Religion in Honduras

February 22, 2011
Religion


Religion is everywhere is Honduras; a lot of times it is one of the first questions that people ask you. Are you Catholic or Evangelical? Every town has at least one big church, and most of them have at least two churches, although the second one is smaller, but still usually “packed to the brimstones” as we say back home. It reminds me a lot of growing up in the South, where you would drive down the street and there would be more churches than houses sometimes.



Lago Yojoa

 Although most Hondurans are nominally Roman Catholic, according to one report (from Wikipedia), membership in the Roman Catholic Church is declining while membership in Protestant churches is increasing. The International Religious Freedom Report, 2008, notes that a CID Gallup poll reported that 47% of the population identified themselves as Catholic, 36% as evangelical Protestant, and 17% provided no answer or considered themselves "other," (although, I have yet to find these “OTHERS” that they talk about). The CIA Factbook has Honduras listed as 97% Catholic and 3% Protestant. Still, in Honduras you can occasionally find Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist, Lutheran, Mormon and Pentecostal churches, although not in my town.



Discussing religion at REF

 Religion is a really hot topic in Honduras since everyone wants to know “what” you are and “where” you practice it. Many volunteers use religion as a way to integrate into their sites, meet people, and learn Spanish. I have been thinking about doing this recently; however, the Catholic and Evangelical churches are right across the street from one another and I don’t want to alienate any counterparts or people in my town. I got pressure to go to church when I first moved to town from my host mom and a counterpart, whose husband is the priest of the Evangelical church. Peace Corps had prepared many of us for this, who either:

1. Do not practice Catholicism or are Evangelical

2. Are “Spiritual” but not “religious”

3. Are agnostic or aethiest

4. Practice other religions altogether



Enjoying the waterfall

 Although I grew up going to church, summer church camp, vacation bible school and was baptized at a young age, I now find myself in the “spiritual, but not religious” category. I am totally fine being this way and know that most of my friends consider themselves the same way. So, when I first tried to tell my host mom this and that I find myself practicing “yoga” instead of going to church…that I find spirituality a much higher power than “going to church” she did not seem to understand me and kept repeating “But, what church do you go to? What religion are you?” I eventually gave up and told her I was Baptist, to which she sneered, made a funny face and in a not-so-caring tone replied “Oh, Baptist.” It was received the same way from my counterpart, who then told me that I could come to her church anytime I “felt the need.” I haven’t yet felt the need and seem to be doing fine in my spirituality here in Honduras. I know a lot of other volunteers feel the same way and don’t like the pressure that such a religious filled country can put on a volunteer. That’s why I was so happy that there was a support group called REF (Religious Equality Freedom) for us to meet, talk about things, and enjoy each others company.

We have two get-togethers a year and this past weekend was one of them. We joined up at Lago Yohoa, a lake in Central Honduras, about 16 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide. It is also home to a Pulhapanzak Falls, 43 meters high, which we hiked around and held our small group discussions, including how it felt to be Jewish in Honduras (there are only about 100 Jews in Honduras) and if our spirituality affected our decision to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. There were great discussions all around and I was so happy to be able to talk to other volunteers and see that we are all going through the same situations.

At night we stayed at D&D Brewery, home of the only brewery in Honduras. It is owned by a guy named Bob, a former military man stationed in Honduras, who now spends his days brewing up ales and porters to make gringos happy as they paddle boats and watch birds around the lake. We took the opportunity to go ziplining, which you can watch here (I am the second one coming across). What an awesome experience!



Coming in from my crash landing!!!



Protest in Teguz

Thursday, February 17, 2011

So, I am back in Tegucigalpa for more medical work.  Apparently, I am broken and need to be fixed.  When I entered the Peace Corps, I thought it was a good thing, that I would have access to health care and epilepsy medicine that was costing me $200 a month that I bought from Canada, since it was $2,000 a month to purchase from the US drug companies.  Now, I not only receive my epilepsy drugs, but also bacteria infections, sinus infections, more headaches, eye irritations, and any other random assortments that can be thrown at me. 

Parque Leon

The first time I came to Teguz I was really excited and overwhelmed by the city.  It was large, had a movie theater, a real mall, and lots of cool restaurants.  I was blown away and had some culture shock.  The second time I came to Teguz I got to know the city a little bit more, had made some friends in the big city and they showed me around a bit more.  Now that I have been here several times it is just another big city.  Except it is dangerous, so I can’t walk around, and it lacks the culture of Barcelona, and the seaside of San Diego. 

