Celaque . . . finally!

For my birthday, my friend Rachel and I went up Celaque, the tallest mountain in Honduras. We did an 8 hour hike (10 hours in total including the trek up to the Visitor’s Center) and reached the second highest peak on Celaque, at 2,300 meters. Because we went a few days after Hurricane Alma hit, it was VERY wet and slippery. I ended up falling twice and we were stumped for about 20 minutes when we had to cross a part of the river that had risen so high we couldn’t find a way across. Here are some photos of the hike.


The start of the trail, the water was soooo high!




Rachel and me


The view at 2,300 meters


Me


Strange plant


Taking a break


Crazy vegetation!


Crossing bridge on the way back


Visitor Center in construction, a wall made form plastic bottles. Yay recycling!


Worker making wall from bottles filled with sand


A large grasshopper on our hotel door

The Downside of Rural Community Life

So although there is the upside of safety in rural communities, the downside of not living in the big cities, where more voices can be heard, is that sometimes these communities on the fringes of the most beautiful areas of Honduras are forgotten. Of course, corruption inside and outside of the communities can prevent improvement, but some of the basic needs out here are continuously overlooked until it causes a bigger problem. To get to Nueva Esperanza, you have to cross numerous creeks and rivers. There are bridges to get across the rivers and the creeks are low enough to just pass right on through. However, the last bridge right before Nueva Esperanza has been broken for more than five years. There is a huge hole in the middle which only a motorcycle can (barely) get by. So, all cars and buses have just gone down through the river. Sure the river has gotten high before, but there has never been any problem with getting across. Until now. The first hurricane of the season, Hurricane Alma, hit southern Honduras in the end of May. Here on the outskirts of the storm, we got LOTS and LOTS of rain. The hurricane raised the river so high that it was impossible for cars, or the buses, to cross.


There was no problem when I left Nueva Esperanza the day before, so I had no idea what was going on when I was headed home and the bus suddenly stopped and turned around. The driver announced that we couldn’t get across the river so everyone had to get off and start walking. I’m pretty sure I gave the bus driver the dropped jaw look of shock. I was coming back with my backpack of overnight gear plus three other bags of groceries. . . and we were at the bottom of the hill. Plus, this bus was supposed to go San Sebastian, it was still 18 km away from it’s destination up the mountain! Everyone got off the bus and started walking across the bridge and up the hill, no complaints and no hesitation. I still am amazed by the attitudes of the people here. I think I stayed calm the whole time just because everyone else did; and because everyone else accepted this ordeal as just another challenge to face, I did, too. Although I can’t help but feel a little angry at how unjust it is here as I watch a man unload a 100-pound bag of corn, carry it on his back bent over up the hill, and then re-load it into the other bus that was waiting for us at the top. For people that already have to struggle with so many other things, like just getting enough of life’s necessities, it’s inexcusable that their lives have to be made more difficult with a problem that should have been taken care of immediately. Another woman struggled with her baby in one hand and two full bags of groceries in the other to make the trek up to the other bus. I wish I could have helped her with the load but I had no free hand to offer myself. We loaded the new bus which didn’t have the overhead compartments like the other one and so all of the bags and boxes of things were either compacted with the owners in the seats or stacked in the aisle. The whole time, I don’t remember hearing a single complaint. . . which may be why nothing has been done to fix the bridge. (The short-term solution now is putting boards across the bridge so cars can pass. . . I prefer walking the 3 hours to town than risk falling into the river). Maybe we’ll get someone’s attention now.

The Upside of Rural Community Life

I remember a story my friend, Ana, (who is from El Salvador but now lives in Washington State) told me when we worked together at my university. She told me that what she misses most from where she comes from is that if you are going through hard times, your neighbor is going through hard times, too; and so you worked together or suffered together. But in the neighborhood where she is now, your problems are your own and you have to deal with them yourself even though there are people who are so close by who could help.

