Sorry about the delay in this blog, but computers were scarce to come by this weekend due to the h0liday, so im gonna have to issue a belated christmas greeting to everyone out there. I hope everybody did a down home christmas, complete with brandy slushes and 24 hours of Christmas Story. Also, im fighting off stomach cramps and a cold, so please excuse my spelling today.
Our christmas was unsual, but very cool also. Our friends david and desire (other married couple) and Delfo came up to the lake for some companionship, celebration, and familiarity during christmas. We took them to the brewery for lunch, took turns making dinner, and all colaborated on our Christmas dinner, which came pretty darn close to being the real thing given the circumstances. The big day here is the 24th, which involves an all day preperation for midnight, at which point everyone blows off fireworks and celebrates with a party, traditional food, and even homemade egg nog. Standing in the middle of our street filled with kids whipping m-80s at each other was a weird xmas, but strangely statisfying as well. Yesterday, Dave and Dez returned to La Ceiba, where we will be visiting them for new years, coincidentaly the party capital of Honduras.
Finally, i want to share a little story that really put everything so far in perspective for me. Foremost, i´ve been trying to maintain emotional distance between honduras and myself; as a defense mechanism to stop myself from being truely influenced by some of the heartbreaking stuff we encounter down here. For example, our next door neighbors are probably amongst the poorest people in town. Their house is perhaps 10 feet by 12 feet, has a dirt floor, and the one room which serves as the kitchen, dinning room and bedroom is wallpapered using the newspaper. We hang out there from time to time, and play with their kids. On christmas eve, they insisted that the five of us come over for nacatamales and coffee. The actions of these people who have nothing and yet give food to a group of americans is truly moving. Last night as well, we were waiting for the last bus in san pedro sula (a kinda dangerous place at night) that never showed up, essentially leaving us stranded. However, a woman waiting with us called her brother who gave us a jalón (hitchhike) all the way home, and even stopped to give us coffee and food at his house. During this season particularly, it amazing to know that people will give an help those better off then themselves, and refuse any payment in return. Also, my attempts to remain emotionally netural are impossible, I only hope that our work and help will make payment for the actions we have received.
merry christmas. ( and happy festivus)
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
¨Everybody Happy People¨
...This was the closing statement of a Honduran friend of ours at a party we held last night in our house, a Christmas party for La Casa De Juventud, which is more or less a nonprofit group we work with here in Las Vegas.
Last night we hosted a potluck dinner, complete with kareoke courtesy of our site-mate´s computer, and beer, courtesy of one of our counterparts. It went from a very awkward silent kind of gathering into a beer-fueled kareoke/dance party catastrophe. It was also our friend, Neckali's birthday, which here means having a egg smashed on your head, as per custom. Why this is, I don't have the faintest clue. However, when the person in charge of this task happens to be wasted and lacking a degree of accuracy, you only end up with egg on your wall, which then eats the paint off, and you have to repaint the wall in the morning.
Also, our floor was spat upon frequently throughout the evening, and I found a reserve of tobacco spit behind some speakers. gross. And I won´t even get into the condition of our bathroom after everyone left last night, but needless to say it was atrocious. Eventually, some guy broke (on purpose maybe? who knows) a beer bottle on our floor, and we decided to pull the plug on the party. However, aside from these few blog-worthy comments, it was an excellent time for all, and funny to boot.
We have started to give English classes to the members of La Casa de Juventud, so maybe I can work in a few key phrases in our next class, like ¨May I spit my chew on your floor?¨, or ¨What effects do eggs have on your painted walls?¨
Life in the Peace Corps is all about teachable moments.
love you all much
S
Last night we hosted a potluck dinner, complete with kareoke courtesy of our site-mate´s computer, and beer, courtesy of one of our counterparts. It went from a very awkward silent kind of gathering into a beer-fueled kareoke/dance party catastrophe. It was also our friend, Neckali's birthday, which here means having a egg smashed on your head, as per custom. Why this is, I don't have the faintest clue. However, when the person in charge of this task happens to be wasted and lacking a degree of accuracy, you only end up with egg on your wall, which then eats the paint off, and you have to repaint the wall in the morning.
Also, our floor was spat upon frequently throughout the evening, and I found a reserve of tobacco spit behind some speakers. gross. And I won´t even get into the condition of our bathroom after everyone left last night, but needless to say it was atrocious. Eventually, some guy broke (on purpose maybe? who knows) a beer bottle on our floor, and we decided to pull the plug on the party. However, aside from these few blog-worthy comments, it was an excellent time for all, and funny to boot.
We have started to give English classes to the members of La Casa de Juventud, so maybe I can work in a few key phrases in our next class, like ¨May I spit my chew on your floor?¨, or ¨What effects do eggs have on your painted walls?¨
Life in the Peace Corps is all about teachable moments.
love you all much
S
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Never enough time
So in the case that anyone is wondering, now that we are in our village/town, I can tell you what we will be doing here as ¨volunteers¨: Everything here eventually should become sustainable, meaning the people of our town will be able to do all of this for themselves after we leave in 2 years...this is the ¨technical¨meaning of our service: Sustainable Development....I wont elaborate on how this doesnt always work.
1. In February, there are plans to start building a library, which Simon and I will be doing much of the planning for. This will include making clubs for kids, starting a traveling library for the kids at the top of the mountain who cant come down for school, etc.
2. Fundraising for town projects and for the library
3. Starting a baseball team for youth and we then have tournament in Teguciagalpa in March with all the other teams.
4. I will be working in the colegio (highschool) at the top of the mountain with a drumline/marching band.
5. Teaching English to the heads of our community, so they can teach it after we leave (two of them are teachers)
6. Working with our sitemate, Sydney, on his buisiness project: forming a doughnut co-op. Eventually we would like to have the town selling to larger cities like San Pedro Sula, which is close to us. Right now, we´re still teaching people how to say the word ¨doughnut¨so we´ll see, but they love the idea, and as of now we use the word: donas. Its close.
All this being said, this is what we did yesterday:
1. Woke up at 7am.
2. Washed clothes in the pila for 3 hours
3. Hung the clothes to dry
4. Went to the market to buy food for lunch and dinner(we´ve been eating beans for 10 meals straight)
5. 2pm-boiled our beans and ate lunch
6. read for a few hours
7. had a stare down with the neighbors for awhile.
8. Fell asleep for a few hours
9. Talked to our other neighbor about dogs, for lack of anything to say.
10. Had a 1 hour meeting about donas.
11. Yelled at neighbor kids
12. Ate dinner and read
13. Went to sleep
All in all, the time just goes too fast here. Im not sure that we will ever get work done.
Also, some general observations about our town and house:
1. All the men wear cowboy hats except for Simon.
2. When someone says, ¨be there at 2pm, it really means 2:45.
3. Though our house in new, we still have to use a buckshower because our water comes from the mountain and is freezing and has low water pressure.
4. The sun is really strong
5. Of all places, our house is next to the Chicken lady in town. There are seriously 100 of them at 5 am outside the bedroom window.
More later.
Ok, time for lunch.
love, Crystal
1. In February, there are plans to start building a library, which Simon and I will be doing much of the planning for. This will include making clubs for kids, starting a traveling library for the kids at the top of the mountain who cant come down for school, etc.
2. Fundraising for town projects and for the library
3. Starting a baseball team for youth and we then have tournament in Teguciagalpa in March with all the other teams.
4. I will be working in the colegio (highschool) at the top of the mountain with a drumline/marching band.
5. Teaching English to the heads of our community, so they can teach it after we leave (two of them are teachers)
6. Working with our sitemate, Sydney, on his buisiness project: forming a doughnut co-op. Eventually we would like to have the town selling to larger cities like San Pedro Sula, which is close to us. Right now, we´re still teaching people how to say the word ¨doughnut¨so we´ll see, but they love the idea, and as of now we use the word: donas. Its close.
