After the lake, Dan and I made our way (painstakingly) to the coast of Honduras and then to the most-developed and touristy island of Roatan. Dan and I spent a full hour of the bus ride to the coast sitting bent-over on the dashboard of an inter-city bus (it was too full to move any further back). We spent the next 4 hours of the ride dripping in sweat, sitting perfectly still, and fantasizing of refrigerators and ice cubes on another inter-city bus. Someone, after spending some time in Ghana, once told me that an African air-conditioner was simply a method of sitting, perfectly still, in the shade with ones arms raised slightly above their legs to prevent any skin-on-skin contact. I can tell you, that day, our African air conditioners were broken. We arrived in paradise exhausted and sweaty and spent the next four days lounging on beaches, snorkeling, scuba diving, zip-lining, and monkey-petting. We saw several hawksbill sea turtles during our dives and got to swim only inches away from them, putting seeing them at a close second for greatest moments during our dive, right behind getting to kiss Dan under 30 feet of ocean. After our first day of diving we went on a zip-line and wild-life park tour, which meant that we first got to act like monkeys and then hold them. When we walked into the wildlife refuge the guide pointed out some monkey in the trees and then yelled, “Ricardo, venga!” I thought now way were those monkeys going to come down from the trees to hang out with us, but sure enough, after a bit of calling and some bribing with juice in a plastic bag, Ricardo and his friends came to say hello. They tried to dig through our packs and our pockets and succeeded in stealing one man’s cap. We spent the last days doing a bit more diving and more chillin’ on beaches, which, as it turns out, is a particular skill of Dan and I. The power cut a few times on the island (always to our amusement), causing Dan to determine that the power-outages were the only difference between Roatan and the rest of the Caribbean islands.
Roatan zip line tour
holding bird in wildlife refuge
Ricardo!
monkey business
Dan and me on a beach
and again
We spent an afternoon traveling from the islands back to San Pedro Sula (barf city), and had an uneventful first return trip from Honduras.
Posted in Honduras, Travel | 1 Comment »
From La Esperanza, Dan and I headed to the largest body of fresh water in Honduras, Lago de Yojoa. We stayed at a quiet hotel near the lake and managed to do a bit of dancing one night at the hotel’s disco. The main attraction at the lake was the 43 meter waterfalls, and the guided tour we took behind them. We took a water-proof camera, but don’t have the pictures back yet, but here are a few shots of our time there.
view of the lake from our hotel room
When I made Dan walk miles up hill in incredible heat to catch a bus back to our hotel
view from the walk
Dan arrived May 30th. He came to Honduras to bring me home. He arrived in San Pedro Sula and before he could even set his bags down, we grabbed a bus to La Esperanza so that the good-bye parties could begin. We stopped by one party the evening Dan got in. The rainy season began just days before Dan’s arrival so going out meant darting between puddles and arriving always soaked at your destination. Hay dos estaciones en La Esperanza, un del polvo y un del lodo. (There are two seasons in La Esperanza, one of dust, and one of mud.) I prefer the dust to the mud, even though the rains did bring city water and mean that we could stop using the trickle of water from the mountain behind my host family’s house. When it is dry in La Esperanza, there is unreliable electricity because a hydro-electric plant provides the power to the town and sometimes the dam runs dry or there is a small amount of water and the lights dim and microwaves won’t work for days on end. However, during the rainy season, power is also unreliable because the above-ground lines will fall. Dan says that the power cut several times, “always to my amusement.” And the truth is, that even after four months, I was always amused as well when the power went out. There is something mysterious and innately hilarious about not having power.
We began Dan’s second day in town with a trip to the market, one of the most beautiful sights in La Esperanza, to pick up some last food donations for the women in the albergue. Then we went to the hospital in time for the diabetes club meeting (which was scheduled for 9 and began punctually around 10). The club members had organized a surprise going away party for me. The president of the club, head nurse from the operating room, and even the director of the hospital gave speeches thanking me and the other volunteers for our work. The club members had promised to teach me la punta (a traditional dance of Honduras) but everyone got too shy, so instead the volunteers demonstrated the electric slide. (The idea was to demonstrate that dancing can be good exercise.) The celebration was complete with sugar-free cake (quite the accomplishment in La Esperanza) and diet pepsi. After the diabetics party, Dan helped me bring in some final food donations and give my last “charla” at the Albergue. The nutrition program at the albergue is continuing. A new peace corps volunteer in town has agreed to continue the project at least until a new albergue is constructed, which should be complete within the next year (or so). I have secured funding to bring food in every other week for the next year and for now the volunteers in town are pooling their own personal money to bring food in on the off week. I am working on getting a system set up through an official NGO to accept more donations and will post about it when it is up and running.
market in La Esperanza
last diabetes club charla
the president of the diabetes club presenting a diploma de agradecimiento
me with the club members
Dan and I took Friday morning off to relax, visit the market, drink coffee, and play scrabble and dance (alone, together) on the roof of our hotel. It was an amazing day. Friday night my host family through me a small going away party. The food — including tropical fruit shish kabobs and a going-away cake made by the other two volunteers living at the house — was terrific. And, of course, we played the balloon game. Dan and I left La Esperanza on Saturday. I nearly cried as the bus pulled out of town and was glad to have Dan by my side. Everyone in town kept asking me when I would return, and I genuinely hope to go back soon.
ADIOS ERIN
Dan and I at my good-bye party
balloon game begins
balloon game championships
last shot of La Esperanza
Posted in Honduras, Public Health, Travel |
Dan and I had a great time during his visit and I am back in the United States and slowly trying to adjust myself to my new surroundings without completely freaking out. Many people have asked me how I am, and generally I remark that it feels like I am in jumboland in the Mario Brothers games (no, I am not sure that its official name, and hard core mario brother gamers will just have to excuse the possible misnomer.) My mom offered me strawberries when I got home and I swear they look like they came from a different planet, I can only fit two of them in the palm of my hand whereas I could easily hold five of the strawberries from the hills around La Esperanza in a single fist. My dad then cut me off a huge piece of welcome home cake (terrific parents) and it was actually too big for me to eat. The ice cream was just a bit too sweet for now and I am actually sort of missing the dry corn tortillas with sour butter. The roads are big here too, not to mention paved to a perfect shine. The people are also bigger; I can no longer see over the heads in a crowd. Even the beers are big. I drank a full pint in the Houston airport, for only 4 dollars and 50 cents. I am shocked that a full weeks worth of money in La Esperanza has been shrunk to last no more than half a day while traveling here, or to maybe a half tank of gas. I have yet to drive my jumbo car in jumboland, but I am taking things in baby steps.
I looked around for a trashcan to deposit my toilet paper in the Houston airport restroom and was a bit confused until I remembered I could put it in the toilet. (You cannot ever put toilet paper in toilets in Honduras, it is always suppose to be deposited in the trashcans beside the toilets. This is an important fact to note for any would-be tourists, because it is under-signed and leads to many embarrassing moments among new gringos in town.) The toilet in Houston flushed automatically when I stood up and caught me a bit off guard. I would say that I have been about fifty-fifty putting the toilet paper in the toilet (the other half of the time it lands in the trash can) here in the bathroom I am sharing with my favorite little sister this summer, and I am sure this fact just thrills her.
I am greatly enjoying tap-water and have filled my glass many times today. Cool, clean water from the water fountain in Houston was a highlight of my return travels.
I am enjoying getting caught up with friends and family and have had a very happy reunion with a very excited, jumpy, and slobbery puppy.
But I have perhaps been most impressed with the welcoming attitudes of friends, family, and friends of family that I haven’t seen in months. Without missing a beat, neighbors are stopping me on the street to ask about my adventures and how I am doing. One of my best friends moms told me to stop by for anything at all if I ever needed help with anything this summer and my own parents weren’t around. She made the generous offer even though she knows that most of what I am trying to do the next two months is just adjust to the States and prepare for my move to New York. Its nice to know that all the corny stuff they say about home is true.
I have more blog posts to write about Dan and my adventures. I am going to try to break them up a bit because Dan claims that with my long posts, I am not using the Internet correctly and is threatening to take away my Internet privileges. So I will try making some shorter posts this time, which should be much easier now that I now have consistent and low-cost internet access. All the posts will just have to wait a bit until I get my pictures organized online, and that will have to be after I have cleared the foot-deep mound of mail I have received in the last four and half months from my desk and have room to set up my camera, but I will get to it as soon as possible.