I know I have already talked about how wonderful it is to be a part of a small community where you are always welcomed into a home and stop to greet everyone you walk by. But one other benefit that comes from living in a small community, I learned about this last week, is safety. A couple of weeks ago, a woman named Graciela and her husband moved into a house near me because Graciela wanted to be closer to her son and daughter, two well-respected people who live in Nueva Esperanza. One day though, the man went and threatened Graciela’s daughter with a knife because she came from another father. With that, the community united in a way that I wish I could see happen in the states. There’s a select group that is dedicated to the security of the community and when they heard of the event and heard that the man was still in Nueva Esperanza at a pulperia (small store from a house), they called the alert. A bunch of phone calls were made not only to the group but to anyone in the community that might be around the area. The pulperia just happens to be right next to my house so I was coming home and stopped to greet four men waiting in the road in front of the pulperia. One of the men was the brother of the woman that was threatened and I thought he was kidding when he told me they were there to detain the man that threatened his sister. No machetes or other weapons were on hand, just the power of numbers. One by one, men came from all directions, some that were called and some that were just passing by and stayed for the support. The four turned into 30 or more who all just stood and watched the offender, making sure he didn’t disappear before the police came to take him away.



My neighbors came out of their house to watch and one of them told me, “Look, Courtney, you’re seeing what happens when someone brings problems to the community.” And then he joked, “But if this guy pulls out a machete, they’ll all scatter.” I guess this happened again the next day when the man was released the next morning from jail and came back to his house. The people united again and pressured him to leave and go back to where he came from. Since then, he hasn’t been heard of since. Peace restored! In these rural areas, anything that threatens the well-being and safety of the community is thought of as everyone’s business and everyone unites to take care of the problem. So for the woman who was threatened, instead of having to stay in her house everyday trying to avoid this man who had no good motive to threaten her, her fear and troubles were divided among the community and together the problem was taken care of immediately. In the states, I think sometimes we try to keep too many of our worries and problems to ourselves or forget to care about other people’s troubles. But here, my house was literally in the middle of this whole ordeal. The man lived 100 meters from me and threatened the woman two houses down on the other side of my house. But I never felt nervous for my own safety because I knew the community was always watching out for one another and wouldn’t let anything else happen. Not to sound naïve and not that I’m going to completely let my guard down, but I truthfully don’t think I have ever been safer.

In my house!

I finally moved back to Nueva Esperanza! Well, I have to admit that I have been living in my house for almost two months; (I moved April 15) but actually making the house feel like home has taken a lot longer than just the move. In fact, there is still a lot of work to be done before I can finally call it home. But, I am proud to say that by the end of all the construction, I will almost be a professional house-builder!

For those of you who don’t know, it is required for me to live in Nueva Esperanza. Unfortunately, when it was time for me to move out of my host family’s house, there were no housing options for me. So, I had to move to La Campa, the next town over, at the beginning of 2008 and kept waiting for options to open up in Nueva Esperanza. Finally, a woman who lives in La Campa offered to finish a house she has in Nueva Esperanza for me so I could move in there. At the time, I had a few options that I was waiting on but after they all fell through, I told her that would be great. A few days during the construction of my house, I went to help out. Who would have thought that my pre-service training would have come so in handy! I was hauling bricks, mixing cement, laying gravel, and even helped dig out my latrine hole and build the wall to my bathroom! I talked to a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama once who told me he had to build his own house because there was no housing in his community and I remember saying, “Wow I can’t believe you had to BUILD your own house! There is no way I would have done that.” Little did I know . . .

Moving Day was an adventure in itself. To give you an idea of what it was like, think about moving away from home to college. You have packed all of your belongings for the next two years as well as any furniture (bed, shelf, . . .) or appliances (stove) you need because there is absolutely nothing provided for you. Then, imagine having to get all of that stuff to your house without a car and on no paved roads. Okay, so I didn’t exactly throw my bed on my back and hike to my house. Thanks to an ex-pat who lives in La Campa, I was able to transport my things in the back of his pick-up. However, my house was not exactly ready to be moved into when I did. My landlord had promised me that everything would be ready for me to move in mid-March. . . then the end of March . . . then the beginning of April . . . then April 15th at the latest. . . So, I packed all my belongings and then was living out of my boxes for the next month waiting for the house to be ready. I finally just couldn’t wait any longer. I declared, rain or shine, that I was going to move April 15th. When I made the move, the house at that point had running water and electricity but was still missing light bulbs (so much for the electricity), a finished floor, door handles, and window and door locks. My landlord had promised me that the guy who was to put the locks on my doors was coming the next day. So I used long pieces of wood to jam the doors shut so they wouldn’t open in the middle of the night. However, he didn’t come the next day. In fact, my landlord admitted to me that she hadn’t even bought the locks yet. It was around that point that I decided I better help get the ball rolling. I don’t have the knowledge of how to install door locks (the ones that have a key), but I did put on the door handles and other small locks that you can lock from the inside. So when I was inside the house, I could secure everything. But if I had to go anywhere, I had to leave a door open so I could get back in. Finally, a week later, the guy FINALLY came to do the installation and I had some other people help me install the light sockets and light bulbs.