All this being said, this is what we did yesterday:
1. Woke up at 7am.
2. Washed clothes in the pila for 3 hours
3. Hung the clothes to dry
4. Went to the market to buy food for lunch and dinner(we´ve been eating beans for 10 meals straight)
5. 2pm-boiled our beans and ate lunch
6. read for a few hours
7. had a stare down with the neighbors for awhile.
8. Fell asleep for a few hours
9. Talked to our other neighbor about dogs, for lack of anything to say.
10. Had a 1 hour meeting about donas.
11. Yelled at neighbor kids
12. Ate dinner and read
13. Went to sleep
All in all, the time just goes too fast here. Im not sure that we will ever get work done.
Also, some general observations about our town and house:
1. All the men wear cowboy hats except for Simon.
2. When someone says, ¨be there at 2pm, it really means 2:45.
3. Though our house in new, we still have to use a buckshower because our water comes from the mountain and is freezing and has low water pressure.
4. The sun is really strong
5. Of all places, our house is next to the Chicken lady in town. There are seriously 100 of them at 5 am outside the bedroom window.
More later.
Ok, time for lunch.
love, Crystal
Monday, December 12, 2005
Elections
Howdy Ya´ll...
Well, this past month has definitely been a wirlwind of activity here in Honduras for Crystal and I: Moving Twice, Thanksgiving, completing our training, passing our language exams (!!!), and the culmination of our swearing in this past weekend, and taking the bus to our now permenent residence here in Las Vegas for the next two years. However, Honduras itself has been an issue of much activity and suspense during this past month as a result of the elections. Now that all the dust has settled, i´ll fill ya´ll in on the process...
First of all, there are two major parties, the Liberals (flag: two verticle red stripes with one verticle white stripe) and the Nationals (flag: white star on blue background) which more or less correspond with our Democratic and Republican parties respectively. The current president is a memeber of the Nationalista Partido and will finish his four year, non-renewable term in January. There are a host of smaller independant parties as well, but these do not carry much poltical heft in the grand scheme of things...
The National party´s canidate went by the nickname ¨pepe¨and the liberal´s guy was ¨mel¨. Aside from the usual posters and television ads that we are used to for poltical campaigning, these guys also each have their own anthem of sorts, a catchy little song that highlights the basic goals of their platform, using theatrical elements that are much akin to, say, a soap opera from Mexico: extremely dramatic yet lacking on substance. And to up the ante, each party uses a series of trucks with speakers mounted on top to blast these songs everywhere, the truck that drove by our house seemed to always roll by when I was asleep. I am fairly certain that both of these songs will be with me until my dying day. In other words, this campaign resulted to lowest common denominator tactics for votes by using songs, propaganda, and lofty promises.
The polls leading up to the election were extremely close, with each canidate deadlocked, and many pollsters felt that a hidden vote would emerge and decide the election ( sound familar?). I personally felt that pepe was going to win, due to his concise campaign slogan of ¨Trabajo y Seguridad Para Todos¨(Jobs and security for everyone) and his use of iconigraphy by having a giant blue fist for his symbol, intended to indicate how he was going to get tough on the large gang problems here in the larger cities. However, after a week of vote counting and suspense, Mel came out on top with a winning margin of 5%. The fact that many Hondurans feared a harsh response of the gangs if pepe won may have been decisive in this election, I am not sure.
Our host family in Santa Lucia was pro-nationalista, because if pepe won, our older brother would get a government job in the process. In a country where unemployment and underemployment run extremely high, and especially now where more Hondurans earn a living by selling stuff on the street or buses than ever, this promise is more than adequate to garner support. Especially since Honduras opperates on the ¨spoils¨system, meaning there is no civil service for government jobs: if the incumbant loses and you work for the government, you job may be given away as a political incentive. At any rate, the new president faces a mulitude of problems and challanges, as this country attempts to crawl out of debt, respond to natural disaters such as our three hurricanes this year, and combat a sizible gang population with a small and ineffective police force.
In lighter news, I managed to lock Crystal and I out of our house, and our only keys in at the same time last night, and in the rain to boot. The locks here are weird, and i didnt realize that shutting the door is pretty much the same thing as locking it. Our house has bars on the windows and other security measures that makes it nearly impossible to break in, so we were fortunate enough that our next door neighbor found our landlord before he returned to his village on the other side of the mountain, where we would have no method of contacting him until Tuesday. Also, I had to rewire the stove today so that it would work with our outlets, using the instructions the hardware store guy gave me in Spanish. And it worked!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, and I hope to hear from you all soon
Love, Simon
Well, this past month has definitely been a wirlwind of activity here in Honduras for Crystal and I: Moving Twice, Thanksgiving, completing our training, passing our language exams (!!!), and the culmination of our swearing in this past weekend, and taking the bus to our now permenent residence here in Las Vegas for the next two years. However, Honduras itself has been an issue of much activity and suspense during this past month as a result of the elections. Now that all the dust has settled, i´ll fill ya´ll in on the process...
First of all, there are two major parties, the Liberals (flag: two verticle red stripes with one verticle white stripe) and the Nationals (flag: white star on blue background) which more or less correspond with our Democratic and Republican parties respectively. The current president is a memeber of the Nationalista Partido and will finish his four year, non-renewable term in January. There are a host of smaller independant parties as well, but these do not carry much poltical heft in the grand scheme of things...
The National party´s canidate went by the nickname ¨pepe¨and the liberal´s guy was ¨mel¨. Aside from the usual posters and television ads that we are used to for poltical campaigning, these guys also each have their own anthem of sorts, a catchy little song that highlights the basic goals of their platform, using theatrical elements that are much akin to, say, a soap opera from Mexico: extremely dramatic yet lacking on substance. And to up the ante, each party uses a series of trucks with speakers mounted on top to blast these songs everywhere, the truck that drove by our house seemed to always roll by when I was asleep. I am fairly certain that both of these songs will be with me until my dying day. In other words, this campaign resulted to lowest common denominator tactics for votes by using songs, propaganda, and lofty promises.
The polls leading up to the election were extremely close, with each canidate deadlocked, and many pollsters felt that a hidden vote would emerge and decide the election ( sound familar?). I personally felt that pepe was going to win, due to his concise campaign slogan of ¨Trabajo y Seguridad Para Todos¨(Jobs and security for everyone) and his use of iconigraphy by having a giant blue fist for his symbol, intended to indicate how he was going to get tough on the large gang problems here in the larger cities. However, after a week of vote counting and suspense, Mel came out on top with a winning margin of 5%. The fact that many Hondurans feared a harsh response of the gangs if pepe won may have been decisive in this election, I am not sure.
Our host family in Santa Lucia was pro-nationalista, because if pepe won, our older brother would get a government job in the process. In a country where unemployment and underemployment run extremely high, and especially now where more Hondurans earn a living by selling stuff on the street or buses than ever, this promise is more than adequate to garner support. Especially since Honduras opperates on the ¨spoils¨system, meaning there is no civil service for government jobs: if the incumbant loses and you work for the government, you job may be given away as a political incentive. At any rate, the new president faces a mulitude of problems and challanges, as this country attempts to crawl out of debt, respond to natural disaters such as our three hurricanes this year, and combat a sizible gang population with a small and ineffective police force.
In lighter news, I managed to lock Crystal and I out of our house, and our only keys in at the same time last night, and in the rain to boot. The locks here are weird, and i didnt realize that shutting the door is pretty much the same thing as locking it. Our house has bars on the windows and other security measures that makes it nearly impossible to break in, so we were fortunate enough that our next door neighbor found our landlord before he returned to his village on the other side of the mountain, where we would have no method of contacting him until Tuesday. Also, I had to rewire the stove today so that it would work with our outlets, using the instructions the hardware store guy gave me in Spanish. And it worked!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, and I hope to hear from you all soon
Love, Simon
Friday, December 2, 2005
Site Announcements...Drum Roll Please....
