vegas/garden blooming, whatever, now is the time! I am planning on making a wall of the world, where I have all the pictures and postcards of my friends. I did change my address, so if you look up on the right side you can see it. It's only 98 cents to send me a card with your photo in it! Much love and hugs to all!

The One Where I Kinda Have Scabies, But Maybe Have Dengue

Monday, September 20-Thursday, September 23, 2010

This week has been nothing short of interesting. Actually, most of it has been spent waiting around on other people, but that is the life of a Peace Corps volunteer, so I might as well get used to it, right? Now that my life has turned from a trainee to a volunteer, my days are quite different and not as “action packed” as they once were, so I don’t want to bore you with the details about how I walk around searching out things to do b/c people don’t exactly know how to use me or don’t have time to use me, so instead for this blog entry I have decided to highlight the interesting things one by one.




Weighing babies Centro de Salud




Waiting Room Centro de Salud


 

Despedida style-fried fish from Southern Honduras

Work in Orocuina: So, this week I really didn’t do much work. The first few months not a whole lot is expected of newly sworn in volunteers, besides hitting the pavement (if they have it), or in my case dirt roads, and getting out, talking to people and kum-ba-yaing with the locals. Like I said last week, this would normally be something you’d do with your counterpart, but I have not seen him in nine days, so I have taken it upon myself to get out there and just walk into shops and hang out with the “peeps” of Orocuina. I also decided that I should go bearing food, b/c everyone loves a good snack. So, the first time I made oatmeal/apple/cinnamon cookies. I got the recipe from my H-17 resource DVD that not only came with information about how to solicit grant money, but also how to cook a mean fudge cake using tuna cans as heaters. I decided to start small with the oatmeal cookies, since I had all the ingredients and they came out pretty well, but it wasn’t until the very end when I realized I should make them thicker, like meatballs, so they didn’t fall apart in the pan. At any rate, I took them out to the alcadea, schools, pulperias, Mercado, etc and passed them out to everyone who has been really welcoming to me so far. I think they were a hit and decided to do a second round with chocolate chip cookies….see below. On Tuesday, I headed over to the jardin de ninos, also known in English as the kindergarten, where I worked out my World Wise School Program with the teacher to work with my mom’s kindergarten class in North Carolina and the classes here in Orocuina as part of a cross-cultural program. It’s a program that PC has to promote cross-cultural learning in schools and I was thrilled that the teacher was so excited to jump on board. Of course, so were the other two teachers at the school, too, so now my mom has her work cut out for her to work with three Honduran kinder classes! But, I know everyone will love it and I’m already planning a Halloween party here with the kids so we can all dress up and have a good time! Another day, I visited the Centro de Salud to get up to date on their needs and projects. It was quite interesting to watch the young (I mean young, like 14) mothers come in with their babies, when they are still babies themselves, and get help at the center. The Centro de Salud is quite run down and after talking with the doctors and other locals, it appears that that, too, is another project on the drawing boards for Orocuina in the next few years. (Boy, do I have a lot of work!) I also went to the colegio and watched a charla by my friend, Julia, and it was comforting to know that colegio kids are ill-mannered even for native Spanish speakers. I think that Julia and I will end up working on lots of projects together. I also went to a despedida for the outgoing volunteer here, Miguel, where I met lots of other wonderful people and we sang and ate the night away. They were awesome. And, I wish Miguel the best of luck back home in Texas (Go, ‘Horns!). I will watch over Orocuina for you!


Mixing the torta




Showing off our hard work




What later became my dinner

 Chocolate Chip Cookies: So, along with my recipe book it also said where you could search out your finest American cravings at the supermarkets here in Honduras. There is only one supermarket that sells chocolate chip cookies and it is the Maxi Bodega. Now, the Maxi Bodega is owned by Wal-Mart, so for those of you who don’t like to shop at Wal-Mart you would be SUC (figure it out), but me being a long way from home and liking the convenience of making homemade chocolate chip cookies, I went to the Maxi Bodega. It is not in my small town of Orocuina, I had to take a bus one hour away, then walk another 20 minutes to shop. The first day I went I didn’t see the chocolate chips, which meant that I went back to Orocuina, read the recipe book again…then set out in Orocuina to see what I could find. What I found was nothing. Not even a candy bar to substitute. Over the river and through the woods (literally, the Rio Chiquito) I found a small pulperia where she had five Snickers Bars for L20 each, but I decided that was too much, b/c who knew how many Snickers Bars I would need. So, I went back to my house and decided to wait until the weekend when I would go back to Choluteca…. Enter the dengue story here So now I am in Choluteca getting picked and prodded for dengue and I head back over to the Maxi Bodega to seek out chocolate chips. But, I get sidetracked by all of the glorious sites of yogurt and blenders and Special K and wow, what do I see?!? A Ranch dressing aisle, with olives?!?!? If only they weren’t L88, a girl can dream….so anyway, I go back to searching for the chocolate chips and of course they aren’t on the baking aisle. Why the hell would they be? I decide to give up and go with Snickers again, and begin to look on the kiosk on the end of the check out when what to my wondering eyes do appear? But, a bag of Hershey’s chocolate chips (and a Cosmo with Shakira, but that’s another story, too)! There they are, right next to the M&M’s, so I grab a bag of chocolate chips…L99.50, I can not believe I am paying this for chocolate chips, but whatever. I make a mad dash b/f I can buy anything else here and leave. When I get home I invite my new friend Leslie over to teach her how we do it in the States. She really likes my lesson and I send her home with seven cookies for her family. Then, instead of saving the rest of the cookies to pass out to the people of Orocuina, I eat them. All. Because now I have to fast for my dengue test tomorrow. And, I still have half a bag of chocolate chips to make another round. What a day…



