The Earthquakes y giant rats eating bed legs—or--Hitchhiking in icecream trucks—or—Paper soup surprise

05.28.09 Mio dios. Dios mio.
Well it’s been awhile since I posted, but the transition from having time to actually analyze my life here has transitioned to having no choice but to just live it…that said, my computer is actually working tonight, so I’ll do a quick recount of what has been my recent life stuff…


--------------------------------------

Last night I awoke to a vibrating feeling. The bed was moving. Shaking. In my feverish state (sick) I thought it was the rats! I had seen one scurry along the rafter before going to bed and I was then imagining a monster-sized one gnawing viciously at my bed legs. (It’s possible, they will eat anything…rusty nails, candle wax, panty crotches…) Only this morning, when buying my mandarin-flavored gatoraid did I receive the news; Earthquake! Apparently the most damage happened in municipalities a good 4 to 5 hours travel from Copan, near la Ceiba, Roaton, Lima, El Progresso…but here we all felt the shake. Some stayed up all night fearing their already weakly standing houses would just give out upon them…I, after switching the lights on and off to scare the giant rats, went back to bed and slept in till 9am.

------------------------------------------

Yesterday I fulfilled a lifelong fantasy of mine—I ran away with the ice cream man…kind of.
It was lunchtime, scorching hot, and I was waiting by the town gate for a ride into Sta. Rita with no luck and a face full of sweat. The little bus that does the trip routinely was parked in the parque with no chance of leaving for at least another 40 minutes. Then I heard it…Conos por 5 lempira…chocolate, vainilla, fresa… and the music was blaring…it was the ice cream man, making his rounds. I didn’t really know the protocol about getting rides from carros parlantes (literally “speaking cars”) but I put out my thumb and when he did finally stop, ran over and jumped in. The truth is, from the inside, the ice cream truck kind of looses its magic. It was like any other car interior, the only exception being the huge freezer in the back which held the classic flavors. And the woman who did all the scooping. But still…when we got to Sta. Rita and the ice cream man put on that peter piper music and all the work men drooled and handed over a 5 limp bill…I felt kind of privileged to be there in the truck, with the paper napkins on the dashboard and the extra packs of cones on the floor. After the second stop I decided to take my exist from the fantasy, since I couldn’t very well be his second assistant, and the point was to get to Copan. Being the chivalrous ice cream man that he was, he wouldn’t except any money, so I just thanked my hero for the day and took off looking for the next quickest ride.


05.11.09
Well today was an exciting one…after my morning errands making convocatorias y solicitudes y sending emails for the curso of nxt week I came back to town only to be called 5 minutes into lunch, by Yolany telling me that there were tourists in the pulperia looking to rent horses! Apparently they had followed their guide books and ended up here! Or was it the add in the San Pedro paper? Either way, the town is a buzz with potentialidad for tourism! Pues…I went a-running to the pulp. to see what the deal was, and as it turned out it was the 3 white dudes I had seen earlier that day in sta. rita! Apparently they were staying in Sta. Rita and from there they made their way to Cabañas in a car they had rented! So I called Moncho telling him the sitch, that we had tourists and we needed to act Quick! They had all the day to spend with us…so I first took them to visit the goat farm project since Moncho had to make a run to sta. rita and we needed to figure out where we could go! I think I or moncho came up with the idea to go to la Cumbre San Lucas where there’s the farm of Don Juanquin Solis and so we did! Once I got back with the guys from the finca Moncho was back and Daniel was ready to lend us the car w/chofers in tact. From my house we jumped in the truck, picked up moncho y juan and then drove up to la finca. At the finca we toured the cultivos, chilled, ate a big lunch, road horses, relaxed and tried different foods and then before the brewing storm hit, road back into town. They were also cool guys, down to earth, curious and interested in the culture and learning about Honduras, so in everyway the kind of tourist that would arrive in our little tranquilito town.

Over all it was just a great day, and moncho just proves to me what an amazing person he is, and without him, there would simply be NO project for tourism in cabañas.
And the tourism project, is just…To be in the mountains and relate to the people who live there… to be in the back of a pickup truck flying up the mountains early in the morning…waving and calling to those you know, ducking from a low-swung branch…there is something so unforgettable and rich and lush/full of life about those journeys. I am so very grateful. More than I could ever say.



05 21 09
Clapsura.
What could be a better way to end to our 3-day Curso de Papel Natural Reciclado (Natural Recycled Paper Workshop), then to have the municipalidad order the invitations for our town’s feria to be made from the paper the women have made! Alicia and a few others plan to work tomorrow and Sunday to complete the order. I did a quick “molde” (design) for them for a simple invitacion: envelope, card, name insert.

It has been an intense, very busy, but happy three days in el curso—and the final products that were displayed today were incredible for just two days of work…since they just learned how to make the paper the day before!

It was a little hard for the girls to change where we worked everyday, but in the end we needed to be where we were, when we were there. For the first day one big table was the best place for group learning and demonstration. For the second, pure fabrication of paper and manualidades (crafts) Alicia’s house was the only solution…and for the last day, for finishing up manualidades and creating the presentations, the salon de iglesia (church hall) worked out best.

The women did a great job making displays of their work and canal 20 (local tv station) even sent a guy to film the work of our women. Also, the folks from the muni. came by to check out what we have been up to…and the truth is the women in town have been up to a lot of great stuff recently. I am proud of them, and so fortunate to be here to work with them.