And the drum is rolling.....
LAS VEGAS!
Let the Vegas jokes begin. After the 5 or so hour bus ride to our site this weekend to check it out, here is what I have to say...We hit the jackpot.
The town: is absolutely gorgeous. We live in this little valley up in the mountains inbetween the second highest peak in the country (Parque Nacional Santa Barbara) and between the only lake in Honduras. Coffee is grown here, and so are pineapples, sugar, and avacadoes. Wherever you look up, there are mountains and clouds. Our streets are mostly paved. It is very tropicalish and lush and green. I really havent seen anything like it.
Our house: Absolutely gorgeous. It is still being worked on (that means built, its brand new) but its going to ready just in time for when we move in next weekend. It is made of brick and adobe. We have a big porch with beatiful ceramic tiles, the coolest setup inside with a kitchen, indoor bathroom, dining room, livingroom, and 2 bedrooms, we have a yard, with a fence, and a gate, all the way around it, so we can have a garden or maybe some chickens. Our neighbors are the coolest, and very friendly and helpful.
The people here are really nice. There are alot of really cool young people here to be our friends, they have no problems with teaching us better spanish. We also have a PCV sitemate, who is a cool guy. Tomorrow we are taking him to the brewery we live by.
Its kind of hard to get to our town, its in the middle of nowhere, but its so pretty, I dont care.
Oh, Thanksgiving with the Dep. Ambasador was great. He was really chill and gave us everything we could ask for. We even got to play pool and watch tv in his mansion.
We swear in as real Peace Corps Volunteers this thursday. We will be singing the Honduran national anthem to the current presidente and it should be boring, but afterwards we are having a massive celebration, courtesy of peace corps, at the nicest hotel in Teguciagalpa. The day after that, we stop being treated like little babies, and move on to our site, to be alone, and to start our service. I think we´re ready, though. We´ll see!
peace and love, Crystal and Simon
LAS VEGAS!
Let the Vegas jokes begin. After the 5 or so hour bus ride to our site this weekend to check it out, here is what I have to say...We hit the jackpot.
The town: is absolutely gorgeous. We live in this little valley up in the mountains inbetween the second highest peak in the country (Parque Nacional Santa Barbara) and between the only lake in Honduras. Coffee is grown here, and so are pineapples, sugar, and avacadoes. Wherever you look up, there are mountains and clouds. Our streets are mostly paved. It is very tropicalish and lush and green. I really havent seen anything like it.
Our house: Absolutely gorgeous. It is still being worked on (that means built, its brand new) but its going to ready just in time for when we move in next weekend. It is made of brick and adobe. We have a big porch with beatiful ceramic tiles, the coolest setup inside with a kitchen, indoor bathroom, dining room, livingroom, and 2 bedrooms, we have a yard, with a fence, and a gate, all the way around it, so we can have a garden or maybe some chickens. Our neighbors are the coolest, and very friendly and helpful.
The people here are really nice. There are alot of really cool young people here to be our friends, they have no problems with teaching us better spanish. We also have a PCV sitemate, who is a cool guy. Tomorrow we are taking him to the brewery we live by.
Its kind of hard to get to our town, its in the middle of nowhere, but its so pretty, I dont care.
Oh, Thanksgiving with the Dep. Ambasador was great. He was really chill and gave us everything we could ask for. We even got to play pool and watch tv in his mansion.
We swear in as real Peace Corps Volunteers this thursday. We will be singing the Honduran national anthem to the current presidente and it should be boring, but afterwards we are having a massive celebration, courtesy of peace corps, at the nicest hotel in Teguciagalpa. The day after that, we stop being treated like little babies, and move on to our site, to be alone, and to start our service. I think we´re ready, though. We´ll see!
peace and love, Crystal and Simon
Monday, November 21, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Just wanted to let you all know we´ll be thinking about you when we eat our beans.
Obviously there is no Thanksgiving day here in Hondo. To our surprise, though, we are being randomly dropped off at the Assistant Director of the American Embassy´s house this Thanksgiving day to eat dinner with him at his mansion in Tegucigapla. One of those little Peace Corps perks, I guess.
That being said, I´m sure that J will say something inappropriate and we´ll end up at Ruby Tuesdays fighting about it over an overcooked hamburger or something. Just kidding.
Note: He didn't say anything offensive. Rather, when the maid brought the food out to the long table we were all sitting at (remember-we were a bunch of hungry, dirty, food deprived pcv's), the ambassador was in the restroom and we accidentally started carving the turkey and eating without him. Yeah, that's probably worse than swearing.Luckily he laughed at us. Sort of.
Really though, Have a great Holiday and eat a bunch of good food for us! And try not to get killed at the mall on Friday morning at 5am when you are wrestling some grandma for a $5.00 toaster! Things will be business as usual here.
And to our families, I´m not sure that we´ll be able to call because we´re going to be at a stranger´s house, but if we can we will. Send us an email as of your whereabouts (with a number if you could).
love you all
Obviously there is no Thanksgiving day here in Hondo. To our surprise, though, we are being randomly dropped off at the Assistant Director of the American Embassy´s house this Thanksgiving day to eat dinner with him at his mansion in Tegucigapla. One of those little Peace Corps perks, I guess.
That being said, I´m sure that J will say something inappropriate and we´ll end up at Ruby Tuesdays fighting about it over an overcooked hamburger or something. Just kidding.
Note: He didn't say anything offensive. Rather, when the maid brought the food out to the long table we were all sitting at (remember-we were a bunch of hungry, dirty, food deprived pcv's), the ambassador was in the restroom and we accidentally started carving the turkey and eating without him. Yeah, that's probably worse than swearing.Luckily he laughed at us. Sort of.
Really though, Have a great Holiday and eat a bunch of good food for us! And try not to get killed at the mall on Friday morning at 5am when you are wrestling some grandma for a $5.00 toaster! Things will be business as usual here.
And to our families, I´m not sure that we´ll be able to call because we´re going to be at a stranger´s house, but if we can we will. Send us an email as of your whereabouts (with a number if you could).
love you all
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Jackpot--Las Vegas, Santa Barbara
So this week we had our final interview with our Project Manager about our soon to be site for the next 2 years. And, so far, things have been looking up for us and getting better all the time.
Im about 95 percent sure that I know which site S and I will be living in. Ready? I hope so because its....Las Vegas! Las Vegas, Honduras, that is.
Let the Vegas jokes begin.
So the town is somewhere between 15 and 25 thousand people. Its decently sized. The best thing about this site? A little history...
Las Vegas is situated in a little valley way up in the mountains of the department of Santa Barbara in the West-Central side of the country. It is said to be one of the most beautiful parts of the entire country. It is located on the west side of the only lake in Honduras, Lago de Yahoa. On the other side of the city, is a protected National Park--Parque Nacional de Santa Barbara. The town was formed and built to help support the miners who live it's sister town, El Mochito. Currently there is still an active mine in the mountains, though we're not positive what is being mined there yet.
Apparently Las Vegas is known as a little wonderland by Hondurans, hidden from everything else and somewhat of the beaten path.
When I asked my host mom about it, She said one sentence, ¨Las Vegas is precious.¨
Other stats:
1. We have a baseball team and will be traveling for games.
2. Simon will be teaching teachers to teach Geography and History (Never happened by the way)
4. We will be on a committee for the new library being built in our town, and have to do advertising, news things, start clubs for the kids, and form a traveling library to the poorer communities. (NOTE: Also never happened...the Library Committee turned out to be corrupt and the new Mayor ignored the project.