The back-maybe in two years it'll grow

 My new haircut: All I’m gonna say is this will be the first and last haircut in Honduras. You know, I’ve had my haircut abroad before and it didn’t go this bad. I should have known when she didn’t want to put down her tamales and pick up the scissors that her priorities were out of whack. Yolanda was her name and the next time you are in the Centro Mercado district of Choluteca, don’t go seeking her out. So, it started like this… I had to go into Choluteca to pick up my internet modem (the second time), and I drew a very high number and knew I had two hours to waste. I also needed a haircut that day, so why not kill two birds with one stone? I lingered on over a few blocks from the Claro store, where I found Salon


The front-when it's not fixed it is a bowl

 Bella (actually, they are all called that) and jingled the door on open. I asked how much a haircut was and was told L50 (when the haircut is cheaper than the chocolate chips, you know you are in trouble), so I plopped on down and whipped out a photo. After Yolanda finished smacking down her tamales, she threw me down in the chair and covered me in a drape. Then she didn’t wash my hair, just thrashed out my tangles with a comb and some water…to which point I almost cried b/c my hair hurt like hell after nothing but bucket baths for 10 weeks, accompanied by V05 Shampoo and Conditioner. Ah’…Good Times Honduras. Then, she looked at the photo for what appeared to be too long of a time and then cut my hair into an alter boy bowl cut. As she took the drape off I was like “Um, no, you aren’t finished. I need some layers there, Yolanda.” And she was like “Oh.” So, then she took out her straight razor and went to town, at which point every bit of my hair disappeared and she made it into a duck waddle thing in the back. I haven’t had that since I was 18 and let my hair grow long. The lady behind me said “Oh, very cute,” and I threw my L50 at her before I could start crying. I decided right away that I looked like a boy and after buying a pair of sunglasses from the first guy I saw on the street, I took off for the bus. I wanted to get home as fast as possible and hide. It was only moments later I realized I left my umbrella in the salon, but there was no way I could go back and get it. So, if anyone at home has an umbrella (the small portable kind) that they aren’t using and can pop in the mail, I would be forever grateful. Yours truly, If I were a boy (Jen)

Internet: Moving to Orocuina meant that I had to switch Internet providers. For the first two months I had been using Tigo, which wasn’t exactly “rapido,” but it worked where I was living at and was the only provider there. Now that I’m in Orocuina I had to switch to Claro, b/c they are the up and coming service provider in my area and have the faster service here. This also meant that I 1. Had to sign up for a service plan for 18 months in order to get a better deal 2. Prove to them that I had a job/was a resident of Honduras/had an address/had three references locally that could vouch for me and 3. Had to wait for my name and residency card to clear Seriously, it was harder than getting a phone in the states and way more difficult than when I bought the modem from Tigo. When I went into Tigo, all they did was take my money and write my name in a notebook. When I bought the modem from Claro, they made me take a number, wait for over an hour, I could only work with one girl in the store (there were only two employees working), I had to fill out an extensive form, show my residency card and then I was told to come back the following Monday. Fast forward, I came back this past Monday. I took a number again, waited another hour, and was told I hadn’t cleared yet. I was told I had to come back the next day. I didn’t. I came back on Wednesday, with a member from the alcaldea, who was going to co-sign for me to make them give it to me. We took the hour long bus ride there, then walked the 15 minutes to the store, then took a number and waited for two hours. Then, we had to be helped by the one girl (now if your number is called and that girl is helping someone else, you have to wait still), then I had to wait while they re-entered all my information in the computer, then I had to go to another window and have my receipt stamped “Pagado” and then she gave me the modem. Then, I had to walk 15 minutes back to the bus and wait 20 minutes for the bus and take the bus an hour back. Three trips, more than six hours on the bus, more than six hours waiting for customer service in the store, just for the Internet. I miss you all. Please read the blog.




Pre-Ingredients for Oatmeal Apple Cookies




Halfway through; the batter was delicious




And we are done; really enjoyable for breakfast!