Gradually, though, improvements have been made inside and out. A lot of people have really helped me out from lending me a table to helping build a moat around my house. The rains have started coming and sometimes there’s so much water during some storms that it enters under my door and through my windows, thus the need of the moat. Although that sounds pretty terrible, it doesn’t really mean anything when you have a cement floor. In fact, if anything, it has made me a tidier person because I have to make sure not to leave anything on the ground that can’t get wet. Water drips through the ceiling, too, so I can’t leave anything on the table either.

It’s definitely nice being back in Nueva Esperanza and closer to the people I first developed relations with. When I’m lonely or bored, I have great neighbors that I can go drink coffee and eat mangoes with. In La Campa, I really only slept there and spent the rest of my time in Nueva Esperanza and so didn’t really get to know anyone else except my landlord’s family. And the best part about living in my house is that I am so much more accessible. People can now come and visit me or talk to me about work without having to walk far away or enter someone else’s house. I can finally host people and start to pay back all the free cups of coffee and meals I have received! I have had a few people over for a US “plato tipico” which is a lot of fun and one time when I cancelled my English class, some of my students still came over to hang out. A few days ago, we had an English class dinner at my place which even a little rain inside couldn’t damper the night.


Main room before


After


Edwin working on my room


End result


The biggest change was taking out this door and putting in a bathroom.


Bathroom after


Before


After


Some kids from my English class doing a ¨dinamica¨


Me!

Sam and Chanel Come To Visit!

The highlight of the end of March and beginning of April was a much anticipated vacation with two of my best pals from college. My good friends, Sam and Chanel, came for a ten day journey through Honduras. Chanel is moving to Virginia soon and so this would be one of the last chances for us three to be together for a long time. I’ve broken down this entry by day so you can read the chapters of the adventure as you please.

Day 1: Sam arrives at noon, Chanel arrives at 7 pm to San Pedro Sula
Even though their visit was for longer than a week, traveling by bus prevented us from having as much time as we would have liked at the places we visited. Also, we lost a day at the beginning and at the end because of different arrival and departure times from the airport. Luckily, the only transportation problems that were had was when I alone was heading up to San Pedro Sula to get to the hotel before Sam arrived. My bus broke down and we had to wait on the side of the road for another to pass and pick all of us up.

Sam and Chanel got to get excited about the trip before me as they had to pack, board a plane, and travel here to Honduras. For me, I just had to go to San Pedro Sula to meet up with them. And since I’ve already ridden that bus numerous times, it didn’t actually hit me that they were going to be in Honduras until I was in the hotel and the owner told me, “I think your friend is here”. Right about then, I got that sudden heartbeat-rising feeling. Without warning, I was suddenly experiencing the joy and comfort that comes from simply meeting up with those whom you have long-standing relationships with. The luxury of actually seeing a friend from the states has been foreign to me for ¾ of a year (Shade’s visit is an exception because we met abroad and have never actually met up in the states). So I hadn’t even imagined how it would feel to be here in Honduras and actually get to see those who I have missed for so long.

Sam and I had the day to hang out in San Pedro Sula before we were to pick up Chanel at the airport. San Pedro Sula is a dangerous city and so we stayed on the streets near the hotel. To my delight, and Sam’s chagrin, the hotel was within walking distance of the city mall! I tentatively asked Sam if she wanted to go inside, knowing that while I was imagining all the different kinds of foods and imports that we could look at inside, Sam had just left the states and didn’t need to be reminded of it so quickly. In the end, I think my assertion that it would be air-conditioned and we could escape the extreme San Pedro heat convinced her to consent. That night after we met Chanel at the airport, we met up for dinner with another volunteer, Ian, who lives near me. His parents had come to visit and wanted to treat us to a very nice traditional Honduran restaurant. After dinner, we were spent and had a long day ahead of us.