5. We have the support of the Municipality, so Simon can work with the Mayor´s office on whatever we please (if they get re elected next week, that is)NOTE: They didn't get re-elected. The new Mayor wasn't a fan of Americans and didn't really ever help us with anything.
6. And here´s where I thought things couldn't get any better. I have been assigned to assist my own...High school BAND to work with for 2 years, mainly with percussion!
NOTE: This did work..and it turned out to be one of our most successful work endeavors.
7. Apparently, we will be moving into a brand new house!! Our boss went to check it out on Tuesday, and she said we will be able to move into a house she found which has indoor bathroom and kitchen, and also has a yard with a fence, and is near the town center. We will have to wait for them to install the tile for the first couple weeks, but it will be worth it. Score! NOTE: We lived in the house for 4 months. Nobody ever came to finish it and the landlord took advantage of us. We had to move to a different house.
The faults of our site:
1. I don´t know if this is actually true, but our PM told us that during the rainy season, which is like 6 months, the roads to our site all wash out, leaving us sort of trapped in this little valley. I guess its hard to get back up the mountains and out. I have to investigate this, though. NOTE: It was like being in a little valley, but we luckily never got trapped. The roads in our area were far superior to those in other areas of the country where our friends lived.
2. There is a dude from Oregon who opened a Microbrewery near our site, in fact it is the only microbrewery in the country, and he offers such delights as mango, pear, and coffee beers. Wait, I'm sorry, this is the coolest thing ever!!!! I guess if you don't like handcrafted beers, chillin out in hammocks, birdwatching, national parks, or large beautiful lakes with waterfalls, don't come visit, cuz that's what we are gonna have ( i hope ) for the next two years...
NOTE: We did have that. And it was really awesome. Robert is the owner of the D&D Brewery--Check out the D&D Website here.
We highly recommend visiting D&D Brewery and saying hello to Robert. He is a very interesting guy and is quite knowledgeable about Honduras in general. At the time of our departure, he was doing so well that he was in the process of putting a second Brewery in Copan Ruinas.
Viva Las Vegas.
That´s it for now. We'll update you more later.
Also, its yucky and rainy from hurricane Gamma right now. This is our second Hurricane down here, and so far they have been pretty wussy, just a lot of rain here in Siguatepeque. However, the BBC website has some pictures of Honduras´ North Coast which has been taking a beating this year.
Adios. C&S
Im about 95 percent sure that I know which site S and I will be living in. Ready? I hope so because its....Las Vegas! Las Vegas, Honduras, that is.
Let the Vegas jokes begin.
So the town is somewhere between 15 and 25 thousand people. Its decently sized. The best thing about this site? A little history...
Las Vegas is situated in a little valley way up in the mountains of the department of Santa Barbara in the West-Central side of the country. It is said to be one of the most beautiful parts of the entire country. It is located on the west side of the only lake in Honduras, Lago de Yahoa. On the other side of the city, is a protected National Park--Parque Nacional de Santa Barbara. The town was formed and built to help support the miners who live it's sister town, El Mochito. Currently there is still an active mine in the mountains, though we're not positive what is being mined there yet.
Apparently Las Vegas is known as a little wonderland by Hondurans, hidden from everything else and somewhat of the beaten path.
When I asked my host mom about it, She said one sentence, ¨Las Vegas is precious.¨
Other stats:
1. We have a baseball team and will be traveling for games.
2. Simon will be teaching teachers to teach Geography and History (Never happened by the way)
4. We will be on a committee for the new library being built in our town, and have to do advertising, news things, start clubs for the kids, and form a traveling library to the poorer communities. (NOTE: Also never happened...the Library Committee turned out to be corrupt and the new Mayor ignored the project.
5. We have the support of the Municipality, so Simon can work with the Mayor´s office on whatever we please (if they get re elected next week, that is)NOTE: They didn't get re-elected. The new Mayor wasn't a fan of Americans and didn't really ever help us with anything.
6. And here´s where I thought things couldn't get any better. I have been assigned to assist my own...High school BAND to work with for 2 years, mainly with percussion!
NOTE: This did work..and it turned out to be one of our most successful work endeavors.
7. Apparently, we will be moving into a brand new house!! Our boss went to check it out on Tuesday, and she said we will be able to move into a house she found which has indoor bathroom and kitchen, and also has a yard with a fence, and is near the town center. We will have to wait for them to install the tile for the first couple weeks, but it will be worth it. Score! NOTE: We lived in the house for 4 months. Nobody ever came to finish it and the landlord took advantage of us. We had to move to a different house.
The faults of our site:
1. I don´t know if this is actually true, but our PM told us that during the rainy season, which is like 6 months, the roads to our site all wash out, leaving us sort of trapped in this little valley. I guess its hard to get back up the mountains and out. I have to investigate this, though. NOTE: It was like being in a little valley, but we luckily never got trapped. The roads in our area were far superior to those in other areas of the country where our friends lived.
2. There is a dude from Oregon who opened a Microbrewery near our site, in fact it is the only microbrewery in the country, and he offers such delights as mango, pear, and coffee beers. Wait, I'm sorry, this is the coolest thing ever!!!! I guess if you don't like handcrafted beers, chillin out in hammocks, birdwatching, national parks, or large beautiful lakes with waterfalls, don't come visit, cuz that's what we are gonna have ( i hope ) for the next two years...
NOTE: We did have that. And it was really awesome. Robert is the owner of the D&D Brewery--Check out the D&D Website here.
We highly recommend visiting D&D Brewery and saying hello to Robert. He is a very interesting guy and is quite knowledgeable about Honduras in general. At the time of our departure, he was doing so well that he was in the process of putting a second Brewery in Copan Ruinas.
Viva Las Vegas.
That´s it for now. We'll update you more later.
Also, its yucky and rainy from hurricane Gamma right now. This is our second Hurricane down here, and so far they have been pretty wussy, just a lot of rain here in Siguatepeque. However, the BBC website has some pictures of Honduras´ North Coast which has been taking a beating this year.
Adios. C&S
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Foods
We´ve spent a lot of time on specifics throughout this blog, but i thought maybe i´d fill ya in on what we´ve been chowing down on ( or making excuses to avoid) here. FYI, my spelling sucks today, bear with me.
First and foremost, we need to mention the ¨Plato tipico¨( even those of you which no hablo can figure this phrase out), which essentially contains beans, rice, tortillas, and usually eggs as well. This honestly appears arround once a day within our diets, and perhaps more frequently in the diet of Hondurans of average income.
I´ve started to develop a comfort food complex over it, probably based more on its frequency rather than its quality; but its nothing a little hot sauce can´t remedy. Other mainstays in our diet include plantains, (usually pan-fried and served with mantequilla, a butter like product), slices of ham (also pan-fried) and the occasional serving of chicken, pork, or sausage. Needless to say, i relish the oppertunity to cook for myself in the next couple weeks and reduce some of the oily nature of our food.
Some other types of foods indigious to Honduras include: the ever popular Baleada, which is similar to a burrito but better...and served in every honduran town everywhere by baleada ladies.
Pupusas are also popular, though more Salvadorean-you can find them in the Western regions of the country. Pupusas are tortillas which are prepared with cheese in the middle, and Catrachas, a nickname for a person from honduras and also a tortilla which is fried and then covered with refried beans and a crumbly cheese called quesillo. Here in Siguatepeque is my new favorite food, the pastelito. Apparently, this food was brought to Siguatepeque by a woman from Nicaragua. It consists of a mixture of meat (usually chicken) and spices which are stewed, then placed between two pastries and fried. The result is similar to a hot pocket and is absolutely wonderful.
Of course Crystal has found a whole bunch of new fruits that she loves. There is a odd-looking fruit here called leeches, which look like red balls with spikes on them, and contain a sweet fruit inside.