Could it be scabies or could it be dengue: Yeah, so I started itching a few weeks back at my host family’s house in Cantarannas. Sometimes at night the sheets would come off of the bed and I thought I had just gotten bed bugs, because I had all these bites down around my ankles. They went away and I brushed it off except that I kept itching at night every now and then. The last week my body has begun to itch a lot more. I figured I had gotten bed bugs again b/c similar circumstances here in Orocuina, plus there are a lot more bugs hanging out and sometimes I wake up at night and find them crawling on me (Yeah, I know…but it’s all part of living here). Sooooo…..a few days back I started feeling like stuff was crawling on me ALL THE TIME! All day long, but really a lot at night. Then, yesterday these red bumps started showing up on me…first on my butt, then on my stomach and sides and today on my forearms. Not one to be alarmed at every little bump, I went ahead and did some research online about bed bugs and scabies, then called the PCMO and told her “I think I have scabies.” She told me to get down to Choluteca ASAP so I floored it on the next bus this morning, even though I had no idea where the “hospital” there was. I use “hospital” loosely b/c for all of you in the States reading this, it is more like an urgent care with two doctors and the Emergency Room has one room for the emergencies and one room for people like me, who just needed a shot. Alright, so I got off the bus and into a taxi to the “hospital” where the guy tries to charge me L20 instead of L15 until I argue with him that I’m a local and I want my L5, so he gives me L4 and I decide “whatever.” It’s only five more cents. I head into the “hospital” and hope I am at the right place b/c Doctor Cleo told me to make sure I went to the privado clinica and not the publico, and this looks like something might be wrong, but they tell me I’m there, so check one for me. I’m swooped on in and given another shot I needed today anyway, so I guess if I was gonna get sick today is the day. Next, I wait along with three pharmaceutical rep girls pushing their products through Honduras. Not a bad gig to have here, if you ask me. They have their stilettos, Blackberries and Prada bags, just like in the States and seem pretty content to wait for the doctor all day long. I go in first (I love the PCMO, they are awesome and make everything happen so fast and efficiently) and tell the doctor what is going on. This visit goes so much smoother than my first visit when I could barely tell the other guy when my birthday was…now I am telling him that bugs crawl all over me at night and hatch their babies. After a little check up, he asks me if I have been having headaches recently. Yes, actually, everyday for the past four days. I’ve taken a migraine pill everyday. He asks if I’ve had a fever. No. He asks if I can eat. Um, yeah…happily. No need to ever worry about my appetite. He says to come back tomorrow for a blood test at 7:30 AM. It might be dengue. But for now he is calling it an allergic reaction to all the mosquito repellent I have been wearing. So, let me get this straight. I wear too much repellent, but I might have dengue for not wearing it? Okay. What is going on with my body? I also have to fast in the morning….no worries, I am going home to make chocolate chip cookies. Adios, doctor. He gives me three different medicines and tells me that the insectos will go away in the winter. But, can he tell me when winter is? Because it is nothing but hot in Orocuina.



Pimp my ride, baby!

Working off the tortillas: So, this week I started P90X.  I was very lucky to get a copy of all the P90X videos from another PCV and was just waiting to get to a house big enough where I had all the workout room to do it.  I have also started some awesome videos (high impact cardio, too) that my friend Ron sent me a while back, but I never had the room to practice.  This has been great for me...and I love practicing all of them.  I have started losing some of the weight I put on in FBT and my clothes are starting to fit a little bit right again.  Until I walk outside and they start sticking to me.  So, I still have a good 15 pounds to go, but I can do it!  (Just keep the chocolate chips away from me!)  Good thing I don't live near the Maxi Bodega and they are hard to find.  I have really enjoyed cooking for myself again...have found some great recipes on the PC cookbook and in my most recent women's health.  The P90X and high impact stuff makes me feel like I am in Learie's class at the gym again and also this week I received my PC issued bike.  PC requires us to wear helmets, so although I am the only person in town wearing a helmet, I'll be well protected when some guy driving the chicken  bus tries to kill me.  (J/K...accidentally vears off...)  Anyway, I took my bike in for a tune up since Miguel didn't look like he'd ridden it since he was sworn in two years ago and the guy fixed it up for L25, or about $1.25.  Air in the tires, moved the seat around, greased the chain, total new bike!  Cheque leque, I am ready to go riding!  

I saw this in a store and had to take a photo

The ants go marching one by one:
(JUST A NOTE, THIS IS REALLY GROSS, SO IF YOU DON’T LIKE READING ABOUT BODILY FLUIDS AND INSECTS, JUST SKIP IT)
Okay, so back to the insects. There are a lot of insects in Orocuina. A lot. You know, some PCV around the world get sent to beautiful, beautiful places. I live in Orocuina. Orocuina is in the middle of some beautiful mountains, but you must walk to get there. Several hours. You can also drive an hour and a half and be right on the beautiful Southern beaches. I’m not complaining, I am in this town for great development reasons…to work with the people on exceptional development opportunities and assist them with some wonderful sustainable projects. But, I would just like to take a moment and tell you about the insects here with me.

At night the ants come marching one by one into my room. I think they come from the kitchen where they have been marching all day long, up and down the walls and around the food. I try not to go in there too often (also b/c the rat is still on the loose). I have all of my food in Ziploc bags and now all of my medicine. About four nights ago I opened my vitamins to find numerous baby ants had made their way into the lid of my vitamins. After killing them all and rinsing out my vitamins, I stowed my pills in a gallon Ziploc bag, along with all my other meds, toothpaste/face wash/deodorant/anything else that might find a home in an ant farm, and went to bed. Then, I woke up to go to the bathroom. Now, our bathroom is way on the other side of the house. There is only one bathroom here and it doesn’t have a door. It only has a curtain and my two host brothers sleep right in front of that door, on the floor and in a hammock. So, as a woman, I don’t feel comfortable walking outside, past the chickens (maybe the rat), and stepping over my host brothers (19 and 20) to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Therefore, I go in a bucket in my room during the night. I woke up to do this the other night and when I looked down with my flashlight I saw HUGE, LARGE, RED ants in the bucket scouring in and out. What were they doing I ask you? Are the ants so desperate for liquid that now they are drinking my urine? I was so scared and startled that I knocked the bucket over (yes, in the middle of the night), so now there is pee all over the place on my floor, it is dark (only my flashlight), I still have to go to the bathroom, and there are ants everywhere. Can someone send me some Pampers? Thanks.

Finally, I totally stole this idea from my friend Shelly’s blog. I hope you enjoy it!

Did you know that Honduras is roughly the size of Virginia, at just over 43,000 square miles? My department, Choluteca, is 4,211 kilometers. Johnston County, NC is 2,062 kilometers and San Diego, California is 4,526 kilometers.