Day 2: Travel from San Pedro Sula to Nueva Esperanza
We caught the 6 am bus from San Pedro to Santa Rosa de Copán (3 hours) then a bus from Santa Rosa to Gracias (1 ½ hours). The plan was to catch the last bus that leaves Gracias to my site at 1 pm. But in Gracias, Sam and Chanel wanted to walk around and shop a bit instead. Gracias is a nice colonial town and is pretty touristy, so there is a fair amount of stuff to do and see. (I had scratched the hot springs in Gracias out from our schedule to leave us more time on the north coast). So, we spent the afternoon walking around, shopping, visiting Dan, another volunteer stationed in Gracias, and Sam found her heaven . . . the fruit and vegetable market. El Mercado (the Market) is a huge building that takes up about a block where you can find anything from fruits and veggies to dried fish to sunglasses and shampoo. But since Sam is trying a new local-only raw food diet, we lost her in the fruits and veggies section. In fact, Sam took so long in the market, that Chanel and I bought some groceries, got hungry, left the market to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant, came back and Sam was still there so full of bags of fresh produce that they took up almost every corner in my apartment. After the market, it was off to the best “jalón” (hitchhike) spot to Nueva Esperanza to wait for a truck to pass or see if there was a moto-taxi that would take us for a good price. Since we had missed all the buses, this was how we were getting up the mountain.

In the moto taxi heading up to Nueva Esperanza


Sam and me cutting up veggies for dinner

Day 3: Getting to Know Nueva Esperanza

In Nueva Esperanza


My new house!


Sam and Carlitos

Of everything we did during our vacation, this was the most memorable and special day for me. And I believe this day left not only an unforgettable imprint in our memories, but also in the memories of the people of Nueva Esperanza as well.

Chanel at the pila

I had told many people that my two friends were coming and they all wanted us to stop by when they arrived. So we started off the day with stopping by my friend, Genara’s, place to look at her pottery. Sam and Chanel got to see the fresh clay used to make the pottery, the red earth that is used to paint the artwork, and all the tools and materials that are needed to carry out this traditional Lencan process. They learned first-hand from the artist herself about this ancient process that is unique to this western part of Honduras. Before we left, Genara shared more of the culture and brought out a traditional. . . drink? Pretty much it was squash cooked with dark green dulce (from sugar cane) but boiled down so that you ate the thick, dark green, stringy liquid from a glass with a spoon. Genara had told me earlier that she wanted to make something for my friends for when they came but she didn’t know what. So I suggested anything Lencan and was eager to see what she had made.


Chanel, too tall for Honduras!



The rest of our day was spent walking around the community, greeting people along the way, buying pottery, and making a few stops here and there. I really wanted Sam and Chanel to meet Simeon and his wife, Berta (who makes the best tortillas in Nueva Esperanza) but we ran into their daughter on the way to their house and she told met hat both had gone to Gracias and hadn’t returned yet. So, our last visit was to see a woman named Nila who lives further away in Oromilaca, the next community over. Truthfully, I just started to get to know Nila about a month ago when we met in the street and she invited me over for lunch one day. Since then, I had visited her only a few times even though we really connect and enjoy each other’s company. At Nila’s, Sam and Chanel were in awe of the beautiful array of flowers, trees, cacti, banana trees, pineapples, and pataste (a green thorny vegetable like squash) that she has growing on her bit of land. She gave us a tour and picked two ripe pineapples from her garden to serve to us. It was the freshest pineapple I have ever tasted, still slightly warm from being out in the sun all day.

Nila cutting the pineapple



While Nila was cutting up the pineapple, Sam and Chanel were exploring the kitchen, having fun grinding a little bit of corn and taking pictures of the tools used to make tortillas. When Sam and Chanel had both successfully mastered the grinding process but still hadn’t actually made a tortillam Nila suggested we stay for dinner and all learn how to make tortillas together! Nila even promised to make rice even though it’s not usually eaten at dinner. (She knows I love her rice, I think it’s the best in Nueva Esperanza). That night, I was planning on making “plato típico” (a typical Honduran meal) but even better to have one made by a Honduran herself. So we all helped to make a superb dinner.


Chanel at the corn grinder.


Sam performing the next step to make tortillas

I had originally planned for us to be heading back to the La Campa before dark, but taking advantage of the few precious hours we had in Nueva Esperanza turned out to be a much better idea, and the walk under the stars was the perfect ambiance to reflect on how welcoming and magnificent people can be. Half-way home, we ended up catching a ride in the back of a pick-up the rest of the way. Thus, Sam and Chanel got to experience all types of transportation in the area: bus, moto-taxi and jalón.

Sam, Nila, Chanel and me at dinner

Day 4: Copan Ruinas


Today’s plan: catch the first bus out of Nueva Esperanza, get to the Ruins, and take a tour so we can leave for Tela tomorrow morning.
Lesson learned: never make plans when you’re at the mercy of the Honduran bus system.