Also there are a fruit known as tamarindos, which grow on trees but look similar to a nut or legume. The have a extremely tart fruit and are often used to make a juice similar to lemonade. Our training center in Santa Lucia has a grove of orange trees which are much different than our concept of oranges, as these are usually much more green and acidic. Honduras has pineapples, bananas and coffee amongst its principle exports, but they are different varieties than what remains here. However, the bananas, pineapples, and coffee that we have had here has far exceeded the stuff we are used to in the states.
As far as food we don´t like, there are a couple worth explaining. Foremost is Mondongo (which translates to intestines) Soup, and consists of a white-ish soup made from beef tripe.
Sopa de Mondongo-Nasty tripe soup.
Also, we have yucca, which is more or less a potato type tuber, without any of the charm of a real potato. Due to the use of harsh pesticides and herbicides, a majority of our food needs to be pealed or washed in iodine to prevent illness, and leafy items such as lettuce or cabbage pose preparation issues. Also, any meat we consume needs to be thoroughly cooked to prevent illness, and in pork products to prevent potentially lethal illnesses. My dreams to have a perfect medium rare steak with a mixed green salad are gonna be on hold for a while.
Other popular, cheap Honduran foods include Anafre (beans with chips baked in a clay pot thing) and fried whole fish-with the head and plaintains with rice.
Anafre Plate
Fried Tilapia with plantains and rice
This is all i can think of for now, and i'm sure that food and diet will resurface in the future. In other news, hurricane gamma is giving us some rain right now, and we think we know where our site is!!! We do know that it is pretty large, has internet, electricity, water, and a bunch of stores. Our boss told us that we are going to have a brand new house when we arrive!!
We´ll post as soon as we know for sure, in about two weeks.
Enjoy the autumn everyone!! Drop us an email when you have time!
much love
Simon
First and foremost, we need to mention the ¨Plato tipico¨( even those of you which no hablo can figure this phrase out), which essentially contains beans, rice, tortillas, and usually eggs as well. This honestly appears arround once a day within our diets, and perhaps more frequently in the diet of Hondurans of average income.
I´ve started to develop a comfort food complex over it, probably based more on its frequency rather than its quality; but its nothing a little hot sauce can´t remedy. Other mainstays in our diet include plantains, (usually pan-fried and served with mantequilla, a butter like product), slices of ham (also pan-fried) and the occasional serving of chicken, pork, or sausage. Needless to say, i relish the oppertunity to cook for myself in the next couple weeks and reduce some of the oily nature of our food.
Some other types of foods indigious to Honduras include: the ever popular Baleada, which is similar to a burrito but better...and served in every honduran town everywhere by baleada ladies.
Pupusas are also popular, though more Salvadorean-you can find them in the Western regions of the country. Pupusas are tortillas which are prepared with cheese in the middle, and Catrachas, a nickname for a person from honduras and also a tortilla which is fried and then covered with refried beans and a crumbly cheese called quesillo. Here in Siguatepeque is my new favorite food, the pastelito. Apparently, this food was brought to Siguatepeque by a woman from Nicaragua. It consists of a mixture of meat (usually chicken) and spices which are stewed, then placed between two pastries and fried. The result is similar to a hot pocket and is absolutely wonderful.
Of course Crystal has found a whole bunch of new fruits that she loves. There is a odd-looking fruit here called leeches, which look like red balls with spikes on them, and contain a sweet fruit inside.
Also there are a fruit known as tamarindos, which grow on trees but look similar to a nut or legume. The have a extremely tart fruit and are often used to make a juice similar to lemonade. Our training center in Santa Lucia has a grove of orange trees which are much different than our concept of oranges, as these are usually much more green and acidic. Honduras has pineapples, bananas and coffee amongst its principle exports, but they are different varieties than what remains here. However, the bananas, pineapples, and coffee that we have had here has far exceeded the stuff we are used to in the states.
As far as food we don´t like, there are a couple worth explaining. Foremost is Mondongo (which translates to intestines) Soup, and consists of a white-ish soup made from beef tripe.
Sopa de Mondongo-Nasty tripe soup.Also, we have yucca, which is more or less a potato type tuber, without any of the charm of a real potato. Due to the use of harsh pesticides and herbicides, a majority of our food needs to be pealed or washed in iodine to prevent illness, and leafy items such as lettuce or cabbage pose preparation issues. Also, any meat we consume needs to be thoroughly cooked to prevent illness, and in pork products to prevent potentially lethal illnesses. My dreams to have a perfect medium rare steak with a mixed green salad are gonna be on hold for a while.
Other popular, cheap Honduran foods include Anafre (beans with chips baked in a clay pot thing) and fried whole fish-with the head and plaintains with rice.
Anafre Plate
Fried Tilapia with plantains and riceThis is all i can think of for now, and i'm sure that food and diet will resurface in the future. In other news, hurricane gamma is giving us some rain right now, and we think we know where our site is!!! We do know that it is pretty large, has internet, electricity, water, and a bunch of stores. Our boss told us that we are going to have a brand new house when we arrive!!
We´ll post as soon as we know for sure, in about two weeks.
Enjoy the autumn everyone!! Drop us an email when you have time!
much love
Simon
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Tranquillo
¿What´s happening groovy people?
In light of Tron´s comment about Crystal and I using this forum to complain about stuff (like the opportunity to learn another language in another culture for free), this particular post will be, in a word, cheery.
¡¡¡¡We had the most excellent weekend!!!! Actually, it started on Thursday night, when we had an opportunity to hang out with a bunch of Volunteers that were in Siguatepeque to do some training sessions with us. The fun continued on Friday, as we had a birthday party for a friend of ours, each night we ended up at our adopted bar ¨Bohemo´s¨. Its not Native Bay, but they do have four cans of Old Milwaukee Light sitting on display next to the top shelf liquors. I can´t think of a more appropriate place for such high caliber American beers.
Over beers on Friday, we decided to go down to visit La Esperanza, the town where the other half of our group is having their training sessions right now. A friend of ours was having a party cuz his host family was out of town. When you are a trainee for the pc, it's kinda like being in high school: you cant make your own food, you have a curfew, and are more or less subject to the rules of someone else. That being said, this party, just like in high school, was an event not to be missed.
We took a chicken bus (which is pretty much just an old school bus from the states that allows anything on it-including chickens, dogs, whatever fits on the bus, really) down to La Esperanza on Saturday afternoon, and hiked around the mountains while we waited for our friends to come back from a field trip. They arrived, and you have never seen people so happy to see each other after two weeks in your life. We had an excellent dinner together, and spent the rest of our time in what could only be described as a Honduran mansion. Then this morning we hitchhiked (called a jalón in Spanish) the hour back to Siguat through the most beautiful mountain highway i´ve ever seen. Afterwards, we stopped at Wendy´s ( i know, but its an expensive treat down here) for a frosty to cap off the perfect weekend.
We have both been working extremely hard during our time in country so far, and haven´t really taken time to enjoy what we are doing, or enjoy the people around us. Its very easy to get wrapped up in training and forget that you are surrounded by a lush environment and a bunch of like minded individuals.
Like many things in life, pc is totally what you make of it; the important thing is to strike a balance between business and pleasure. This weekend was just what we needed to find that harmony.
Simon
In light of Tron´s comment about Crystal and I using this forum to complain about stuff (like the opportunity to learn another language in another culture for free), this particular post will be, in a word, cheery.
¡¡¡¡We had the most excellent weekend!!!! Actually, it started on Thursday night, when we had an opportunity to hang out with a bunch of Volunteers that were in Siguatepeque to do some training sessions with us. The fun continued on Friday, as we had a birthday party for a friend of ours, each night we ended up at our adopted bar ¨Bohemo´s¨. Its not Native Bay, but they do have four cans of Old Milwaukee Light sitting on display next to the top shelf liquors. I can´t think of a more appropriate place for such high caliber American beers.