View of Teguz

Therefore, what am I to do all day long after my physical therapy appointments?  Each time I come I try to mark one more thing off the “Top 10” list from Teguz, so this past week I headed up to Parque Leon and then the Museo de Arte to see what they had to offer.  I heard about Parque Leon from another friend and he suggested we walk there from the Centro…walk straight up a hill through a neighborhood I had never heard of.  This is like a robbery story waiting to happen.  But, it turned out we just followed the “paved path” all the way up and had an amazing view of Teguz.  The park was well put together and there were kids skateboarding, bike riding, and couples being all in love.  It was very peaceful, right in the middle of all the craziness that is Tegucigalpa.  If it wasn’t so far away from the Peace Corps office, I would consider going back and reading a book there more often.

View of Teguz

Museo de Arte, Teguz

Later on in the week, I visited the art museum.  It’s located right by the Congressional building, and while the outside could use a scrub brush and soap (from all the graffiti artist that have found their way), the inside was very beautiful.  After the guard let me in and I signed the book, the lady let me pase adelante for only 20 Lempiras after I told her I was Cuerpo de Paz.  I’m not really sure how “money-making” this art museum is as I noticed that yesterday they only raked in L295, or a whole $15, and they seem to be paying for two guards and three empleadas.  Anyway, as I normally do, I had the whole museum to myself and I began to casually stroll through all the rooms, where I found a strong collection of Mayan ruins, along with lots of gold headbands used during wars.  I also found a box housing the 50^th anniversary L20 bill, which I thought was interesting, since it’s not the bill worth the most amount of money.  That would be the L500, the L20 is only worth about $1, but there was a large plaque for it and everything.

The most important $$$ Lempiras ever in Honduras

As I was on the second floor in a room devoted to Francisco Morazan, who was the President of all of Central America from 1827-1842 (and from Honduras).  While casually strolling through, I heard a lot of turmoil outside, where I looked down and saw hundreds of students demonstrating in front of the Congressional building.  They were students from the public university UNAH here in Tegucigalpa and were protesting because of recent reforms to the constitution that would aim would aim to give independence to private universities.  

Here is a link to the article in English http://www.elheraldo.hn/Ediciones/2011/02/17/Noticias/Protesta-estudiantil-en-centro-de-Tegucigalpa 

And here is a video of the demonstration from where I was in the art museum

As I headed back down the street, I came across another protest, from other students supporting no smoking laws.  Honduras recently passed a no smoking law effective this summer for restaurants, bars, and other public places.  You can watch the peaceful demonstration here

So, anyway, my time in Teguz this week has turned out to be very cultural!   

Re-Connecting

February 14, 2011

RE-CONNECTING IN ZAMORANO, HONDURAS

Zamorano, Honduras

I just returned from re-connect, which means that I have been in Honduras long enough to leave my site and need a “reunion” conference with all my Municipal Development buddies.  This means that the days are getting shorter and shorter until I return back to America, something I have mixed emotions about.  It means that I must begin to decide what I want to do after Peace Corps, but I still have enough time to complete meaningful projects here in my site.  I have been thinking a lot about what I will do after Peace Corps, especially since this past week at re-connect we found out that the Municipal Development program will not continue here in Honduras.  It has been cut from the budget and Honduras PC program.  I can’t say that I really blame them; as Muni D volunteers we do many projects that simply overlap into other projects.  Like my stove and recycling project.  These are projects that could be filtered in to the business or PAM divisions, since I work a lot with micro-empressas and the UMA office (office of environmental services).  As I’ve said before, working in a municipality I often get “lost” b/c people simply don’t know how to use me, or my counterpart is just too busy to take advantage of me.  So, my class will be the last of the Muni D’ers here.  We will finish out our contracts, until September 2012.  It seems that even the budget cuts of Washington, DC have affected Cuerpo de Paz.

Zamorano University

Me & my counterpart, Noel (see our FB photos, his is at bottom)

We were required to bring a counterpart to re-connect, which I thought was a cool idea so that my counterpart could see exactly what I spend my time doing when I’m not in the municipality.  So, after waiting for two weeks for the Mayor to sign off on permission, my UMA office was allowed to accompany me to Zamorano, home of our re-connect.  Zamorano is about 30 minutes north of Tegucigalpa, and home to a large, private university.  It costs around $15,000/US to go there a year and they focus on agricultural issues.  After my counterpart and I met on the bus, we began the trek up the mountain, where he commented on the beauty of the mountains and the temperate climate…it has been 100 degrees everyday in Orocuina for the past two weeks.  Once we arrived in Zamorano, we had no clue where we were going since our email didn’t clue us in on the hotel, so I called my boss who said “Just go to the hotel.”  But, no one in Zamorano knew where a hotel was, so finally we just walked across the street and asked a security guard who then didn’t believe I was Cuerpo de Paz (since I had two large backpacks, a yoga mat, and a special therma-rest pillow strapped to me).  I will give him credit.  I looked more homeless than anything.  My counterpart had one tiny gym bag.  I packed like I was never coming back, he packed like he was leaving for two hours.

