Giving Thanks

Week of November 26, 2010




"The Stage" in town for the Feria

 This past week has consisted of two things I enjoy a lot in life; Thanksgiving and a feria. A feria is comparable to a town or county fair back home in the States. My town of Orocuina went big this year, with vendors setting up over the past month. The park was taken over by people selling everything from pupusas (yummy cheese filled delights) to plato tipicos full of carne, beans, and tortillas. Everywhere you looked there were beer tents and next door games varying from toss the ring on top of Coca-Cola bottles to shoot the little Army men off the towers. Daily you could hear the man ringing the bell bringing people’s attention to the ice cream and snow cone cart as he walked through town and the last few weeks saw the ferris wheel, merry-go-round and flying swings appear. Over the last week we were blessed with a rodeo, popular bands everyday, nightly dances, and crazy contests up on stage. I enjoyed every minute of it, except for the 4 am wake up calls accompanied by large fireworks and a truck blasting loud speakers announcing the feria’s daily activities. Really, 4 am? Is that necessary every, single day? Some days the town would not have electricity all day in order to conserve for the juegos de mecanicos (rides) later that evening…and those days were long, hot, and often boring. I have gotten quite accustomed to living in a town that has electricity on a regular basis, so to actually pull out a book and read instead of logging online was a new concept in this digital age (even in Honduras).




Mean bull ready to buck at the rodeo


For Thanksgiving I headed to San Marcos de Colon, a town about two hours East, near the Nicaraguan border. It is down in a mountain valley and is a lot cooler; it even has paved streets! Wow! My PCV friend Michelle lives there, and was kind enough to host Thanksgiving dinner for about 20 of us…I will tell you right off the bat. It was one of the best Thanksgiving’s I have ever had. Early in the day I was joined by several other volunteers to present a charla in my town on the cook stove project we are attempting to complete sometime in the next year…and after it started two-and-a-half hours late we were ready to go. (Insert note: Yes, I did work on Thanksgiving. No, I was not happy about it. Yes, I was on time. No, my counterpart was not. Yes, she made fun of me for being on time. No, I was not happy about it. Especially b/c this is an American holiday that I promised to work on and now she’s making fun of me. So is my life). Back to Thanksgiving… the night before I had made a corn casserole, old family recipe passed down from my Aunt Janell. The recipe called for corn starch, which was not available in my town. So, after a quick Google search (thank goodness for the Internet) we find that doubling the flour recipe can subside. Now, several other PCV and I are taking this big corn casserole and all our backpacks on the bus to San Marcos de Colon, where we finally arrive to Michelle’s house. We are greeted by spinach and artichoke dip, homemade hummus, homemade grilled bread and fresh veggies, along with brie cheese topped with cranberries. These are the appetizers.

After several bottles of wine we move on to preparing the rest. Michael, Alicia, and I cut up apples and salad until we have no more tin pans, then we all set the table with candles and tablecloths, where all 20 PCV’s join around and Michelle brings out the champagne basted turkey. It is glowing…literally. It is joined by green beans, homemade stuffing, the corn casserole, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries, salad and more. After stuffing our pie holes, we all go around and say what we are grateful for until our plates are cleared and we are licking the tin pans. Then, four pies, one cheesecake and an apple cobbler magically appear. We are all completely stuffed and somehow find a football game on TV. It is truly Thanksgiving, even in Honduras. What a wonderful day. I am so grateful for my friends in the PC and for Honduras to have sold turkey at the Maxi grocery store.

The next morning we all wake up and decide to go get breakfast. There are no leftovers here; with 20 poor PCV there was not a spare bone to be had. So, Michael, Laura and I head to find some desayuno and café con leche. Afterwards, Michael and I walk through the streets of San Marcos de Colon until my camera magically disappears from my side, where it was hooked oh’ so carefully. Five seconds after he and I took a photo. After searching the area for about 10 minutes, people watching us offer to help us “locate” the camera for a reward. Michael and I then know for sure it is gone, so I head to the police station and file a report. This takes a good hour and a half, but is necessary for my insurance. Hence, why there are no photos of the awesome Thanksgiving that was. I am now in the process of filing my insurance claim, which requires me to “fax” something; therefore, I must search for a fax machine in this country that relies so heavily on pre-paid cellular minutes. We will see or vamos ha ver. Seriously, my luck must change soon.