The population of just fewer than eight million of all of Honduras is also about the same as the population of Virginia, and a little smaller than all five boroughs of NYC. I live in Orocuina, Choluteca which has nine aldeas comprised of 17,500 people. This would be like living in Santee and having to take a chicken bus to downtown San Diego or living in Clayton and having to take a chicken bus to Raleigh. Orocuina is 23 kilometers, or 16 miles, from Choluteca, Choluteca. It takes one hour to get there by bus and cost L16 or about 85 cents.

Honduras’ population density is about 166 people per square mile, making it fall somewhere in between Georgia and Indiana. Virtually all Hondurans speak Spanish; to around 95% of the country, Spanish is their first and primary language. In the US, somewhere between 10-15% of the country speaks better Spanish than English. This means that the Spanish-speaking population of the US is more than five times as large as the entire population of Honduras. In NC 5.6% of the population speaks Spanish. There are more Spanish-speakers in California than there are people in Honduras.

Final (not so) fun fact: The Honduran GDP per capita is $1,122. That of the US is $46,381. Both of those numbers were updated in April of this year.

I now have the computer 24/7 365 for the next 18 months (I think…let’s hope Claro has got it straight). Anyway, please keep your fun emails coming and thanks to Ron for all the football updates. If you are looking to send me something, I’m getting ready to move into my new place and don’t have anything, so fun items like pot holders, a potato peeler (they don’t have those ANYWHERE here), magnets for the fridge (and a picture of YOU), are all good things to toss in! And baby wipes! Love and kisses to all. Maybe not kisses, who knows what I have! LOL





Hola, mi nombre es Jen; Yo soy Cuerpo de Paz

Thursday, September 16, 2010-Friday, September 17, 2010

Streets of Orocuina None are paved

I have spent the last few days walking around town and introducing myself to all the people of Orocuina. This is normally a job that involves your counterpart, but it became quite clear on the first day that the mayor is way too busy to take me around town and introduce me to everyone. So, I started walking around town on my own, into negocios (businesses), the police station, NGO’s in town, fruit stands, Mercado, escuelas (schools), and other different places just to shake peoples hands and introduce myself. I have also begun to work with another counterpart, a man named Moises, who also works at the alcadea and offered his help. On Thursday morning he took me around three different barrios (neighborhoods) and introduced me to a lot of different people he thought I should know.

People generally have the same reaction when they find out I am a Cuerpo de Paz voluntario here for two years:

1. People of my town: “Oh, you are here to replace Miguel. So, do you teach English?”

2. Me: “Yes, I am a volunteer like Miguel. I work in Desarollo Municipal (municipal development). I work on a lot of different projects with the corporacion municipal, but I am not trained to teach English.”

3. People of my town: “But, you speak English, so you can teach English.”

4. I have also started introducing myself as “Jen” to cut out them calling me “Jenny.” This has been very successful.

The police station on the left and the bus stop

The people of Orocuina have been very nice and receptive to me. They have already started yelling “Jen!” as I walk down the streets and wave to me everywhere I go. I have only received a few piropos from some guys selling oranges in the park, but once I walked that way with Moises and the police chief I haven’t gotten anymore. I have tried to go to all the places I think should know me right away…so I have been to the escuela and both colegios (including the one that is far, far away in the next municipality, but still my territory), the private health center and an NGO called Ayuda de Acion. Also, I visited all the venders in the market and the local costuera (b/c I need a few skirts fixed), along with some hardware stores. I have found some people who spent quite a long time living in the USA, including a guy who lived in North Carolina and went to community college in Charlotte! He just opened a restaurant here in town two months ago and is really nice; the previous volunteer also lived with a family who spent 12 years in Connecticut and they have already offered me rides in town!

The trashcans in town (part of the park)

My only fear is that the people here will want continuing English classes and I am in no way trained to be a teacher. The TEAM program is part of the Desarollo Jovenes (youth development) program, in which volunteers go into the schools and train teachers in English so that they can then teach English to their students. It’s a whole program they are trained on; I am not in any way trained on this. But, I am trained on other projects, like Project Citizen (civics, government, student government) and hope that these can be incorporated successfully. Two teenage girls started crying when I told them I was not a volunteer trained to teach English.

The park in Orocuina...needs some development work

On Thursday night my host mom and I were hanging out around the pila washing dishes when we started talking about different medicines. It turns out that she also takes Topimax for epilepsy! Can you believe that! What a strange, small world. Over the language of Spanish we talked about our struggles with convulsions, finding medicines that worked with our bodies and she told me how she, too, had lost a lot of weight after trying Topimax. She asked me all about the length of my seizures and how they were discovered and told me about how hers had started after having children; it was a great conversation, since many people here believe that a person with epilepsy is possessed. I also thought it was randomly crazy that she is on the same medicine as me. She is teaching me a great deal and later that night she taught me how to make balleadas, the yummy Honduran food that I enjoy so much. I think she did this for a couple reasons.

1. I love balleadas and told her that I could eat them everyday (I think she took this into a literal translation)

2. The first time I tried to cook on her stove it turned out awful and I don’t think she believes I really can cook. I tried to make brown rice in coconut milk with veggies, but I was getting used to the heat of her stove, so it didn’t turn out sweet, just like porridge. She said “hmm..carrots in milk. On Friday morning I helped her make banana pancakes and I think I redeemed myself because she said “Mmm…the bananos were delicioso.” This came out of us talking about our favorite foods and I was telling her that breakfast is my favorite and how we have a little thing called “brunch” in the USA, including various types of pancakes. She was really impressed, so maybe someone back home can send me a photo of brunch the next time you go.

