Yuscaran

When I was in Yuscaran, not only did I participate in a battle of man vs beast (see below), I also visited the largest Guaro (one of the most horrendous sugar-derived alcohols I have ever...) factory in Honduras, saw the frightening cultural sights and marveled at the ever present countryside.

Burro Polo

If you haven't had the absolute pleasure of playing Donkey Polo, then you haven't lived! There was a large festival in a nearby town that is a yearly get together for all the Peace Corps Volunteers in Honduras and, of course, the main event was Polo using the most stubborn animal known to man. Luckily my donkey actually was fairly complient, but some didn't move at all or were just along for the ride.

The festival is annual and the game has been going on for ten years between Peace Corps Volunteers vs Hondurans. Obviously the Hondurans win every year by a landslide, but we give 'em hell! There were about 300 spectators this year including 40 volunteers (which is less than a fourth of the country). Even though we lossed this year, a lot of us newbies learned the strategies and we are going to take home the trophy next year!

The first pic is me, if there was any doubt with the beard and all. The second is my buddy Bryce having a little talk with his donkey before the big game.

Fun with Paint

This is one of my first projects. This Jardin de Niños (Kindergarten) is actually at a town close by where another volunteer is finishing up his service. Imagine this building without any paint and mickey and the gang's faces and you can see why it needed a happier face for the kids. The part I had a hand in was a few of the disney characters. Pretty awesome right. Oh I suppose pooh bear is there too and he's not disney, but everyone loves him here as much as they do in the States.

Don't ask about the bunny. He was the first one put up and the only one done without the help of a picture to copy. If you look really close he has these really nervous eyebrows, like he's just waiting for Pooh Bear or Mickey to attack at any minute.

San Luis - My Home

Here it is! San Luis, Comayagua. My home for the next two years. This is a pic from when I was hiking out in the bosque.

Baseball

More than a month at my site and a lot has happened. I have already integrated well into my community and met some amazing people. One of my biggest problems is remembering people’s names! There are over 25 kids on the baseball team I started but I can only name a handful. However, I came up with a strategy to fix this. All I need to do is take a picture of all the kids one day and go over the names with my host family or friends. I thought this was fairly genius.

Everything ends up being a new and interesting experience here, including starting a baseball team. The plan before I got here was that it would be my first project. It's working out well because I’m getting to know a lot of the kids and it isn’t necessary to know a whole lot of Spanish. The vocab for baseball is almost the same in Spanish as it is in English. What’s been most difficult is learning how to discipline the kids. When I try to reprimand one of the kids and they don’t understand what I’m saying to them, the whole effect is lost.

I was supposed to have the help of community members, a teacher actually, but two practices in he told me that he couldn’t come anymore, leaving me high and dry. The first day was the most difficult though. It was during the physical education class and my teacher buddy thought I was ready to explain baseball in its entirety, in Spanish of course. I hadn’t prepared a thing, assuming (which I’ve learned not to do anymore for countless reasons) that he would at least help in explaining what baseball is. He didn’t, but even though I stumbled over my words, the kids understood me and we were playing a game soon after.

Peace Corps puts on an annual tournament in May. Obviously my plan is to win the whole thing, but there are many other teams with more experience and better equipment than us. Also, with the coffee season starting right now, at least half the kids won't be able to play until February. So for now, all we can do is play pick-up games with whoever is able to show up. Although, the way I figure it, all I have to do is teach them the Joe Mauer batting style and we're as good as gold.

The Food

There’s nothing wrong with rice and beans. Thankfully, there is a lot more to my diet than just that. The ‘typical plate’ is beans, rice, avocado, and an egg. More often than not that is my breakfast and dinner, and I’m actually a really big fan. The only part that is a little too much to stomach sometimes is the fact that no food goes un-fried here (well, not the avocado). Just the other night I had a dish called Quesillos, which entails two tortillas with cheese in between and on top, fried till it’s crunchy. About four of those went down the hatch with some other fried concoction that resembles a home-style fry sandwich with more cheese. This really got the digestive system lubed-up and feeling funky. If I keep this up, these two years might end up taking two years off my life!

In reality though there are healthy options too. Some of the best fruit I have ever tasted has been in the last 4 months. Bananas, pineapple, oranges, mangos, and more are easily found, but some only during the right time of year. Fortunately, I caught the tale end of the mango season when I first got here, but now I have to wait a while for that bliss to come about again. However, when it does, the farthest I have to go is ten feet from my door to my family’s mango tree!

As far as keeping healthy, the situation is this. All my meals are with my family because there really is no other option, and I really want to eat as they do and not be rude. Also, when they put a plate of food in front of me I am compelled to finish it all. It’s like when your mom tells you to finish your food because in some parts of the world other kids are starving; well now they’re my neighbors. No not really, I’m just being dramatic. My town is actually a pretty well off coffee town, but I have seen gut-wrenching poverty since living here, and that’s what really comes to mind.

So, you say, why doesn’t he just tell them to serve less? This has been done many times and has not changed a thing. The way I figure it is it’s either because I pay for my meals so they think I should get my money’s worth, or more likely, they think I’m too skinny because I don’t have my set of llantas (spare tire) yet. Give it time. I will.