New solar powered houses; project in Zamorano, Honduras

In my "professional" attire, touring the dump

Once at re-connect, we started “connecting” with everyone, which simply means that the Peace Corps Volunteers were on one side of the room and the counterparts on another.  Until our bosses set us up with a “dinamica” or ice-breaker as we like to call them in the states.  This is not a favorite activity of Muni-D’ers, so after the rumbles and grumbles, we paired off where we were supposed to incorporate Facebook into our lives.  We had to draw a profile pic, name, favorites, etc.  We were paired with another persons counterpart; and drawing is not my strongpoint.  Poor guy, I drew what looked like one of those moles you whallop in that game at Chuck-e-Cheese’s, so Kendra had to take over for me.  When it was all said and done, I don’t think anyone was taking home a prize for “Best Monet.”  As the week progressed, we discussed new solar energy houses, new solar energy water buckets, better practices for recycling, and were even taken to the Zamorano dump.  Of course, when we received our email for the conference it said to dress professional, so this is how I ended up walking around the dump in flip flops and a skirt.  We were also taught about eco-clubs, food security and renewable energy.  My counterpart took lots of notes and really seemed to enjoy it…as we walked around campus; he even pointed to the recyclable trash cans and told me “That is what we are going to have in Orocuina!”  I am glad to know he likes the idea and hope we will be able to successfully complete the project this year.   

Learning about bees & honeymaking

Towards the end of the week several of us got sick, including bacteria infections.  I spent most of the day in the bathroom (TMI, but sometimes you have to share).  I am really looking forward to the day I return to America and am “bathroom normal” again.  LOL  I have learned way more about my body in Peace Corps, too much about amoebas, worms, and stool samples then I ever care to know in the future.  This includes my friends amoebas and worms.  What was once a taboo topic is now something freely discussed in Peace Corps among volunteers, but maybe it’s all for the best.  If one of us hadn’t been discussing our bathroom issues, then the other ones might not have gotten tested, then they would have stayed sick.  Now that is the real “re-connecting.” 

p.s. I am all better now, just a little sickness.  All the tests came back normal!

Superbowl Sunday

Superbowl Sunday, February 6, 2011



Superbowl BBQ + Happy Birthday Brian!

 Superbowl Sunday is a big day for Americans, no matter where you are living. So, we began searching out where the game would be shown several weeks back. It’s really hard in a country where no one cares about American football and the majority of them don’t even consider it a real sport. The original plan was just to hop on a bus, go four hours up to Teguz and sit in the Marriot all day with other traveling conventioneers to soak up the happiness that is Superbowl Sunday. But, that changed when the day also coincided with our friend Brian’s birthday, who lives in San Lorenzo, a town about an hour and a half north of Orocuina.



Yummy homemade chicken by Brian

 Brian decided to have a ‘BBQ, pool, and football’ party, which sounded great and exciting, but we promised to come only if he could guarantee the TV would show American football and not soccer. (Some of you may recall the Pizza Hut incident a few weeks back where there were no playoff American football games). After Brian promised us that we would see the Packers and Steelers slapping each other on their butts in Dallas, we eerily agreed to this plan. The day was much different than in Dallas, where they were clearing snow off the ground, it was almost 100 degrees in San Lorenzo, as we all started off at a hotel swimming pool, jumping around and splashing. It was so amazing to be in the water and move around.


Chilaxin' on a great Sunday football day


Brian cooked us up some mouth-watering chicken on the hotel’s BBQ, accompanied by papas fritas and we danced in the water to fun Latin music, while the hotel workers laughed at us. Then, we headed on home to our friend Ernenek’s house where we began to watch the pre-game in Spanish. I must admit that watching the game in Spanish was way more exciting than I ever thought it could be. If you have ever watched a soccer game in Spanish, you know how excited they get when they yell “GGGOOOOOOAAAALLLLLL!” So, to have them translate the most exciting American football game of the year was freakin’ fantastic! The best part was during the third quarter and Green Bay challenged the incomplete pass and the FOX Latin American commentator kept trying to get closer and closer to the review booth. I kept thinking the referee was going to throw him out of the game, but he looked really excited to be there and kept putting his little blue microphone in everyone’s face! Ha ha ha



Brian attacks the pinata

 Watching the game in Honduras was much different than any other Superbowl I have ever watched. For starters, there were only two Americans watching it, and we were both women. We were joined by two Mexicans and six Canadians, but all of us speak Spanish. We didn’t have the awesome commercials to keep us energized during the breaks and there was no spread of dips and beer (since the hotel had run out of beer and didn’t have the key to the bodega to sell us more). But, it was a great cross-cultural experience to see everyone’s reaction and share a little bit of American sports with my friends. And, even though I didn’t have the commercials to watch, there is always YouTube for later, right?

