Peace Corps - Honduras!: September 27, 2008

I apologize that it has been so long since I have gotten these entries out. I had about seven pages of blog typed and ready to be published and then my USB cleared everything on it. So even though the following entries are organized under January, they are accounts of everything that has happened since September . . . which is a lot!

Well, the end of September marked one year here in Nueva Esperanza. This time next year I will be packing everything up and headed home. There are days when I feel like I have finally figured out the Honduran culture, and then I get thrown a curve ball and remember that even though I have been here for almost a year and a half, there is still so much that I have to learn about the people and the dynamics of village life. As far as work, I am keeping busy with my three main projects of the improved stoves, working with the Lencan potters, and developing eco-tourism in the next town over, La Campa. After a year, it’s nice to finally have steady work that constantly is keeping me busy instead of fighting to find something to do. Now that I have hit a year, everything is starting over again. Celaque is hidden behind the rain clouds, the cold season is about to hit, the kids are getting ready to finish school, and coffee cutting will begin on the mountain. I feel nostalgic thinking about this last year and am aware of the fact that from now on everything will be the last time for me in Nueva Esperanza.

The one year mark also means that each project group gets together in Tegucigalpa for mid-term meds. Basically just going to the doctor to make sure we are all still healthy after a year in Honduras. I genuinely hate the long trip to Teguz but the fact that I will get to have my teeth cleaned and polished makes it worth it! I don’t think I have ever been so excited to go to the dentist. Also, my ankle is still hurting from when I sprained it so I want to get that checked out. All of us that were in El Suyate for Field-Based Training decided to take advantage of the reunion and go visit our host families. It’s not everyday that we all are able to meet up in the same place. In fact, the last time that all of us were together was last January! It was really nice seeing everyones’ families again and they were so excited to see us as well. Around 7 pm, we lost power and so my mom and I just talked by candlelight in our room and caught up on the last 8 months since we last saw each other. It turns out that the soccer team us girls played on in El Suyate is no longer existent because their team captain got pregnant. I updated my mom on my projects and told her she was always invited to come out and visit me to which she replied with a gasp that there was no way she could leave here. I wonder when the last time it was that she has left the community or if she has ever even been to western Honduras?

The next day, we had to get up early because Claudia, our project manager, planned a trip for us to go hiking in the protected area La Tigra for some in-service training. So at 5 am, Bryce, Liz, and I walked the same path we walked every day of training to the main road to wait for the bus. We ended up catching a ride with an NGO to Tegucigalpa. So just like that, our quick visit was over and we were off again. Even though I don’t get much of a chance to visit this part of Honduras, I know I will always have a family in this tiny town waiting for me whenever I want to return.