Photos to enjoy

A view from Cero San Juanera


Neighborhood Cipres in Nueva Esperanza


La Campa from above


The winner of this year´s ¨India Bonita¨ (Pretty Indian) contest.


Every year there is a fair in Santa Rosa de Copan where there are music concerts, coffee tasting, and a celebration of the pride of the town . . . cigars!


Some jewelry at the fair made out of seeds and flowers

Getting Ready for Life in the Capital!

As you all know, my time with Peace Corps is winding down. And while the days are winding down, the amount of work certainly is not following the same pattern. In this last six months, I have had the most work I have had in my whole Peace Corps service! This can be attributed to the fact that people in the community are more willing to ask me for help or workshops. Initially, I imagine they were nervous to ask such things but now that I am closer with more individuals, there is less unwillingness to ask. Some have asked me to teach them to make cake, pickled vegetables, help them make a personal stove, help them calculate costs and gains of a pulperia . . .

Truthfully, it’s nice to have the distractions so I don’t have to think about how little time I have left here in Nueva Esperanza. At the same time though, I am being careful not to overdo it because I also want time to just relax and spend the last couple of weeks with people here.

Another distraction has been . . . where am I going to live in the next three weeks? A few months ago, I applied for an internship that USAID was offering to all Peace Corps Volunteers who have completed their service in Honduras. The internship will be in the USAID office in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. My friend and fellow PAMer, Mary, also got the internship and we decided to look for an apartment together. Although we do realize we are going from one spectrum to the other: living in small communities working on development to living in the capital in a posh office working on development . . .we are excited for the opportunity and know we will learn a lot more about international development from our experience with Peace Corps and with USAID.

Some of you may have heard that there has been some political strife here in Honduras and USAID said they would be cutting their aid. Mary and I did have some initial uncertainties if we still had our job, but we are in the process of signing the contracts so no worries!

Well, searching for apartments has been tough for a variety of reasons. One: I live about 7 hours (on a good “fast bus” day) from Tegucigalpa, Two: We don’t want to pay ridiculous prices for a place (we’ve lived in mud houses for two years, too nice of an apartment is unnecessary and would be a little overwhelming) and Three: Unlike in the villages where you can walk into someone’s house with no locks, it’s hard to get in contact with people renting when they have huge impermeable walls and barbed wire all around. Mary and I searched on three different occasions. The first time, we found some apartments we liked, but were very far from the USAID office. From this trip, we realized that we would really like to be within walking distance of the office. So the second time, we walked around two nice neighborhoods right above the office. We looked at some very nice apartments but none that were in our price range. Because Mary lives close to Tegucigalpa than me, she was able to check out one option that sounded promising. A woman was willing to close off part of her house and turn it into a two bedroom apartment. Because we were running out of time and because I really can’t afford to come into Tegucigalpa anymore, we checked this option out. It was perfect!

Counting Down . . . But Making It Count

When I was getting ready to leave for Honduras on July 2007, two years seemed like such a long commitment. I know a few people who have told me they would like to do Peace Corps but wish the term was shorter. But now I have two weeks left and inevitably have had to start thinking about the end. Even if I didn’t want to think about the day I have to leave, I can’t help it. I dream about being back in the states or the move to Teguz. During my classes when my students are working on an in-class assignment, I have my notebook handy so I can scribble down reminders of things I need to do or items I want to give away before I leave.

Now with so little time left, I’m trying to make every day count. I don’t want today to be the last day that I see certain people. But I know that is the case for some who live far away or that I don’t see very often; and already some people are thanking me for the time I was here and hope that I travel safely.

To make my time here count, I have started to try to think more like a tourist, or how I was when I first arrived. What would I have wanted to do here if I were just visiting for a few days? One: Take lots of photos, so I have pulled my camera out again to the excitement of the children, and adults, and everyone really. Two: I’ve worked enough with the business side of the pottery but I never actually made anything. So I decided to try my luck at being an actual Lencan potter! Herminia and Nicolas started giving me pottery lessons. First, we made two bowls because I don’t have any good deep bowls to eat my cereal in every morning. Then, we made a pot or “olla”. Here´s some photos of the fun!