To cap off the night, Brian celebrated his birthday by taking a whack at a piñata, filled with apples and Oreos, two of his favorite things, but not exactly the best objects to place inside a flying paper mache thing. The apples went flying and became sauce faster than we could pick them up. Afterwards we dined on platano and ham lasagna, which was also divine, followed by pastel (cake). A great weekend, with great friends, an awesome football game, with lots of “GOALS” and fun memories. Muchas gracias, Honduras!

Recipes from a Peace Corps Volunteer

February 4, 2011


Recipes from a Peace Corps Volunteer

For the second day I just used eggnog to make my macaroni and cheese. Why, you ask? Because there are only a few stores that sell milk in my town. They all close at 5 pm. So, if I haven’t decided what I’m going to make for dinner by then and don’t have all the ingredients in my house I’m SOL. The current list of ingredients in my fridge is as follows:

Brown sugar

One apple

Butter

Hot chocolate

Peanut butter

Water

Mayonnaise

Green curry

Fish sauce

Egg nog/peppermint schnapps and menthe de cocoa left over from Christmas


On the dry side of things I have lots of spices, some oatmeal and macaroni and cheese

So, last night after I came home from a long day of work, followed by a long run, my thoughts turned to what I would eat. I knew I had used the last of my milk earlier in the morning but it’s not like I have a “supermarket” to stop by on my way home. I have “pulperias” and lots of them. What’s a pulperia you ask? It’s a little 7-11 type thing that most everyone has running out of their house. They sell things like Coca-Cola, chips, toilet paper, but only 1 out of 5 sells milk. And almost everyone closes at 5 pm. So, after walking around for 30 minutes last night (which in itself proves I live in a larger town than most PCV), I gave up and headed home. Debating what I could pull together with peanut butter and mayonnaise, I decided to give the eggnog a whirl, seeing as how it’s a “milk” product and all. After mixing it up, it turned out just like the directions called for, and no one was the wiser. And to think I used to pay good money for fine dining.

Mail Call

I love, love, love going to the post office here. Receiving letters and packages from home keeps my spirits super high! So, the other day when I walked into the post office and the supervisor said “Jenifer, Jenifer, Jenifer, everything is for Jenifer” it made me feel really good. I love all my friends and family all over the world and really appreciate the time they take to send me a card, photo, package, or shout out from wherever they are. I like to open the mail with the postal workers and share my life with them. They love to look at the photos from all over the world and hear about your lives.





Fun stocking from Liz, Spencer & Jonah

 The months of December and January were really fun at the Choluteca post office. Almost everyday new items were arriving and I would get a text that I had stuff waiting for me. Here is a little example of how mail gets from you to me:



1. You pop a letter/postcard/chocolate bar or People magazine in the mail to me from your local USPS. It gets tossed into a big ol’ truck and taken to the largest USPS station, where it is scanned and thrown onto a big ol’ airplane to Miami, Houston, or San Diego, the three main stations heading south to Central America.

2. After clearing customs and they make sure you’re not sending me anything you’re not supposed to, it makes it onto an airplane to Tegucigalpa and arrives at the airport. Again, it is passed off to customs where they sometimes go through it, sometimes not, and then decide to keep stuff they really like or give it all to me (sometimes stuff just “disappears” you know?!?). This is why I advise you to not write what is really in my package on the outside.

3. After clearing customs in Teguz and maybe sitting out on the runway for a few days, it is loaded onto a truck bound for Choluteca. They make these truck routes twice a week, and always on Friday. So, I usually always go to the post office on a Friday to see if anything fun and amazing has come in and to send out all of my love to you guys as well.

4. On average it takes about 2 weeks for a letter or package to get here. I don’t actually LIVE in Choluteca, I have to take a 45 minute bus there and then walk another 15 minutes to the post office. Some weeks I don’t make it there unless I know something is coming, which is why a bunch of my Christmas cards were there for a while.





Obviously customs wanted to go through this one...notice all the new tape...

 Thank you to everyone for all the amazing cards, letters and care packages. They mean so much and keep my spirits high and house decorated!



My friend John never gets mail (gasp!) so I let him enjoy opening this package from my friends Linda and Brad



My friend Dennis' card was slightly 'ripped' so the Honduras postal system put it in a special plastic bag