Main Street (Alcadea is the taller bldg, Kinder is white)

On Friday afternoon I finally got my office lined up at the alcadea, so now I’ll be working near the oficina de mujeres and oficina de ninos. They seem happy to have me, but unhappy that they have to clean out a corner…so I’ll let you know Monday how that goes over. Friday afternoon my family had a death in it and everyone left; I’m not too sure where they went because I have gotten conflicting reports. I thought they went to Tegucigalpa b/c my mom said her brother had been sick, but on Saturday morning I was told that an 8-year-old host sobrina had passed away (I got this information from another Orocuina source). All I know is that everyone left in a big hurry and I am home alone with the geckos, chickens, and rat. It is very sad and now that I have been in Honduras for 13 weeks, I have experienced three deaths with my family; that is more than I have experienced in my own USA family in 10 years. It reminds me that I am very blessed and thankful for my health and loved ones every day.

Langostas in the mercado verde, Choluteca

Buying fresh fish in the mercado verde, Choluteca

Butcher shop in the mercado verde, Choluteca

That’s about it from here. Saturday morning I headed down to Choluteca to run errands, use the Internet, and visit the Mercado for various items (as well as visit with other PCV from the Southern area). At the market I went with some other Hondurans who live in Orocuina to buy supplies for a despedida (going away party) on Monday night for the current PCV that lives in Orocuina. I have put some pics up and hope you enjoy them!

Keeping Kennedy´s Promise

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Hanging out at a fun coffeeshop spending our hard earned dough

Today we received our income information for the next two years. Since being in PST (training) we have been receiving “walk around” money at the level of $3 a day; this didn’t cover food since we were mainly eating with our families, but was for anything else we needed like toothpaste, newspapers, Coca-Cola, etc. Now that we are being sworn in as volunteers, we will be getting “paid” somewhat, but not really b/c technically we are volunteers. However, in order to help us live the Peace Corps has come up with four different tiers of payment. Depending on your city site, you are assigned a tier, the lowest level being four. No surprise, out in Orocuina I am on level four. What does this mean? It means that for the next two years I will be making L4,300 a month, or the equivalent of $226, or $7.54 per day. To put it a little more in perspective for you, the minimum wage here is LARGE URBAN cities like the capital of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula is L5,500 per month and in rural sites a little smaller than where I will be living most people make $2 per day to work out in the “campo,” or country, in the mango/plantain/banana/coffee fields all day long.

I know that a lot of my friends/family think I am crazy for being here. But, it is at times like this that it is so important for me to share with you why I am here. The morning of March 16, 2008 is one that constantly replays in my mind. After spending the night in Copan, Honduras, I rose early and decided to eat at the marketplace for breakfast. The colors of fruit and vegetables were radiant, although I was first greeted at the door by a man with a machete chopping off any type of meat I could ever imagine. Taking a seat on a small, plastic blue stool, I ordered scrambled eggs and black beans with a side of tortillas. I accompanied my meal with a Pepsi; Pepsi was everywhere in Honduras and I thought Jeff Gordon could be an ambassador to Central America. All of this cost me less than $2. Across the table from me sat the mother of the cook. Throughout breakfast I made conversation with her, and she shared with me her life story. Living an hour-and-a-half away, her profession was the town midwife. In the last five years she had delivered sixty-five babies. During the day she also worked in the coffee fields for less than $2/US per day. Astonishment took over, and I found myself doing the math for every $4 mocha I threw down for at a corner coffee shop. Over tortillas and beans, she told me that she was hoping to save enough money to purchase a passport and move to Guatemala where the wages were higher. I was amazed; while so many people were crossing the border to the United States illegally, all this woman wanted was to move to Guatemala, a country almost as poor as Honduras, and one for which most Americans would never see. It was at that moment that I knew I would return to Latin America and fight for equality among all its citizens.

March 1, 2011 marks the 50th anniversary since President Kennedy established the Peace Corps as a new agency within the Department of State. The same day, he sent a message to congress remarking

“Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed—doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language.


But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps—who works in a foreign land---will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace.”
Just as President Kennedy said, life here is not easy. In fact, many days it plain right sucks. And, I haven’t even made it to my site yet. FBT was one of the most difficult times I have ever had to deal with, but that is over and I tomorrow I get sworn in as a PCV. I am ecstatic to head to my new site and work and live alongside the people of Honduras and talk the same language. I am not so excited to keep eating the same food, but there are some things I love (avocadoes, beans, mangoes). Being in a developing country is an entirely different experience, visiting is one thing, living here is entirely different. People keep asking me questions that I haven’t had time to address, so I will answer a few now.
Electricity-No, I don’t have electricity all the time. It goes in and out and when I was living farther from the capital it went out a lot, usually more on the weekend for long hours at a time. Sometimes it flickers off and on real quick, sometimes it goes out in the morning/sometimes it goes out at night. It is more common for it to go out at night; however, there is never enough power here for people to use their TV’s or other high powered appliances in the morning. Most people use battery powered radios for the morning time.
Note: I have since arrived at my site and the first day I arrived we didn’t have electricity. For 14 hours; I spent the first night reading a book by flashlight. I read the whole book, b/c when I woke up we still didn’t have electricity.

