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.