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