What it's Like to Be a PAM'er

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

What it's Like to Be a PAM'er

Beautiful mountains outside of Choluteca

There are six different sectors of Peace Corps Honduras, including Protected Areas Management.  These are the people who live in the most rural areas of Honduras, often without electricity and water, in communities of less than 1,000 people.  This past weekend I decided to venture off into the land of a PAM’er, as we call them here in Honduras PC land, to visit my friend Kari, high up on a mountain.  I didn’t exactly know how high until the bus picked me up and it was packed front to back and I was left standing for an hour and twenty minutes up a dusty and bumpy road with a small child’s face planted right into my belly button.  The bus was hot, crowded and uncomfortable.  It reminded me of what Honduras is really like as we passed really poor aldeas and I saw more kids running around without shoes on than with.  As a Municipal Developer, I am quite spoiled living in Honduras.  To say this to many people back in the States would make people laugh (since I still have tarantulas, running water one hour a day, and no paved roads in my Casco Urbano), but I do have a large, up-and-coming municipality.  We have a paved road from Choluteca, a large selection of comedors (restaurants), pulperias (7-11’s), and the electricity runs pretty regularly.  So, imagine my shock when we pulled up into Kari’s site and I said “Where’s the park?”  Kari informed me that they didn’t have a park and there was only one pulperia in town, at the bottom of a massive hill which I was about to walk up. 

Heading up the hill to Kari's House, you can't tell, but it's steep!

As we exited the bus and began to walk up there were about 30 people following us.  “Who are all those people” I asked?  Kari told me they were all her host family…as well as everyone in the town.  Once we got to her house I was introduced to everyone in the town and sat my stuff down.  That was it.  A quick walk up the massive hill and I had seen it all.  One church, one schoolhouse, and a bunch of houses.  The life of a PAM’er.  “What do you do here,” I asked her.  She said at night they all sat around and watched TV (since someone had hauled a big satellite up that mountain to their house), and that night I was joined by 20 people in the house and we all watched soccer games and telenovellas together.  So is life up on the mountain.  The next day Kari took me for a beautiful walk through the protected areas in which she works.  The mountains radiated beauty and I was introduced to green hilltops and bright pink and purple flowers spraying over the houses.  The neighbors told me on May 3 they hike all the way to the top of the mountain…the whole town goes up together.  After a quick invite back, I told them I’d think about it as I gathered my strength back to walk back down the mountain.  On the way Kari had to stop every few steps to look for cell service.  It reminded me again how often I take for granted just being able to pick up my phone and call everyone.  Kari has to HIKE UP  a mountain and hang onto a tree to say hi to her dad in the states!

Chilaxin' at the top of the mountain

These guys really wanted their picture taken; they liked posing as they built the new house!

The two buildings in Kari's town, the green one is the church

It's a dog-day

After bidding farewell to Kari’s host family and heading back down the mountain to Orocuina, I looked around and began to appreciate my little pueblo a lot more.  The cows walking down the middle of the street didn’t bother me as much that day…I mean, at least I have cows!  Later that night as I laid in bed I began to feel a horrible pain in my stomach.  After several hours of being sick, I finally gave in and called the PCMO and she sent me to the hospital in Choluteca, where they immediately put me on an IV and antibiotics.  Luckily, I had my friend Amanda to keep me company in the emergency room as I continued to be sick and try to run to the bathroom with a wheeley-IV thing attached to me, with wheels that didn’t work.  Have you ever seen purple Gatorade come flying back up?  It is not a pretty thing and I don’t think the nurses in the ER appreciated it either, so finally, they put me in a real room, to which Amanda proclaimed was “nicer than some hotels we’ve been in.”  After two days I was finally able to try purple Jell-O, which begs me to ask, why is everything in Honduras some random color that would never sell in America.  Does anyone even LIKE purple jell-o?  the jell-o was fine, but after trying some chicken soup I was sick again and the doctor loudly proclaimed I would be staying another night.  Finally, after three days in the hospital, I was allowed to be taken off IV’s, eat mashed potatoes and crackers and return to Orocuina.  My stomach is still a little quesy, but I’m feeling better and ready to take on Honduras again.  The cause of the bacteria infection?  Well, I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but we think it was some bad water that hadn’t been boiled in Kari’s site.  So, it’s tough being a PAM’er, but it’s tougher being the posh Muni D’er who goes to visit your friend.

Chillin' in the ER