Our traditional Lencan pots (of course the real traditional ones are about 30 times bigger than these)


Nicolas helping me with my pottery


The red dirt they use to make the paint


Me putting the first coat of paint on


Herminia making lunch after our not-so-hard work

Integrated Farm Tour

Oscar Arias, owner of the integrated farm

Back in June, I went to a Women and Agriculture Conference that the Protected Areas Management project puts on every year. How it works is each PCV that wants to participate brings a woman from his or her community to the conference. During the conference, we learn about improved agricultural practices such as making organic compost or saving seeds, but we also talk about gender, self-esteem, and female leadership. This year, I took a woman from La Campa named Adelaida Gomez who works for a privately funded institution called CASM (Comisión de Acción Social Mennonita). This institution does a lot of really great development work in La Campa and other municipalities and their funds have not been cut because of the coup that happened here in the end of June.

During this conference, we visited an integrated farm on the north coast which interested Adelaida a lot. So much, in fact, that she went back to La Campa and organized a trip back up there with a group of 30 farmers from here! An integrated farm uses improved farming practices such as organic fertilizers and takes into consideration one´s health and the health of the environment. For example, instead of burning their fields every year, they let a plot of land rest for a season or two instead of stripping it year after year of all of its nutrients.

So, Adelaida, the other staff from CASM, three high school students doing their three month practice, and the farmers picked me up on the side of the road outside of Santa Rosa de Copan the next day. I spent the night in Santa Rosa because the day before I had taken a friend and her baby to a cleft lip medical brigade put on by Operation Smile. (Unfortunately, the baby was underweight five pounds and so they didn´t operate.) Adelaida and I rode in the front to give directions to the driver. Luckily, we didn´t get TOO lost finding our way back out to the farm because it´s pretty well hidden from the main road! On the way, we ran into some people peacefully protesting the return of president, Mel Zelaya. Road blocks have been very since the coup but luckily this protest was only blocking one lane, slowing down traffic but not completely stopping it. I had only heard about the protests but this was the first time that I actually saw one in action.



Protesters

At the integrated farm called Naranjo Chino, we made insecticides and fungicides using natural ingredients like papaya leaves. We saw a compost latrine, a water filtration system using a barrel and some sand, a biodigestor, and an ecological oven among other things.


Making the fungicide - grinding papaya leaves


The other group making the insecticide

I love visiting integrated farms because usually the people who run the farms start off just like the farmers that we take to visit. The only difference is that they were willing to try different techniques to improve their farm. This means that the farmers of integrated farms can relate to other Honduran farmers and thus know how to teach them using many visuals and simple metaphors instead of listing off technical vocabulary that are above comprehension. They also know what to say to motivate them to change their farms or are familiar with the excuses and reasons why farmers are reluctant to change their practices. And the best part is that Honduran farmers are teaching Honduran farmers! There may have been some external aid at some point, but now the integrated farm we visited is 100% sustainable.


Banana trees with compost in between


Look at all the bananas they get on one branch!


Cutting up the trunks of banana trees to make an organic compost ¨salad¨


A man selling bananas in El Progreso on the north coast


The sunset on the way home

Greenhouse Project

With leftover money from the improved stoves project, an organized group of farmers and I were able to finish building a greenhouse in one of the neighborhoods of Nueva Esperanza called Las Olominas. World Vision had initiated this project but was unable to provide everything. They ended up being short approximately 20 bags of cement, two rolls of chicken wire, 1,000 bricks, and so on. All in all, about 15,000 Lempiras. In two trips to Gracias, we were able to purchase the materials they were missing and get them up the mountain. The greenhouse is going to be used by the group of farmers that installed the irrigation system in Nueva Esperanza. Each farmer will get a part of the greenhouse where they will germinate their horticulture seeds. Here is a photo of the greenhouse:


My Project Manager, Menelio, came out to see the greenhouse

Now that there is the irrigation system in Nueva Esperanza, the farmers are learning to grow all different kinds of vegetables they have never grown before. Many institutions have taken interest in their work and are planning on helping them in many different areas (hence the greenhouse). The goal is to sell their vegetables in the markets and in bigger cities. They still have a ways to go, but hopefully they can eventually generate a steady income from their plots of land!