Over beers on Friday, we decided to go down to visit La Esperanza, the town where the other half of our group is having their training sessions right now. A friend of ours was having a party cuz his host family was out of town. When you are a trainee for the pc, it's kinda like being in high school: you cant make your own food, you have a curfew, and are more or less subject to the rules of someone else. That being said, this party, just like in high school, was an event not to be missed.
We took a chicken bus (which is pretty much just an old school bus from the states that allows anything on it-including chickens, dogs, whatever fits on the bus, really) down to La Esperanza on Saturday afternoon, and hiked around the mountains while we waited for our friends to come back from a field trip. They arrived, and you have never seen people so happy to see each other after two weeks in your life. We had an excellent dinner together, and spent the rest of our time in what could only be described as a Honduran mansion. Then this morning we hitchhiked (called a jalón in Spanish) the hour back to Siguat through the most beautiful mountain highway i´ve ever seen. Afterwards, we stopped at Wendy´s ( i know, but its an expensive treat down here) for a frosty to cap off the perfect weekend.
We have both been working extremely hard during our time in country so far, and haven´t really taken time to enjoy what we are doing, or enjoy the people around us. Its very easy to get wrapped up in training and forget that you are surrounded by a lush environment and a bunch of like minded individuals.
Like many things in life, pc is totally what you make of it; the important thing is to strike a balance between business and pleasure. This weekend was just what we needed to find that harmony.
Simon
Saturday, November 5, 2005
"No really, its not you...My spanish just sucks."
This was the sentence that made me cry harder because I was so flustered with the fact that I couldn't remember how to say it in Spanish.
I was at my evening tutoring session with one of our Honduran teachers. I wrote the whole charla (like a little mini lesson) out in Spanish and asked to have it corrected. Remember, I've only been learning Spanish for about 2 months-I have the vocabulary of a 2 year old. All was well until we got to the commands.
It went something like this:
Teacher: (in Spanish) Are you sure this command isn't supposed to be a question?
C: (also in Spanish) Yes, I´m sure.
Teacher: Why?
C: Because its supposed to be a command.
Teacher: (looking confused) But this is a question.
C: (looking more confused) But it says ¨Now, Everybody form a circle.¨
Teacher: Yes, thats a question in spanish.
C: Wait, Im confused.
Teacher: What are you trying to say here?
C: (Starting to cry) Un momento, porfavor.
Teacher: Oh no, what happened? What´s the matter?
C: (trying to think of the words of the title of this blog, but unable to) I started crying harder.
This was where I lost it and went to the other room crying for approxomately 30 minutes to my other Honduran teacher. I came back and my teacher had gone home.
Luckily the next day, I felt a little better, my charla at the school went ok, and my teacher confronted me again:
Teacher: (in Spanish) Are you Ok today? I am so sorry about yesterday.
C: Oh, no! I'm better. I promise I wont cry for our next tutorial. Spanish is just really hard sometimes.
Teacher: (still in Spanish) Oh, I understand. Its really hard. Ive tried to learn English and I have a hard time, too.
Teacher: In the only English he knows: ¨Crystal, It is like, Spanish, F%!$ You! ¨
C: (Bursting into laughter and saying in Spanish) Yes, it is like that.¨
The end.
For a great story about my groups first visit with our first ¨job¨. Please check out Kathryns blog entry: http://kathrynpcv.blogspot.com/
I was at my evening tutoring session with one of our Honduran teachers. I wrote the whole charla (like a little mini lesson) out in Spanish and asked to have it corrected. Remember, I've only been learning Spanish for about 2 months-I have the vocabulary of a 2 year old. All was well until we got to the commands.
It went something like this:
Teacher: (in Spanish) Are you sure this command isn't supposed to be a question?
C: (also in Spanish) Yes, I´m sure.
Teacher: Why?
C: Because its supposed to be a command.
Teacher: (looking confused) But this is a question.
C: (looking more confused) But it says ¨Now, Everybody form a circle.¨
Teacher: Yes, thats a question in spanish.
C: Wait, Im confused.
Teacher: What are you trying to say here?
C: (Starting to cry) Un momento, porfavor.
Teacher: Oh no, what happened? What´s the matter?
C: (trying to think of the words of the title of this blog, but unable to) I started crying harder.
This was where I lost it and went to the other room crying for approxomately 30 minutes to my other Honduran teacher. I came back and my teacher had gone home.
Luckily the next day, I felt a little better, my charla at the school went ok, and my teacher confronted me again:
Teacher: (in Spanish) Are you Ok today? I am so sorry about yesterday.
C: Oh, no! I'm better. I promise I wont cry for our next tutorial. Spanish is just really hard sometimes.
Teacher: (still in Spanish) Oh, I understand. Its really hard. Ive tried to learn English and I have a hard time, too.
Teacher: In the only English he knows: ¨Crystal, It is like, Spanish, F%!$ You! ¨
C: (Bursting into laughter and saying in Spanish) Yes, it is like that.¨
The end.
For a great story about my groups first visit with our first ¨job¨. Please check out Kathryns blog entry: http://kathrynpcv.blogspot.com/
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Obviously, you are not a golfer.
Siguatepeque my friends, is the bomb.
Of the limited places that ive travelled so far in this country, siguat is far and above my favorite, there are the ammenities that one appreciates from a larger city, but without all the b.s. that usually accompanies it, such as big box stores, crazy traffic, or a population that is prissy. Much like my esteemed colleague tom illustrated previously, everything i could want is here, the people are chill, and high speed internet is only 50 cents an hour. Hells yes.
Despite my apparent optimism, i had a crappy day today. Today was finally the day where i become completely frustrated with my inability to communicate to point where my eyes were burning with that "i wanna cry cuz im so pissed" sensation. I had to give a presentation to a group of kids in spanish, and the limits of my language were suffocating.
C's was considerably better than mine, although she didn't earn any medals, awards, or cookies either. However, the name of the game down here is one day at a time. Today sucked, but tomorrow I´ll have a conversation with someone in the street and my mood will rebound. C had a great day, she is working with a daycare center down here which is going completely awesome, much better than her original project where her counterpart locked her and two friends of ours in cage for two hours. Dont ask, or do ask, its a pretty funny story that cannot be done justice within the confines of a blog.
Unfortuntately, we are only here for a month, but i would recommend dropping us a line while we are here, as the communications are top notch. Full phone service and fast internet-whenever we want for the most part.
I want to watch the big lebowski with a nice gin and tonic so bad i could cry.
And thanks velzen for pointing out that all our of posts involve me doing something stupid or forgetting stuff (falling in rivers, forgetting foot cream, not knowing spanish). For whatever reason, sometimes you just need your friends to remind you that you are a buffoon. thanks bro!!
Peace out,
S
Of the limited places that ive travelled so far in this country, siguat is far and above my favorite, there are the ammenities that one appreciates from a larger city, but without all the b.s. that usually accompanies it, such as big box stores, crazy traffic, or a population that is prissy. Much like my esteemed colleague tom illustrated previously, everything i could want is here, the people are chill, and high speed internet is only 50 cents an hour. Hells yes.
Despite my apparent optimism, i had a crappy day today. Today was finally the day where i become completely frustrated with my inability to communicate to point where my eyes were burning with that "i wanna cry cuz im so pissed" sensation. I had to give a presentation to a group of kids in spanish, and the limits of my language were suffocating.
C's was considerably better than mine, although she didn't earn any medals, awards, or cookies either. However, the name of the game down here is one day at a time. Today sucked, but tomorrow I´ll have a conversation with someone in the street and my mood will rebound. C had a great day, she is working with a daycare center down here which is going completely awesome, much better than her original project where her counterpart locked her and two friends of ours in cage for two hours. Dont ask, or do ask, its a pretty funny story that cannot be done justice within the confines of a blog.
Unfortuntately, we are only here for a month, but i would recommend dropping us a line while we are here, as the communications are top notch. Full phone service and fast internet-whenever we want for the most part.
I want to watch the big lebowski with a nice gin and tonic so bad i could cry.
And thanks velzen for pointing out that all our of posts involve me doing something stupid or forgetting stuff (falling in rivers, forgetting foot cream, not knowing spanish). For whatever reason, sometimes you just need your friends to remind you that you are a buffoon. thanks bro!!
Peace out,
S
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Rockin like a Hurricane
Thats right, Hurricane Beta almost blew my host families roof off this morning. Its really windy. Tomorrow we´re supposed to get slammed with the rain.
Also tomorrow, we leave for field based training in a city of 50,000 (and a grocery store) called Siguatepeque, about 3 hours from santa lucia, but still in the mountains.
Also worth mentioning: 1. The city we are being placed in as volunteers (which we wont know the name till the end of Nov.) wants us to help build a library, and then get the programming going. I might get to use my PR degree here after all. And for Simon, they want him to teach teachers how to teach history and geography! So thats cool too.
2. Simon has athletes foot (along with everyone else here from the moist weather) , but thats not the mentionable part. The mentionable part is that a Land Rover drove to Tegus just to pick up his foot cream and have it personally delivered to him. It was supposed to come directly to our house, but came to school instead. I just thought the urgency of the situation was worth a laugh. Oh, and then he forget his medicine at the training center anyways.
3. Simon is excited to buy some peanut butter next week at the grocery store.
4. We met this cool marred couple who are volunteers, and Tom killed a scorpion that feel out of the rafters and onto my charla paper. Thanks buddy.
That´s all for now. Take care and I hope everyone´s doing better at home. We miss you all.
good day. Crystal and Simon
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Random Site Visit/ Cell Phones
| Hey, how`ya doing? This is S, writing at cha from our volunteer visit site, Moroceli. Moreceli is located in a more southern department of the country, and it is hot out! This morning we got up, had fresh coffee, played with our volunteer friends' pet bunnies and went on a nice long hike...in the heat (about 90 degrees) with no breeze or cloud cover. We will soon be investing in some Honduran sun block-an umbrella. The sun was relentless and J & I love going for hikes just fine, but this one really tired us out. It seems to me that most of the town in the south are very hot and dusty, very brown looking-like the desert maybe?  (Pictured:Sahara Desert-much like Moreceli)I'm sure they are much better in the rainly season, and hopefully a little more color comes to each village. We are hanging out here this weekend with the most hospitable Steven and Teresa, the purpose of which is to check out some actual pcvs in their site, as C and I are still in trainee status until mid December. Its pretty cool here (thats not in reference to the weather?, the people are friendly and the town´s size of 5000 feels like a comfortable size. Today we went for a hike, and i fell into a river. Not a huge river, but, i slipped on some rocks while crossing a stream and got kinda wet. Aside from that, our hike was awesome, and i terribly regret not bringing my camera this weekend. Also, C and I have some pretty sweet news. Our program will more than likely be focused upon running a baseball team in Honduras. We don`t know the specifics or location as of yet, but from what we understand its some kind of traveling team league that has formal ties to Major League Baseball of the United States. Per usual, you will know when we know. C says hi, and we both would appreciate some phone calls people! If you need our number, drop us an email. We now have a cell phone. Honduras has 2 major cell phone companies-Tigo and Alo. We use Tigo....you buy 25, 50, 100 or 250 lempira cards and get like minute per lempira. Also texts are only 2 lemps a piece, and we can text to the states for that price! All incoming texts and phone call from the U.S. or anywhere are free for us, so we will be expecting your calls :). The phone isn't anything special looking, and having one of the nicer versions would be pointless for us, as it would just get ruined, wet, dusty or stolen. It works great and almost all departments of the country have decent service. It's not perfect though- the towers often go out after storms, and calls sometimes cut out. The higher in the mountains you are, it seems the worse the service is. It's pretty handy to carry a Tigo phone, though.  And they're cheap. You can buy one in any major city over 15,000 people in Honduras for roughly 40 dollars. Tigo cards are readily available at ever pulperia (corner store). Well, we hope everyone is enjoying their autumn days! much love J |
Friday, October 7, 2005
Tegucigalpa/ Traffic
Buenos dias everyone. This is Crystal and I am currently in the capital, Tegus buying fruit for my family on a training trip to learn how to talk again-but in Spanish this time.)
Here is a picture of what the city looks like from the air. Are you saying 'Wow, that city looks like it's just built right into the sides on mountains.." Well, you're right, it is! Of all the large cities Ive been to, here has the worst traffic by far. Tegucigalpa is one of the only cities I've ever been to in my life that isn't built on a grid (think of Minneapolis without stop signs, lights, street signs or anything for that matter). This makes for general chaos. There are no traffic rules in Tegus and every man (or woman or child or gringo) is for themselves: buses, cars, trucks (with 20 people in the back), pedestrians, motorcycles...you name it, I was almost hit by it today.
On a good note however, the internet cafe my friends and I are in currently, is air conditioned and guarded by the police with sawed off shot guns. There are also armed guards outside the McDonalds, which I found interesting. I am very proud of myself for asking directions and figuring when what buses leave for where. It sounds like a small feat, I know, but still...I also bought a fresh pineapple and some plantains today, mmm..pineapple. :)
It sounds like next week we will be going out into the field for a day to visit a volunteer in our project. We have to make our way to Tegus by bus and then to the correct station by taxi by ourselves and figure out how to get wherever we are going. Not too difficult, but not too easy either, in a city of a million with no road signs or maps or traffic laws-and with very poor Spanish. The language is coming along, but it's going to be a rough road for awhile. Im glad the training center let us off the leash today for a kind of ¨practice run¨.
Later today, I will be meeting back up with Simon and some people and we´re going to see Peace Corps Headquarters for the first time. Well, we´re off.
Here is a picture of what the city looks like from the air. Are you saying 'Wow, that city looks like it's just built right into the sides on mountains.." Well, you're right, it is! Of all the large cities Ive been to, here has the worst traffic by far. Tegucigalpa is one of the only cities I've ever been to in my life that isn't built on a grid (think of Minneapolis without stop signs, lights, street signs or anything for that matter). This makes for general chaos. There are no traffic rules in Tegus and every man (or woman or child or gringo) is for themselves: buses, cars, trucks (with 20 people in the back), pedestrians, motorcycles...you name it, I was almost hit by it today.
On a good note however, the internet cafe my friends and I are in currently, is air conditioned and guarded by the police with sawed off shot guns. There are also armed guards outside the McDonalds, which I found interesting. I am very proud of myself for asking directions and figuring when what buses leave for where. It sounds like a small feat, I know, but still...I also bought a fresh pineapple and some plantains today, mmm..pineapple. :)
It sounds like next week we will be going out into the field for a day to visit a volunteer in our project. We have to make our way to Tegus by bus and then to the correct station by taxi by ourselves and figure out how to get wherever we are going. Not too difficult, but not too easy either, in a city of a million with no road signs or maps or traffic laws-and with very poor Spanish. The language is coming along, but it's going to be a rough road for awhile. Im glad the training center let us off the leash today for a kind of ¨practice run¨.
Later today, I will be meeting back up with Simon and some people and we´re going to see Peace Corps Headquarters for the first time. Well, we´re off.
Sunday, October 2, 2005
Lesson for Today: Pills, and popular culture
Hello everybody! Sorry we haven't been able to post. The network here isn't very strong. We found out that our field based training is going to be in a city called Siguatepeque, in the middle of the country. I guess it's the old training site. The computer and phone connection there are far better than up here in the mountains.
Today we're going to talk about pills. I already have a bacterial infection and J has bronchitis. We have both eluded trips to the hospital in Tegus (the in country nickname for the capital).
