this is where I live

So yes, I mentioned live in San Miguelito, which is located in the department of Intibuca. I guess I would say that departments here are the equivalent of states. Intibuca is one of the poorest departments in the country, it is very mountainous, and the roads are horrible. The capital of the department is La Esperanza, which is located about an hour away from me and is where I go to do just about anything and happen to be right this moment. La Esperanza is the coldest city in the country, I think it can get down to about 30 deg, and yes, it´s darn cold right now. It is the most agricultually productive region in the country and for this reason the market offers a great variety of vegetables. La Esperanza area is home to one of Honduras´s few indigenous cultures, the Lenca people. The Lenca culture is not a strong as say the Mayan culture of Guatemala. They lost their own language long ago, although they do manage to squeeze out a few crafts here and there. In the Lenca villages, which are very poor, there are occasional religious ceremonies, although I have never been to one. The have a synchronistic religion, a blend of Catholicism and their own traditional practices. Oh did I mention La Esperanza is also the drunk capital of Honduras - hmmm, this is a topic worthy of an entry all it´s own, so stay tuned.

Halloween in Copan

This year Honduras PCVs united for the the annual Halloween festival in Copan Ruinas. Two day festivities began with a Hash run through the city and countryside. Halloween night costumed PCV´s did what we do best when we get together - drink! My chicita banana type costume here was thrown together pretty quickly but I think it turned out alright. There were some pretty good ones though, little drummer boy, ninja turtle pinata and some classic pairs - reggaetone star and ho, britney and kevin. Good times, looking forward to next year!

The north coast

The north coast of Honduras lies on the Carribean Sea and offers a totally different culture. There´s great scuba diving, it´s a bit touristy, pretty richy in parts. There are a couple volunteers up there, a sort of luxury Peace Corps if you ask me (bleh, Tania if you read this). The north coast is home to the Garifuna people, also known as the Black Caribs. They are a population of mixed origin, including indigenous Caribbean groups and populations of African origin. They have a different culture than the latinos of Honduras, they speak a language which is a blend of English, African, well I´m not sure. See I just tried to look up more info on the Garifuna, but I didn´t find anything to interesting that I wanted to take up blog space with it, but I´m open to comments. This is what I know of them from my own experience. The traditional dance of the Garifuna is the Punta, which incorporates some serious ass-shaking (yes I´ve definately busted it out) Accordng to another volunteer, their culture permits them to talk openly and graphically about sex. They do have a very high incidence of HIV/AIDS. They´re traditional food is fried fish, fried platanos, beans and rice made with coconut. I know their livelyhood is based a lot off of coconuts, whatever products you can derive from coconuts. In this photo they´re walking along the beach selling coconut bread, which you´ll eat a lot of if you go. I was in Tela for a few days and I couldn´t get over how much I loved the colegio´s marching band. They would just cruz around the streets at all hours practicing, cranking out these great beats that just made you want to break into some sort of funky move...then you remember your a gringo.

Never awkward... again

I was thinking about when something should actually be considered a luxury.... so decided to see what Merriamwebster.com had to say. Luxury: a condition of abundance or great ease and comfort : sumptuous environment : something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary : an indulgence in something that provides pleasure, satisfaction, or ease (had the luxury of rejecting a handful of job offers)
--Eh, just imagining the luxuries I took for granted: a soft couch, a hot bath, a glass of wine, a washing machine, mold not growing itself on everything I own. Mmmm, chocolate chip cookies, a warm fire, well we could go on. It’s not that I don’t have luxury in my life now, its just, well, different… now it´s an icy bucket bath, days when I’m not covered in itchy red bumps, fried chicken!

Most of the time everyone looks at me like I’m an alien, but as my friend Ryan so wisely stated - nothing will ever be awkward ever again after this...ever - soooo true. But also every now and again white privilege will pop up out of nowhere. For example, I was with another volunteer last week waiting for a ride out of my town. The Honduran driver of a passing pick-up slowed a bit, yelling to us in English “Hurry up, run, I don’t want to take them!” (referring to other campesino types who were making moves towards the truck as well). The gringos jumped in and the truck sped off from the outstretched hands of the others (No, this couldn’t have been great for community integration.)

Here we go!

I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras for about six months now. I live in a small town called San Miguel Guancalpa (or San Miguelito as known by all) which is located in the department of Intibuca, in one of the most mountainous parts of the country. As a health volunteer so far, I´ve been trying to implement programs that the Ministry of Health is promoting in more rural departments. One is AIN-C, or a program that monitors infant growth and development. The other is Comites de Emergencia (Emergency Commitees), where groups of community members that are trained to deal with emergencies related mostly to maternal and infant health. For example, when a woman is giving birth and hemoragging they are trained to help stop the bleeding and find a way to get her to the hospital. Such committees are useful in rural areas where there is a lack of access to health services and transportation. So far I can see that Hondurans love to form committees, but that´s usually about the end of it...we´ll see. Isn´t that the happiest little campo boy?