The irrigation system in action


Adrian taking a break from planting onions.


Don Virgilio enjoying the water of the irrigation system


Virgilio peeling me a piece of sugar cane to ¨chupar¨(suck) while touring Otolaca

Habits

July 25th marked the anniversary of the Agroforestry Cooperative “San Matias” in La Campa. I have worked a fair amount with the manager of the cooperative who has thoroughly supported the potters with loans, buying/selling their product, and organizing sales at fairs and events.

The anniversary was to begin at 8 am and I didn’t arrive more than 2 minutes late when I came up the hill at 9:10 to the large warehouse-style room usually used to store coffee. I finally have Honduran time down! Although I admit I did walk quicker than usual because even though I knew nothing had started at 8, deep down I knew I was getting there . . . well, late. I can’t seem to ever get rid of the thought: “What if on this occasion things actually start on time?” And sometimes people will tell me the time they think something will actually be starting because they know I arrive on the hour. I guess there’s habits we just don’t shake after two years. (July 11th marked exactly two years for me in Honduras!)

By the time I arrived, the number of this anniversary had already fallen from being taped on the wall, so I don’t know exactly which anniversary we were celebrating. We began with singing the National Anthem and then with a devotional from the pastor. The Evangelical church band from my village filled the spaces between every bullet point on the agenda with ranchera tunes. We almost needed them to provide an intermission during the president’s words who, during his 50 minute oration, appeared to begin concluding his speech by thanking everyone for listening to him three different times before thinking of something else he wanted to say and then continuing on. Then, he was so delighted by the applause that followed that, after the music interlude, he stood up and continued again for another ten minutes.

During his speech, more and more people started to show up and so more chairs were brought to squeeze people in. The screeching of chairs and shuffling of people made it hard to hear the president at times. Also, every now and then, the green and yellow balloons that someone had meticulously hung from the ceiling and walls started to pop haphazardly or deflate as they were only tied with string. One strong breeze sent the name plates of the board flying to the ground and the people in the front row gathered them up and put them back in place just to have them blow down again twenty minutes later. Oh well, they weren’t in the correct order in the first place.

The event ended with lunch for the 150+ people who arrived and I found my friend, Leonor, with her daughter Esmeralda. I was looking for them during the meeting and was sad to see they hadn’t come. They had either entered later and I didn’t see them in the back or they had come just in time for the food, not uncommon. Either way, Esmeralda’s squeals of laughter turned heads and produced smiles as we played in the line for food. All in all, the meeting was . . . a lot of fun! We didn’t play any games or learn anything new that can help us live more productive lives, but I got to chat with tons of people that I hadn’t seen in a while. Sure, I could have been actually DOING something else like cleaning my always dirty house instead of sitting for 3 ½ hours, but two years here has taught me that just getting to see so many people I know and care for is what it’s all really about. A year ago, I probably would have been almost gnashing my teeth with boredom after this. I’m glad I’ve opened my eyes to see that at least some old habits change.

A ¨Shaky¨Expedition

So back in June, Ursula called me one late afternoon to ask if I would like to go to the capital, Tegucigalpa, with a local institution that wanted to take some potters for an art exhibition. It had been a while since I had been to Tegucigalpa and this would give me a chance to check in on how our pottery is doing that is selling in a store over in that area. So, I decided to go. “Great,” Ursula told me, “Well they are gonna be at my house tomorrow at 8 am to leave so can you be there by then?” What?! A little bit more of a warning would have been nice! And maybe if she had told me earlier that, so far, I was the only person that was for sure going! I called my EDUCATODOS students to let them know that English and Math classes were cancelled for the week and then I called Mercedes, the head of our directive, from La Campa to see if she could give a more definite answer about going. There was no way I was going to go alone to sell pottery that wasn’t mine. Where’s the sustainability in that??

Mercedes confirmed that she was going to go and so that morning us and two other women from another community that makes recycled paper out of plant leaves and fibers left with the director of the institution who happens to be a good friend of mine. Going to Tegucigalpa in car is definitely a lot more fun than in bus. We took our time getting there, making random stops at the director’s favorite restaurants and sites.