Posted in Honduras | 1 Comment »
One of my friends who volunteered in La Esperanza about three months ago had the foresight to collect a large donation from friends, relatives, and co-workers before she came to La Esperanza. (If you are thinking of doing some sort of volunteer experience, I think that getting a donation before you leave to spend in-country is a terrific idea.) She dedicated much of the month that she was in town to finding worthy causes for the money. However, she had to leave La Esperanza suddenly due to unforeseen circumstances and never had a chance to spend the money. Once she was settled back in England she wired the money to me. Her original donation was for 550 British Pounds. By the time the money transferred to my bank account, was converted first to dollars and then to lempira, and I took it out of the ATM in La Esperanza, I had a donation of roughly 1,000 dollars, or approximately 18,889 lempiras. I have been diligently working on spending the money during the last month or so, using Amy’s ideas as guides. Here is what we came up with:
A NEW TIN ROOF FOR ONE OF THE FAMILIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
This family had few natural resources on their property and they had to use the money available from i-to-i to buy stones for the foundation and wood for the frame and had no money left over to buy a tin roof. A tin roof is one of the most important elements of one of these new houses as it functionally blocks rain from entering the living areas, unlike thatch or clay tiles. Insects are unable to live and breed in tin roofs which prevents the spread of chagas disease and other ailments. One of the volunteers working on the construction site recognized the importance of the tin roof and put her own 2,000 lempiras toward the project to buy the missing 10 sheets. Though I offered to reimburse all of the money she put towards the project she accepted only 1,500 lempiras reimbursement from Amy’s money.
8 new sheets of tin roof……….1,500 lempiras
New tin roof
The tin roof being put on.
THE INFA CENTER
The INFA center is a day-care and nutrition program provided for children who have only one parent (almost always just a mother.) The mother can drop her children off, Monday through Friday, so that she may go to work. The government provides funding for the food provided by the program and minimum wage salaries to over-worked day care providers, but does not provide funds for the maintenance of the center.
Some of the volunteers have been working on painting a mural on the walls of the INFA center. The center was a dark and depressing place prior to the work of volunteers who painted the walls, and the mural has served to further brighten the center.
Oil paint for a mural and to paint the benches in the center……….2,100 lempiras
Beginning of the mural
The finished product
Painted benches
The young children at the INFA take siestas in the afternoon and often had to share sleeping mats by as many 4 children per mat or foam pad or sleep on the floor. We used some of the donated money to buy new mattresses for the children so that they could spread out.
6 new mattress………..1,920 lempiras
crowded sleeping at the INFA center
New Mattresses!
Sleeping with more space
The INFA center had several missing window pains which allowed water to run down the walls and onto the floor during the rainy season.
Replacement window pains……….500 lempiras
Missing window pains
Fixing the window pains
New window pains
The front door of the INFA center was broken.
Fixing the bottom of the front door………300 lempiras
Broken front door
Fixed front door
The front lock of the INFA center was also broken.
New lock for the front door……….100 lempiras
Broken front door lock
Fixed front door lock
The hallway between the playroom and the kitchen was open, which meant that the children were locked out of the playroom a majority of the day in order to prevent them from entering the kitchen.
Gate between the playroom and the kitchen……….200 lempiras
Opening between playroom and kitchen
Gate between playroom and kitchen
THE HOSPITAL
The operating department needed money to repair their stirrups.
Repairing 2 sets of stirrups……….300 lempiras
broken stirrups
Repaired stirrups
THE ALBERGUE
The albergue is built in a low-lying area and there are many mosquitoes and other biting insects that were able to enter the dormitory and bathroom and molest the women and transmit diseases.
Screen doors for the dormitory and bathroom……….1,500 lempiras
New screen doors at the albergue
Screen window coverings in the dormitory and bathroom……….300 lempiras
Screen windows at the albergue
The food that I brought in was kept in buckets and often covered in flies.
Plastic containers to keep flies off the food……….455 lempiras
Plastic contianers to keep flies away from the food
The albergue was in need of some new pots and pans……….450 lempiras
Old pots and pans
New pots and pans
My parents brought donated toothbrushes to the women during their visit. However, the women are unable to afford toothpaste.
Toothpaste to compliment the donated brushes……….589 lempiras
Toothpaste
Women with their new toothpaste
The albergue was also in need of some new cleaning supplies such as mops and brooms.
Two new mops……….114 lempiras
New mops
Two new brooms………..60 lempiras
New brooms
INDUSTRIAL ARTS SUPPLIES FOR THE 7TH, 8TH AND 9TH GRADERS IN CENTRO DE EDUCACIÒN BASICA “HONDURAS”
Amy wanted to donate a large part of the money to the school in Chiligatoro, Honduras where she had worked teaching English. The director and professors of the school decided that the money could be best used to by supplies for an industrial arts class because these supplies are prohibitively expensive for the school or students to purchase. The students greatly enjoy working on industrial arts projects and the classes allow the students to learn valuable and marketable trades. The professors believed that these materials would help keep students in school through the ninth grade. The materials are very durable and will last many years.
Industrial arts supplies………..8,833 lempiras
one box of equipment
students with their new school tools
Reading the letter than Amy sent to her old students
Thanks, Amy, it was really fun doing some good works with the donation that you worked so hard to get.
Posted in Honduras, Travel | 3 Comments »
Not much terribly exciting has happened during the last week. But I have been getting requests for updates from my little corner of the world, and I figure describing a more or less average week might help any possible future volunteers get a better idea of the routine of daily life here.
The problem with trying to describe my daily activities here is that I am often filled with a sense of surrealism. I see so many things everyday that are so far outside my understanding that I stop noticing them. I don’t even blink when I see a donkey-pulled cart flying down a hill much to the thrill of the man driving it and feel the dust coat my sunscreeened skin and fill my mouth so that when I touch my teeth together they grind over the dirt. I see bulls and horses walking unattended down the streets or being pulled behind men and boys riding bicycles. Currently, whole fields are being purposefully torched to prepare them for planting and the valleys are filled with smoke. Everyday, I walk past a talking parrot (even though he usually won’t talk to me). This week I saw a child digging through the garbage in central park. And much to our dismay, our house hasn’t received a single drop of water from the city in five days. Surrounded by these things it makes it easier to understand that if you set a meeting for 9, people will show up around 10, and if the meeting has miraculously started already, they will walk in and noisily introduce themselves, and give a hearty “buenos dias” even in the middle of a speech. It makes it easier to believe that if you are sweating when you get in the shower, your heart might just stop, and that you can go on a walk to look at holes in the ground that go on infinitely without ever reaching a bottom.
the field across the street from our house on fire
burnt fields
So, here it goes, my week:
Monday
Monday morning at the hospital I updated by diabetes club poster so that it had the date for the next club meeting on Friday. I did my usual rounds in the pourperio, talking to women who have recently given birth and are waiting to be discharged home. I talk with them about family planning, breastfeeding, and infant nutrition. Then I went out to the Albergue to check in on the women and see how many there were this week. Once I was back in the center of town, I bought the food to give out at the “charlas” at the albergue on Tuesday at the market .Then I went to my favorite Internet cafe in town to eat a piece of chocolate cake cooked by a North American woman and attempt to maintain my so-called real life. I actually had some time to read the news and was amazed at the hammerhead shark that gave birth to a pup that had no paternal DNA. Read about it here if you’re interested. I had a relaxing lunch at the kiosk in Central park for approximately two US dollars.
baleadas, the Honduran vegetarian speciality.
And I spent some time in the afternoon relaxing, reading, writing in my journal and thinking about my place in the world. Monday was a hair-wash day, so I took my first shower in mountain spring water, because Monday was the first day that our house stopped getting city water. La Esperanza is in a bit of a drought and because I live so far out from the center (about 2 miles) the water always cuts at our house first and we are usually one of the last houses to get it back. About three months ago I went on a hike with my host mom around the mountain on the back of the house. She saw a bit of water dripping out of the ground and asked me to take a picture of it. She said she wanted to bring the water back to the house. I thought she was crazy. It seemed like too little water to make any sort of noticeable difference. But I took the picture and transferred it to her computer for her. Apparently, since then, our yard worker has been working on tapping and transporting the water to the house and the crude system was put in place Monday when the water stopped. Since then, the mountain water, direct from the ground, as been the only water at the house. It seems clean, and I swear it gets my hair cleaner than it has ever been. But I have forgotten twice and brushed my teeth with it. I’m hoping for the best. That drizzle of water from the mountains has provided enough water for all ten people who bathe at our house to take baths, enough to wash about 8 articles of clothing each, and sufficient water for cooking and cleaning. The pump stops being able to pull it up around 7pm, but the tanks fill over night and we have water starting around 5 in the morning. I am just a tiny bit worried that when Dan gets here he will find me smelling like a lake.
my shower head
Every night I eat dinner with my host family in an effort to work on my Spanish. Dinner generally does not vary much from 2 corn tortillas with mantequilla, half an avocado (often a Honduran avocado, but on lucky days its an imported one from Mexico, which have a much nicer flavor), a scrambled egg, red beans (whole or refried) and due to my continual insistence and once in protest actually chomping down a raw green pepper from the fridge in a search of vitamins, a vegetable.
my host family’s house
Tuesday
Tuesday we gave the food to the womenat the albergue and went through our educational presentations. The peace corps volunteer who is going to be taking over the project for me watched another round of “charlas” and the high school students that I have been working with gave their own presentation on HIV/AIDS and performed a condom demonstration on a platano. The condom demonstration was very well done and probably an important addition to the discussions as my mention of condoms is usually the first time the women at the albergue have ever heard of them.
The high school students giving their talk on AIDS
Condom demonstration
Afterward, I again completed my rounds in the pourperio. And went through my usual routine of going to the Internet cafe and finding lunch. In the afternoon I worked on spending an independent donation I have received from England. Tuesday night all of the volunteers met up at our usual bar, El Fog’n. Dan calls it my “cheers bar” and that is a pretty accurate description. We always go to the same bar and it means that there will always be someone there that you know, and if you are looking for someone in particular, you know where you can find them. I have never lived somewhere where everyone went to the same bar every evening and I have actually really enjoyed it.
El Fog’n
Wednesday
If I have a full week in La Esperanza (I haven’t been traveling during part of the week) I usually take Wednesdays off to go building, which provides a nice break from the mental and theoretical work of the hospital and I like to think that it helps build some poor excuses for muscles as well. However, feeling the pressure of my last full week in La Esperanza, I took Wednesday morning off to store up on some Honduran-style zen and spent the morning sleeping in (until 8:15) and drinking coffee and reading my book (currently, 100 Years of Solitude) The book took me awhile to get into but I am enjoying it now and find it incredibly appropriate given my current location in the world. I was assigned the book in high school, and I am not particularly ashamed to admit that I was never able to get through it then and barely skimmed the book, reading just enough to get As on the tests. The mystical realism has an appeal to me here. Then, as per usual, I went to the Internet cafe and ate a light lunch while watching the first half of the European soccer championships. In the afternoon we went to finish getting a second coat of paint on the ceiling in one of the operating rooms. We traveled to the hospital in what I have discovered is one of the best ways to get around here — the back of a pick-up truck, for free.
Wednesday night, you guessed it, we went to the Fog’n. I was a bit hungry and was able to order one of my favorite Honduran foods at the bar, an anafre. An anafre is a warm bowl of refried beans and quesillo served with tortilla chips.
an anafre
Thursday
Thursday I gave the shorter of my two talks at the albergue and again did my rounds in the pourperio. I also confirmed plans for the diabetes club the next day. I went to the Internet cafe, yet again, and spent the afternoon working on spending the donation I received (a post about that will follow shortly). After spending some time reading, writing and thinking at my host-family’s house, we went to…one of the other volunteer’s houses for his 30th birthday party. (ha ha, you thought I was going to say the Fog’n.) The party was a complete blast (as Honduran birthdays usually are). We played one of my favorite games in the whole world (right up there with broomball and kickball) where you tie a balloon to your foot and go around trying to stomp on everyone else’s balloon and guard your own. I actually won the second round when my last competitor accidentally hit his own balloon with the point of his cowboy boots. We also played banco caliente (musical chairs) and finished the evening (after putting just a splash of rum in the bottom of our glasses full of Coca-cola) dancing under the Honduran night sky.
one of the greatest games ever
Friday
I led the diabetes club meeting and gave my usual diabetes talks. We also elected officers for the club so that it is more able to continue without my support once I leave. We also checked everyone’s blood sugar with some of the donated glucometers my parents brought. And we decided, as a club policy, that club members had to come to four club meetings before they could receive their own peronsal glucometer. Then I did my rounds and headed towards the center to make Dan and my hotel reservations at the nicest hotel in the center of town for next week. I headed toward the Internet cafe after a walk through the market to buy strawberries (50 cents a pound) and bananas. However, when I got to the internet cafe, the power was out, so that was that. I went home to spend some time relaxing and taking a nap in preparation for an evening full of good-byes (it was many volunteers’ last night in town) at the good ole Fog’n. Before my nap though, I did some washing in the pila. I love pilas and using them to do my washing. I find rubbing things along the wash board to be very meditative. Thankfully, one of our housekeepers does most of my washing in order to prevent me from using an embarrassing amount of water. I love that you can wash just about anything you can imagine in a pila. You can wash not only clothes but bags, shoes, dogs, and I am not ashamed to tell you that if I were to live in Honduras forever, I know where I would wash my baby. (Only on warm days, of course.)
La Pila
The good-bye parties (partidos) were a general blast and for some inexplicable reason the Fog’n had a 2 for 1 special on tequila, which kept the night interesting.
La Esperanza, L to the E
Saturday.
I slept in later than usual (perhaps due to the 2 for 1 tequilas), until about 9:45. Ate a pancake, drank strong Honduran coffee while reading my book and came to the Internet cafe to do some writing on my blog.
Sunday
We are planning to go on a walk tomorrow to see holes in the ground that have no bottom. The official explanation for the holes is that there is no explanation for them. However, rumor has it that they were chimneys for volcanic gases, and that seems to make sense to me.
a hole that goes to the center of the earth
view from the hike to the holes
Posted in Honduras, Public Health, Travel | 2 Comments »
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