Swearing-In

Each link is a different article about our swearing-in ceremony at the embassy a while back. There's pictures in just about all of them, and I think I'm in one of the pictures. If you don't speak Spanish, don't worry, they don't actually talk much about the Peace Corps Volunteers. We were in the two major newspapers and we actually made the second or third page . From what I heard we were on TV too!

http://www.maya-tv.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2792&Itemid=41

http://www.elpatriotahn.com/v/Cuerpo+de+Paz+en+Honduras/

http://www.laprensahn.com/ediciones/2007/09/30/juramentan_contingente_de_cuerpo_de_paz_de_eua

http://www.proceso.hn/2007/09/28/Metr%C3%B3poli/Embajador.de.EE/1258.html

http://www.elheraldo.hn/detalle.php?sec=12&fecha=2007-09-28

Making Aboñeras

This is the Youth Development group learning to make compost piles and plant all different types of things. If this looks like one person chopping grass with a machete while everyone else is watching or chatting, that´s because it is. Not only are we in Honduras where things happen at their own pace, but we also all are more or less government employees. What can you do?

Escuela Suyapa

These two are at the school that I was teaching at during training. Well, I don´t know if I would call it teaching because my Spanish was pretty flimsy back then. However, this day we were just playing around with the kids. One pic is of my friends kickin the soccer ball around with the kids, and the other is the classroom after the party and piñatas.

Rio Choluteca

The town of Cantaranas was really hot so I didn´t go on too many hikes, but here are some pics of the big one I went on. We climbed a big hill and followed the huge Rio Choluteca for a few miles. Both of these are from the top of the hill looking down on the river and surrounding countryside. Even though it was blazing hot we decided not to go swimming in the river. You never knew what was floating by at any particular time. I saw old shoes, lots of plastic bottles, and whatever else that is trash and can float. By this point, the river had gone through the capital and it was impossible to tell what type of skin condition you would come out with it you went for a swim. However, if you kept your distance, it was really quite beautiful!

Cantaranas Family

These two are my host sisters in Cantaranas. They are the only ones that can rival the puppies for cuteness. The baby`s name is Lilibeth, but that took me a long time to figure out because they don`t pronounce the “th.” She was hilarious. Not only could I get a smile out of her whenever, I also taught her to give me the hi 5. If you look closely she´s rockin the bull horns, quite the lady.

The next two pics are of Paola. In the first one she is bringing me a can of juice when I was sick. She was my best pal in Cantaranas. She would make sure we ate every meal together and would constantly be hanging out with me, even though we usually couldn´t understand each other. The second pic is on Day of the Kids. This is where all the kids in town get the day off and there are all kinds of activities during the day. With all the piñatas throughout the day, every kid went home with pockets full of candy. All lot of kids get new clothes on this day too. So I had to take a picture of Paola sportin her new threads in pink cowboy boots.

Hey, the last picture is me! I thought this was pretty funny face I was making. It just so happens that this is the first picture my host brother had ever taken. You can tell by my eyes and how close the flash was.

Independence Day Parade

These pics are of the parade on Independence Day. The entire parade was huge, it included: numerous sections of drums/bands, dancers, political groups and organizations from town and area around it. The first pic is ten piece band in the back of a tiny truck. Not only did they fit everyone in the truck, but they added tropical vegetation and played a great tune. The second pic is the high school kids playing the drums. They practiced for this for more than a month, multiple hours a day. There were five or six groups the same size as this one spread throughout the parade, and all were dressed just as stylish.

The Puppies

The first few pictures are my neighbors/roommates during training. They had just learned to walk about fives days after I got there. It couldn´t have been better timing. They were always right by my door or following me around because there little shed was only like fifteen feet from my door. If I would have let them they would have eaten my toes at least a thousand times. Well probably not, they didn´t have much of a bite. Anyways, here they are.

Numero Uno

It is official, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer! Last Thursday was the big day where all 42 of us were sworn-in as PCVs at the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa. It was quite the production. Besides the dignitaries from the Honduran government there to welcome us, there were also multiple news stations with more cameras than the paparazzi. Well, maybe not that many, but it was quite overwhelming. It was a good thing I brought a tie with me! (Although it will probably be the only time I’ll use it) If anyone happened to watch the Honduran Noticias on Friday or grabbed a news paper you probably know all about it, but I’m going to guess no one did.

As of now, I’m living in the town that will be my home for the next two years; and I’m not going to lie, it is absolutely gorgeous! The name of the town is San Luis in the department (state) of Comayagua smack-dab in the center of Honduras. There are about 2,301 people who live here now and over 10,000 in the countless aldeas (small farming towns) surrounding it. During the coffee season, which starts soon, the aldeas will swell to who knows how many.

One of the things that really surprised me was the access to technology; it seems as out-of-place as a freezer in Antarctica. It takes forever to get anywhere, the road is riveted like crazy from all the rain, and it’s necessary to cross two rivers when coming from the capital (that’s without a bridge). During the rainy season, if you don’t have ground clearance, like a SUV or truck, you can’t go anywhere (except also the buses, which are tanks here!). That said, I have electricity, internet, and a recently installed cell phone tower on top of the nearest hill. The second two have only been here for a little more than a year, which means that the volunteers before me had communicated with the central office with notes on buses. But not me, I can call, send e-mails, send text messages, or if I’m feeling hard core I can make some smoke signals.

However, everything hasn’t been only sunshine and rainbows, and I don’t think it would be best for me to list my problems, but let me just say I miss everyone a lot. If anyone wants to come visit just tell me when and I’ll meet you at the airport. Your not going to be able to pass it up once I start uploading pics onto this blog. If I can I’d like to stagger things as much as possible, for the sake of my funds and limited vacation days. So let’s plan ahead people. Drop me an e-mail anytime!

Peace out