For lunch, he took us to a little traditional restaurant that sells atole (a thick corn drink that can be served as soup) served in guacal (a bowl made of a dried shell excavated from inside the seed of the guacal tree).

Upon arrival to the city, the experience can best be understood by imagining the old movies where the jungle boy is brought to the big city, or the pilgrims have discovered a strange, new world. Even the new car we went in was intimidating! The air conditioning was so cold that it was bothering the womens’ sinuses and the automatic windows prevented them from getting fresh air for about half the trip before I told them how they worked. We won’t even mention the car alarm. On the way, we passed a shop selling tons of pottery and all the women simultaneously cried, “Look! Look! Look!” and pointed out the windows as we passed. Mercedes’ honest face is readable like a newspaper headline and I could tell she was discouraged to see how successful this business was with pottery that was so attractively painted and decorated. Even the director noticed and commented, “Don’t be deceived by their pottery because it doesn’t have the value of years and years of tradition behind the practice.”

In Tegucigalpa, the pilgrims landed, and I, the foreigner, was their guide. We could have just landed in China and the women would have had the same expressions of confusion. One thing that I didn’t expect was how the clothing of the women made them stand out in the city. The raggedly towels on their heads used to protect them from the sun and dust all of a sudden were out of style compared to the suits and high heels of the city folk. I signed us in at the hotel and when I turned around with the keys, I was confused by the commotion that was happening. The three women were huddled around a little table and animatedly doing something. Ah, I saw what it was. Free coffee in the lobby. I suggested we get our bags to the rooms first because how were they going to get everything up the stairs while balancing a hot cup of coffee? But they were worried that the hot pot wouldn´t be there when they returned. ¨Better to take advantage now¨ they told me.

That night, I half awoke to my bed vibrating violently below me. Initially, I thought it was a dream that someone was standing at the side of my bed shaking it and trying to get me to wake up because I was late for the art exhibition. What woke me up completely was when Mercedes starting shouting what was going on and shouting even louder that someone was trying to get in the room. My eyes shot open at that to see the door rattling so hard it was banging against the wall and definitely sounded like someone wanted in really badly. There were footsteps shuffling and distressed voices in the hall as well. The shaking lasted about a minute before everything stopped completely. Turns out, there was a 7.2 earthquake in Honduras at this moment.

The next morning, we went to the Hotel Maya for the exhibition. It turns out it was not an art sale at all! It was a rural bank meeting! This was a meeting of the big shots of this institution to congratulate one another on the success of initiating rural banks (caja rurales) in villages all over Honduras. Of course, publicity is the most important aspect of these events and so cajas rurales had been invited from all over to be in the background as the founders talked to several different newscasts. I guess that’s how we get funding to keep coming. The only times that we got to sell were before and after the meeting when people were trickling in and trickling out. Needless to say, sales weren’t superior. During the meeting, they gave background information on what is a caja rural, how many have now been founded, and the successes of specific caja rurales. The first part of the meeting I paid close attention because it soon became clear to Mercedes and I that we were gonna have to pretend we were a caja rural! Yet another thing that would have been nice to know a little earlier!



One of the heads of the institution talking with Mercedes

After the meeting was over and we were at our table selling, some of the heads came to ask us about our “caja rural”. Sometimes it’s nice to have the “gringa card” to play. I usually replied, “You should really ask the potter, she will be able to better explain how they work, I just help out where I can in the community. Oh, it looks like I have to go take pictures now. Bye!” Mercedes answer was a little bit smoother, “Well the potters have been organized for quite some time with the help of Corina who has really helped us out a lot to become a caja rural and she can tell you all about the way she has helped.” No one really seemed to notice.


The ladies with their recycled paper

Mercedes and the other two ladies went back that same day in the same car but I decided to stay and head out to Valle de Angeles to see how our pottery was selling. The last time I had been out there was in December with Ursula and Herminia when we left the pottery in the first place. I wanted to visit my fellow PCVs that are out there, too. It was so exciting to actually see our pottery on the shelves! We really were able to break out of La Campa and now more and more people are gonna recognize the red Lencan pottery of the west. Woohoo! I was so excited I even took a picture: