Becoming Honduran_Week 1

10.07.07_Sunday de lluvias

I was just thinking, if I were in the states, a rainy Sunday as such would probably be spent in bed, fishing around on the internet, reading some Economist, and drinking a mug of coffee before taking a long walk to downtown.
In France, I would’ve gone to Claire’s flat, talked and listened to music as she rolled cigarettes and put the electric kettle on to boil so we could drink cup after cup of instant coffee, or perhaps vanilla tea and dissect our romantic dramas.
Here in Honduras, I cannot sleep in past 6:10—it’s the roosters. So I get up. I wash some clothes in the pila; pour some leftover coffee from the family thermo; eat my cornflakes with water; head out with Carmen to get the corn kernels ground into mortar; help make the tortillas for almuerzo; and follow the nimble cowboy boots of my 15yr old host brother Nestor to the aldea de Llano, where Juan senor has family that will serve us café con leche with a side of galletes.




I’ve officially completed my first week in site.

After only a handful of emotional burnouts, and some classic awkward moments “outside of my comfort zone” as Peace Corps likes to call it, I seem to be doing ok…I even survived my very first bee sting! …25 yrs and counting and the bastards finally got me in Honduras…on the sole.





Working in the Municipalidad of Cabañas has gone pretty smoothly. They don’t need much help with the ERP propuestas (proposals) that I was told I would be working on. The Unidad Tecnica pair went to the training sesh last year for it, and they are doing it at the normal Honduran pace. I am interested in learning, so I have helped some on the current proposals and suggested a potential reformatting of the ERP form to make them more user-friendly. (I’m so American)
Besides helping type and teaching short-cut keys, I have been assigned to design the Municipio’s logo, which everyone has taken a great interest in, and so I’ve been more than happy to come up with some concepts in correlation with their ideas. (Will post finished logo on blog.)



Besides work in the Muni, I have spoken with the teachers at the Colegio to line up an English class for the seniors, one day of the week after school.
Friday I volunteered to assist the committee that is currently organizing a cabildo infantil, which is a cabildo abierto para los niños, or rather, a youth empowerment/civic education workshop. They are in need of a logo and mascot.
Other projects I’m currently researching for the site are:
1. The rural tourism project that a previous volunteer worked on, and still has great potential if I can collaborate with Vía Vía hotel in Copán Ruinas.
2. Local products potential for sale, which will involve contacting the women’s groups in the Aldeas that make their own crafts.
3. The implementation of signage for all the local businesses and streets, and a littering awareness campaign/ or rather a beautification of all the neighborhoods—this I will need to speak to a fellow volunteer about who has done a similar project in the area.

I’ve also received the materials for Proyecto Ciudadano (Project Citizen) from Alejandrina (the Muni-D Project Manager) and so I will be starting on new illustrations for the booklet to speak more towards Honduran culture.

There are other projects that Sarah (my site mate) is working on that I will also be contributing to, such as the start-up of a Women’s Health NGO called Vída a la Vída, which needs a brochure, logo, and website created asap.

As far as work is concerned, I am more than busy. For that, I am really thankful.



There was an evento politica on Friday, which was really fun. The girls of the office and I worked our butts off. Elma, Roxan, Patty, and a few other ladies whose names escape me, helped with the set up. The parque really looked great. (see pics) The little stage is a nice touch, and they are fully equipped. I already felt pride for this community. Most of the ladies are still in school, working on their bachalereta, which is a two-year kind of diploma that takes place between colegio and Universidad. It’s nice to have a group of girls here to look out for me and keep me in the loop. They are all really sweet and were constantly taking care of me during the evento.





After the madness of the evento and committee meeting for el cabildo infantil I met up with Sarah and little Nestor to go running. Nestor and I ran all the way to a neighboring Aldea la Cumbre de San Lucas, that’s about an hour away. It was ALL up hill and we barely made it, but Nestor kept on telling me how cerca we were, and I believed him! When we finally did llegamos, it was already starting to turn dark, so on the way back ALL down hill I fell into two huge mud holes and got my new kicks pretty feo-ed up. Nestor was soo proud of us, he was bragging to his brother and dad when we got back! I took my cold shower without a single grimace that night.





10.06.07_Sabado to go
Woke up early as usual and I and little Nestor were the only ones to stir. I had cereal/oatmeal mix with milk and coffee, washed a few clothes, and headed to the parque to catch the busito to Copán. Sarah was running late and so we missed the busito, but luckily the ex-mayor who she is friends with was going that way and so we got a jálon to Sta Rita, where we then took the busito to Copán.



The pueblo of Copán itself is just so preciosa euro/hondu mix—more euro stilo than Honduran. We walked around, went to the banco, made a few food purchases, and then went to a few cafes to check out the views, before finally settling on one where the espresso machine was actually functioning and so I treated myself to a cappuccino and sweet cheese bread. It was just perfect. Not as authentic as the café in El Paraíso, but still my senses were very much satisfied. We then visited a few gift shops and variety stores before heading to the cheap internet café, 10limps an hour! We ran into Ben, the San/Wat volunteer there, and also another Jika volunteer so we went to a little place for lunch where Kelly, the wife of Ben, joined us for almuerzo-Baleadas the size of your head! I got an iced coffee that reminded me so much of Café Flower in Toulouse and a big plato de frutas, that reminded me of Sta Lucia…like I said, euro/hondu mix! We talked mostly about work, project ideas, development, Peace Corps, what we did before, what we will do after. The time passed quickly.

When we finally returned to Cabañas later that afternoon I was glad to be back in Honduras Honduras in my pueblito de Cabañas where the dirt street in front of my house was continual fútbol alley, and the men still trotted by on their tired mares, their machetes and white brimmed hats an unofficial uniform for the campo. That night I took my place next to Carmen, molding corn mortar into flat round disks.