Internet-No, I don’t have Internet all the time. There are three different Internet providers in Honduras and they all work differently throughout the country. Also, you have to pre-pay for the Internet here and you can pay by the day/week/month (it gets cheaper the more you buy). However, it is all dial up and the more people using their cell phones then the busier the lines. Also, the more stuff being downloaded the slower your reception is. No, SKYPE doesn’t always work and when it does usually I can only chat. SKYPE does work in the bigger sites where the Internet is faster, but I am not near those places.

My site-I am going to a site of about 17,000 people spread all over. I will have to walk, a lot. That is cool, b/c I like to walk. There are about 4-8,00 people in my town (I can’t remember right now), but again they are spread out all over. This is big for Honduras. Some other volunteers live in towns of 300 people and have no water or electricity. I am lucky. Note: I went to get an Internet modem the other day, but you can read about it below.

News/Movies/Music-I check Google News and CNN when I get online; when I have the monthly Internet this is everyday. I haven’t been to the movies since I saw “Sex and the City 2” two weeks before I left, but I have a lot of movies on my computer, so last night I watched “Date Night.” Once I get to site I can go to the movie theater. My internet speed is too slow to download on iTunes, but my awesome friends from the States send me new and hot hits!

Vacation Time-I get 24 vacation days a year and I get paid $24 a month towards my vacation time. So, no, I don’t plan on coming back to the States with all the riches I am accumulating. I plan on visiting all the cool places in Honduras/Belize/El Salvador/Nicaragua/Costa Rica and more. I would love for you to come, too. What are you waiting for? We have the Bay Islands (best diving in the world), Copan Ruins, La Mosquito/Gracias Adios, Isla del Tigre/Southern Coast (right near me!), and more! If you want to come visit here is what I suggest… look for cheap flights into San Pedro Sula (I hear they can be as low as $200) b/c SPS is the closest to the Bay Islands and then you can hop a puddle jumper over, fly into Tegucigalpa and we can puddle jump up to the Bay Islands for as low as $23 + visit the Southern area where I live or go West into Copan, fly into Managua and we can visit Nicaragua together, fly into El Salvador and we can visit El Salvador together, fly into Roatan and I’ll take the boat out to meet you. I am really far from the Bay Islands, b/c I am living on the southern part of the country, closer to the southern beaches and El Salvador/Nicaragua, so please don’t take a cruise to Honduras and expect me to meet you out there for one day. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Mail-THANK YOU FOR THE MAIL, I LOVE YOU!!! I know it is very expensive to send packages down here, so I really appreciate them! If you would like to send me mail, it only costs 98 cents to send a card or letter. If you would like to send me a package, please send it in a large padded envelope through the USPS. It gets here quicker and I pay less taxes on it once it arrives. (Another PCV just had to spend a day in the capital trying to get out of a million Lempira tax incident b/c it was sent FedEx and insured like crazy, so just a heads up). Normally, I pay like twenty Lempiras with a padded envelope. Also, with a padded envelope people (customs/random postal workers) are less likely to go through it. Please, please, please don’t write anything on the outside like “electronics,” or “money.” I will never see it. If you write religious sayings in Spanish real big it can also help deter criminals. Note: I am going to leave my address in Teguz because mail gets there quicker, BUT MY TITLE HAS CHANGED from PCT to PCV. Thank you!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Me and my counterpart Samuel

Time to get sworn in as a PCV! When I packed my long, white skirt 12 weeks ago, it seemed like an awesome idea, but now that I walk down a muddy road everyday, it seems really impractical. Too late now. After getting up early and getting as pretty as possible in Honduras, I spent 30 minutes ironing my skirt and had balleadas with Rosa and Gustavo for one last time before carrying my skirt down the road. At the PCT site, we all met our counterparts at 7:30 AM. My counterpart is the mayor of Orocuina, a nice young man, in his thirties or so, who was excited to meet me. After making small talk and getting to know each other, we broke off into the Municipal Development group where everyone was invited to stand up and introduce themselves. We were also given fun refreshments before the counterparts and aspirantes were asked to write down expectations and “what we can offer” in our new sites. Safety was right up there as I think all of us are slightly nervous about heading off to a new pueblo where we are no longer surrounded by 56 other trainees everyday. Next, we had to make up a four week plan with our counterparts and when I pulled out my plan, I found that Samuel (my counterpart) had already mapped out the first two weeks. Wow, did I actually get paired up with another planner? My life can not be that lucky! Finally, lunchtime came when the PC treated us all to a delicious buffet of salad, chicken, and yummy potatoes…but, when I asked my counterpart if he liked it he said there was too much lettuce for him. Ha ha

Getting sworn in at the embassy

Me and my Spanish instructor Delia

In the afternoon, we were all led to the US Embassy and after a long security session let through for our quick hour and a half ceremony. Although you could hear loud booming thunder throughout, it didn’t crash down rain until after we were sworn in as new volunteers, which went something like this “I Jenifer Bubenik do solemnly swear to protect and defend the country…” I felt pretty important as the ambassador read those words, looked at the American flag, sang the national anthem, and had tears in my eyes. I am so proud to be an American, proud to serve in Honduras as a PCV and that moment was very emotional for me. I will never forget it. Many thanks to the ambassador for taking time after the ceremony to say hello to each one of us and for taking photos with all of us. It was a great ending to the last twelve weeks.