If we had a car I imagine we would have had no problem getting to the Ruins at a reasonable hour. However, even after leaving on the first bus out of Nueva Esperanza (which passes before 7 am), we didn’t roll into the town of Copan Ruinas until about 2 pm, too late to catch a tour of the Ruins (which are a little outside of town) or do any other touristy things as all surrounding parks and reserves close at 4 pm. Instead, we did the next best thing . . . shopping! There were a ton of tourist shops as well as a lot of vendors selling jade from Guatemala. Copan Ruinas is very close to the border and jade is very popular to sell in this part of the country. At the end of the day, Chanel and I checked out the bar scene and relaxed over mango daiquiris and tequila sunrises in two quaint bars near the Central Park.

Day 5: Tour of Copan Ruinas

The Mayan Ruins


Giant Ceiba

We were up early to get to the Archaeological park right when it opened. If you’re reading this and plan on going to the Ruins, I recommend paying for a guide. It was a little expensive but worth it because the park lacks descriptions or historical information written on signs anywhere. There are bilingual guides that are very knowledgeable and answered our questions from how the traditional games were played by the Mayans to what trees and plants were around and how they were used by the Mayans. After the tour, Sam stayed behind to do a nature hike while Chanel and I got lunch and bought tickets for our bus ride that evening to Tela. By 2pm, we were outta there.


If there’s one thing that you learn in Honduras, it’s that you have to ask several people before you get a correct answer. And sometimes you still get the wrong answer. We had bought tickets for a bus thinking that it would take us straight to Tela and that it was a Directo (only stops to let people off but doesn’t stop to let people on and thus can potentially arrive hours earlier than non-Directos). However, this bus definitely picked up whoever waved it down and then the driver told us that it only goes to San Pedro Sula and from there you have to take a taxi to another terminal and catch another bus to Tela. He also said we would arrive with plenty of time for us to catch the last bus to Tela that left at 6 pm. By the time we rolled into San Pedro, it was after 5:30 and the other terminal was at least 20 minutes away! This is one of those rare times where I felt happy the fast-paced lifestyle of the states has rubbed off in some parts of Honduras. I’ve been on some pretty scary bus and taxi rides, but even this guy had me holding my breath and bracing myself. Right as we arrived to the terminal, the bus was just pulling out and we were able to get on. Phew!


Day 6, 7, 8: Tela . . . beach, seafood, heaven!

Garifuna woman selling pan de coco
The next few days have all kind of meshed into a lazy haze. On the beach, the sand was soft and very fine; and you could walk so far out without it ever dropping off. All I remember is swimming in the warm Caribbean Sea and waking up on the beach to find that hours have slipped by (. . . and that I didn’t put sunscreen on very well). In Nueva Esperanza we have the Lencan ethnic group. On the north coast, there are the Garífuna who look like they are from African descent and are best known for their pan de coco (bread made out of coconut milk) and braids. For some reason, everyone wanted to braid Chanel’s hair and one woman even braided a bit of her hair for free, but Sam ended up getting them.



We ate a lot of shrimp, seafood, pan de coco, fresh mango, and fresh fruit licuados (smoothies) in these three glorious days. We also signed up for a tour that took us through a Garífuna village, to another beach, and kayaking through mangroves. There were some Australians on the tour and it was fun listening to them debate about the Aussie Rules Football teams and thinking back to my junior semester abroad in Melbourne. Too bad I could only remember like two team names.



Mangroves



Our last night, we ate at a restaurant on the beach and then climbed the lifeguard tower to listen to the ocean and look at the stars. What a perfect way to end an awesome vacation. The next day, we spent the night in San Pedro Sula and the next morning, Sam was off at 4 in the morning and Chanel later in the afternoon. Did it all really have to end so soon?





Conclusion:
Going back to my site after this vacation and readjusting to being gone for so long was the toughest part. Even back in Nueva Esperanza, I was still in vacation mode for at least a week it felt like. But it was also nice to come back and be with the people that got to meet Sam and Chanel and see how they still were glowing from meeting them. I don’t think Sam and Chanel realize just how much it meant to them that they came and cared to know them. They were able to bring joy to them in ways that I don’t and were able to support them in ways that I can’t. On the other hand, Honduras left such a lasting impression on both Sam and Chanel that they want to come back before my two years are up. If you guys are reading this, thanks so much for coming down. I miss you already and had sooooo much fun just being around you guys. I hope you uphold your promise of coming back because all of us here can’t wait to see you again!