As a final celebration, the majority of the 57 of us went out for dinner and a few beers to celebrate. After not having a beer or drink of any kind for 12 weeks, it was a sweet moment when I raised the glass to celebrate all the Spanish classes (which I thought I might not pass, but made it through!) and all the tortillas and beans that I can now take a break from! Congrats to everyone for making it through…and I mean everyone! We didn’t lose a single person during training, a record! Best of luck to everyone at their new sites and see you soon!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

5:00 AM, I am awake and tired…thanks to the major lack of sleep after swearing in. But, my counterpart wants to leave at 5:00 AM, so I am awake and waiting. But, he is not here so I crawl back into my bed and fall asleep. 5:47 AM, my phone rings. He is here. So, I head outside and see his Toyota; so thankful that his pickup truck is newer and running. We load up and take off; I am half asleep and thankful we met yesterday so we don’t need to small talk this morning. After making it past Tegucigalpa he asks if I drink café and I shout “Yes!” so he responds that soon we will stop for desayuno and when we pass Sabanagrande (where I went for my volunteer visit and famous for the rosquillas) we stop at a roadside comida and I spot Evan and his counterpart. Evan looks more tired than me and once inside the large coffees start flowing. There are also macaws, goldfish and a large cobra nearby. It is like a zoo up in here. Our counterparts get to know us a little more and after the coffee I am a totally new person; with all the coffee in this country I don’t know why there aren’t more drive-thru coffee shops. Back on the road Samuel notices that the truck is making a noise and decides that we should stop at the Toyota dealer down in Choluteca; but we are still about two hours away. I take the time to appreciate the Southern part of Honduras, which is filled with green mountains. And heat. And police roadblocks. We go through one and he doesn’t have his drivers license, but shows his mayor’s card. Normally, this would probably work, but today he has a gringo in the truck and the police are a little suspicious…along with my six bags. Yeah…… Finally, they decide he is for real and I really am Cuerpo de Paz and let us go. Onward to the Toyota dealership where we wait for three hours (really, all I need is a nap!) while they fix the rattling on the truck and then we head north to Orocuina. Once in town Samuel begins to honk at everyone and they wave back; he is the mayor, after all, he knows everyone. Soon, I will know them all, too. He points out the Centro de Salud, Bomberos, and Policia. The main road from Choluteca is just now finishing a major pavement project, and after making a sharp left we have no more paved roads at our disposal. That is the first thing I notice in town. But, he tells me it’s not the major project in town. Finishing the park is the major project, followed by a water and sanitation project that I will be working on. Then, the roads (I think, from what I have gathered). The town is small, but has great potential from what I can see. Once the park is built and the roads are paved, the access to other places is far and more people can come into the park on the weekends for concerts and fiestas. There are already venders filling the park today and Samuel says they are there all the time. What could happen if they actually had a real place to hang out? On Monday I am heading to the alcadea (city hall) to begin meeting people and getting a feel for all the offices and projects/needs, etc. The next few weeks will be busy getting a lay of the land and I’m looking forward to getting to know my new home.


Sunday, September 12-Wednesday, September 15, 2010

My First Days in Orocuina, Honduras

All my crap in my room

I have been in Orocuina for four days now.



It’s hot here. That’s all you need to know. It’s 100 degrees everyday and there’s no air conditioning. I am sweating before I even get out of the shower. I take three showers a day just to wash all of the sweat off of me. So, if you are thinking of sending me something, how about some AC? I walk everywhere and am sweating before I get one block; I carry makeup removers to wash all the sweat off my face, even though I don’t have any makeup on…just sunblock. I walk with a big umbrella to keep out the sun.


There are more fruits and vegetables here than I have seen in the entire 12 weeks I’ve lived in Honduras, so I am looking forward to living in this town. There are a ton of projects here that I can see myself helping with, but that is only if I don’t melt. There is a park that definitely needs some love, and none of the streets are paved…just a mess of dirt and pebbles. On Tuesday the colegio (high school) asked me to help them get Internet into their computer lab. I told them I would teach them to write the grant and teach them to search for grants so that when I leave they know how to keep searching and applying for future grants. The lady at the oficina de ninos says the largest problem is not having a library in town, but claims that the kids need computers in the library…so again, a computer problem. On Monday when I went to the alcadea to meet with my counterpart the Mayor I only talked to him for five minutes because he was so busy. So, I took myself around and introduced myself to everyone in town. On Tuesday, Michael, the current volunteer who leaves in two weeks, took me to the schools and introduced me to people. (He is a youth development volunteer). I explained to them that I am not an English teacher, but think they have high hopes of me coming in and teaching English. One of my fears after following a youth volunteer in the schools is that they are going to expect me to teach and that is not my strength…or my project. So, I keep trying to explain that I have other projects that can help with the school, like Project Citizen, where students learn about student government, civics, etc. I haven’t made it to any other aldeas yet, but hope to visit the campo (country) and other barrios within the next week.

Things that are in Orocuina:

1 colegio (high school)

1 escuela (first through 6th grade)

1 kinder (kindergarten)

A bunch of health centers (places they weigh babies and check normal health problems)

A bunch of dental centers

A bunch of fruit and veggie vendors (there is a small indoor market, but also a lot of guys just selling from their trucks in the park)

A bunch of guys selling shoes, t-shirts, bras, and jeans from their trucks in the park

A billiards place where drunks and bad guys hang out

Several “super” markets (by supermarket I mean large pulperia)

Really bad roads, nothing is paved and when it rains they turn into rivers

Absolutely no shade

A large football field

World Food Program (dispensed at the alcadea)

Random cows walking down my street

Electrical blackouts

No internet access

A Cooperative, but not a bank

A small post office, which is a sign hanging on a guy’s house

Dia de la Independencia

The geckoes and worms keep me company on my adobe walls. My host mom calls me her “hija” (or daughter), she talks to me while she goes to the bathroom and I have seen her boobs…so I’m pretty sure I am her daughter. I have a hammock in my room and for breakfast I ate bananas in milk. I also found a recipe book on my resource DVD put together by previous volunteers using all Honduran ingredients so I am really excited! I have been cooking for myself…breakfast and lunch, so that is very exciting! On Monday a package arrived for me that I sent to myself way back in June. It took three months to find me, but arrived in Honduras on June 14. It had been sitting in the PC office since then. Everyday I went to the PC office and asked “do you have a package for me” and they said no. But, sure enough, there it was. Yeah! Full of yummy oatmeal, fruit snacks, Crystal Light packets and hot sauce. I am so happy. Let’s hope the rat doesn’t get to it. Oh’, yes, there is a rat in my house. I was sitting in the kitchen (not exactly connected to the house) last night, talking to my mom as she made me dinner, and this rat (yeah, he was BIG), ran out from under the sink and over ONTO my mom’s foot, then under the stove. I screamed and she laughed…then she tried to tell me that it was a rabbit. I told her “No, that was a raton.” She told me no, it was a rabbit and made little hopping motions and told me it came in at night to eat all the vegetable portions she left on the floor. I said “Um, no, it was café colored” and she said “ratons have a long tail” to which I promptly replied “Yes, this had a long tail.” Then, the color of her face changed and she yelled to her son “Marcelo! There is a raton in here.” But, since he spends all day in the hammock, he didn’t come and I spent the rest of the night fearing a rat would kill me. While I sat there a frog hopped on into the kitchen and hopped all around the room. My mom laughed at this, too, but never stopped making dinner throughout. Even though the raton was under the stove squeaking. I may die.

Viva Honduras!

When I need supplies, or major items, I have to head into Choluteca. It is the major city about an hour away. On Tuesday after work, Michael and I headed down there to take care of some errands. Like, finding me Internet and sorting out my bank account. Once in Choluteca, Michael showed me all around, including an awesome coffee shop, with WI-FI/pizza/and iced coffee (holy cow!), a place to fix computers, and all the places I will need to buy stuff for my apartment in a few months. He is awesome enough to leave me some stuff, like a hammock and a bike, but I will need to buy a new bed, refrigerator, stove, curtains, tables, chairs, bookshelf, dishes, everything else I will ever need (and only with $250 from PC as my “moving in fund.”) Then, we went to Claro to buy me a new Internet modem, since Tigo is not exactly the fastest up in Orocuina. Once I walked in it was no surprise why Claro is taking over Honduras. I felt like I was in an American store. Professional people, background checks if you want to purchase an item, security guards. When I purchased my Tigo modem, all the lady did was write my name down and take my money. Here, I had to show my residency card, a letter from PC stating how much money I (don’t) make, how long I’ll be living in country, proof of current address, and set up a payment plan with my bank card. Whoa! Then, I didn’t even get to take my modem home today b/c my residency card didn’t process through. Apparently, I am still very new in the system. So, I have to come back next week. Which means another week living up in Orocuina away from the world. I am supposed to have Internet at the alcadea, but I don’t, so I’ll be paying for it myself. It cost $25 + tax a month, equaling $31, or more than 10% of my salary. I think it’s a little crazy that Internet here costs as much as the USA and works half as well. Next stop was the bank, where I needed my online username fixed (a little ironic, since I have no internet to access my account). When I got there, there were at least 400 people in line, wrapped around the building, but I walked in and to customer service. The lady told me I would have to go to Tegucigalpa (4 hours away) to get help there and I told her that wasn’t gonna happen since it had taken me 12 weeks to get here. So, after some magical work, she suddenly logged on to my account and fixed my username and password. Then, I asked if I could change my pin number on my debit card and she said no, it wasn’t possible. I said “of course it’s possible.” Then, she said “well, why would you want to change it” and I said “b/c these numbers are hard for me to remember.” I have about fifty passwords to remember lady! Then she told me “yeah, well, you can’t change it, sorry.” Customer service in Honduras at its finest.

Dancing away Independence Day

In my first few days I have also been looking for a Spanish tutor. Since I am still intermediate-mid level, PC has offered to pay for three hours of tutoring each week, for 12 weeks, so I can keep learning this language. On Monday night my host mom took me over to her friend’s house, where the lady is a teacher at the colegio. Her name is Iris and after talking for about 20 minutes she said she was interested in the position. I trusted Mercedes opinion, so on Tuesday I went back with all the information from PC, including my Spanish tutoring manual and letter saying I am in dire need of more Spanish help, plus the promise she will get paid. She decided that was good enough for her, but wanted a couple days to look through the manual, plus my old manual that I have been working in. I think this will be a good partnership, and hopefully I can learn my future tense!

Hanging out in front with the Corporacion Municipal

Wednesday (today) was Independence Day here in Honduras. In order to celebrate, there were big parades, fireworks and singing all over the place. In the larger cities they had marches to commemorate the independence, but here we just had fun. The mayor invited me up to sit with all the important men in town…a major sign of respect here. So I joined him, the police chief and two other guys I did not know while we watched the dancers and performers after the parade. Major kudos after I have only been here for four days. Happy Independence Day Honduras!