During the course of our day on Thursday, I received 2 shots being: Hepatitis A #I and Rabies I. I also had to take 12 pills for various concerns including: 3 pepto bismols (for my constantly upset stomach), 2 bactrims (for the bacterial infection in my intestines caused by who knows what), 2 Aralen (our anti malarial pills that cause severe night terrors and blurred vision), 1 L-Lysine pill (to keep my skin healthy because its so humid here), and 4 ibuprophen (for my sore muscles from having to climb a mountain to go to school at 7 am everyday.
ok, J's turn:
Other items of note...
Im continually amazed by the force of cultural imperialism (read: american culture) upon the globe at large and in places like our tiny mountain village of santa lucia in particular. Everyday so far, C and I have been amazed by the satilite tv of our host family. Whether its myth busters on discovery channel Espanol, green day videos on MTV, or movies such as titanic, Dante's peak, etc, it becomes very apparent that American culture permeates every area of the globe, even the developing world. To date, I have yet to watch anything that came from Honduras, or that didn't come from either the United States or Mexico. As you can imagine, this carries a great deal of impact upon how Hondurans perceive Americans, having no filter to understand the differences between tv Americans and real Americans, especially women. C receives cat-calls when she walks down the street because she is a "gringa".
Classes so far consist of four hours of language training a day, each day of which supersedes any Spanish class we had in the states, usually a three hour block of technical training, in our case, youth development, and the rest of day is composed of classes regarding medical issues, safety issues, and issues such as cultural adjustment. All in all, each day from 730 until 430 ends up being extremely long.
But that aside, this area of Honduras is truly beautiful, the people are friendly, (especially since C and i no hablo)and we are starting to get into the swing of things that is Honduras.
Everyone back in the states needs to take a hot shower in honor of us :) ( ours is cold at best)
once again, we will post whenever possible, so keep tabs on us!!
much love,
C and J
Today we're going to talk about pills. I already have a bacterial infection and J has bronchitis. We have both eluded trips to the hospital in Tegus (the in country nickname for the capital).
During the course of our day on Thursday, I received 2 shots being: Hepatitis A #I and Rabies I. I also had to take 12 pills for various concerns including: 3 pepto bismols (for my constantly upset stomach), 2 bactrims (for the bacterial infection in my intestines caused by who knows what), 2 Aralen (our anti malarial pills that cause severe night terrors and blurred vision), 1 L-Lysine pill (to keep my skin healthy because its so humid here), and 4 ibuprophen (for my sore muscles from having to climb a mountain to go to school at 7 am everyday.
ok, J's turn:
Other items of note...
Im continually amazed by the force of cultural imperialism (read: american culture) upon the globe at large and in places like our tiny mountain village of santa lucia in particular. Everyday so far, C and I have been amazed by the satilite tv of our host family. Whether its myth busters on discovery channel Espanol, green day videos on MTV, or movies such as titanic, Dante's peak, etc, it becomes very apparent that American culture permeates every area of the globe, even the developing world. To date, I have yet to watch anything that came from Honduras, or that didn't come from either the United States or Mexico. As you can imagine, this carries a great deal of impact upon how Hondurans perceive Americans, having no filter to understand the differences between tv Americans and real Americans, especially women. C receives cat-calls when she walks down the street because she is a "gringa".
Classes so far consist of four hours of language training a day, each day of which supersedes any Spanish class we had in the states, usually a three hour block of technical training, in our case, youth development, and the rest of day is composed of classes regarding medical issues, safety issues, and issues such as cultural adjustment. All in all, each day from 730 until 430 ends up being extremely long.
But that aside, this area of Honduras is truly beautiful, the people are friendly, (especially since C and i no hablo)and we are starting to get into the swing of things that is Honduras.
Everyone back in the states needs to take a hot shower in honor of us :) ( ours is cold at best)
once again, we will post whenever possible, so keep tabs on us!!
much love,
C and J
Saturday, September 24, 2005
We made it!
This will be quick. We are here and things are overwhelming. We are currently staying in a small mountain village called Santa Lucia (the training center has been moved back to here). Everything is so beautiful-its hard to explain and hard to take in.
Our family is wonderful. We get fresh tortillas every day for every meal (almost) and lots of fruit, rice, and beans.
We wake up at 4 30 am since there are like 50 dogs and 5000 roosters cawing in our window at that hour. We are pretty much being told to stay in the village right now, since we have alot of spanish to work on. Our teachers are amazing and I am confident we will learn spanish with their guidance in no time-I hope.
Our group of trainees are great! Gotta go, we'll update in more detail later.
Our family is wonderful. We get fresh tortillas every day for every meal (almost) and lots of fruit, rice, and beans.
We wake up at 4 30 am since there are like 50 dogs and 5000 roosters cawing in our window at that hour. We are pretty much being told to stay in the village right now, since we have alot of spanish to work on. Our teachers are amazing and I am confident we will learn spanish with their guidance in no time-I hope.
Our group of trainees are great! Gotta go, we'll update in more detail later.
Honduras Packing List
How do you pack for 2 years? I'll tell you, it wasn't easy to decide what to bring. In the end-the best advice would be this. Pack your backpacks and suitcases with everything on your original list. Once they are all packed, walk away. The next day-open your luggage and take away HALF of it. No joke. Get rid of it.
You can get almost everything you need in Honduras. It might not have all of the conveniences of the United States and other countries, but it's still a country full of real people. You can easily buy things like hand wash, toilet paper, hair supplies, sunglasses, sandals, little treats and candies, school supplies-it's all there.
There is no reason to overload yourself. When you get in country, you will find it is extremely HOT and INCONVENIENT to carry all that crap around and onto chicken buses and through the streets and desvios. Also, the more you are carrying, the more you are a target for theft and robbery-a growing problem in all areas of Honduras.
Check out this Honduras Packing List. This wiki has been compiled and updated by Peace Corps Volunteers (who are always in the know when it comes to the country they serve in) and is a great resource.
Remember-Pack light! Pack smart!
You can get almost everything you need in Honduras. It might not have all of the conveniences of the United States and other countries, but it's still a country full of real people. You can easily buy things like hand wash, toilet paper, hair supplies, sunglasses, sandals, little treats and candies, school supplies-it's all there.
There is no reason to overload yourself. When you get in country, you will find it is extremely HOT and INCONVENIENT to carry all that crap around and onto chicken buses and through the streets and desvios. Also, the more you are carrying, the more you are a target for theft and robbery-a growing problem in all areas of Honduras.
Check out this Honduras Packing List. This wiki has been compiled and updated by Peace Corps Volunteers (who are always in the know when it comes to the country they serve in) and is a great resource.
Remember-Pack light! Pack smart!
Proper Footwear
With the nature of what our work was-walking around the village all day-rain or dust- climbing around in the coffee and cabbage farms, being in and out of people's houses all day-in the end we each had 3 pairs of shoes that were actually used on a regular basis.
A. Teva Sandals (or Chacos).
Tevas
Chacos
We had Tevas only because we couldn't afford Chacos at the time of our departure from the states. There are a number of different opinions on both brands of sandals and which is better. My Tevas cost me 50 dollars USD and lasted the entire 2 1/2 years.
1. They were easily washable with dish soap or any other kind of soap available, and dried rather quickly.
2. They were comfortable and never rubbed or left blisters on my feet from so much walking.
3. Easily adjustable.
4. The velcro never wore out.
5. They have a decently thick sole that I never felt rocks through-and they were great for playing in the ocean or waterfalls, rivers-or just mud.
They really were the most comfortable sandals I've ever had.
Chacos seemed to be even more popular than their Teva counterparts by travelers and volunteers of all types. I never own these, but they seemed just as nice, if not nicer than Tevas. Also, with Chacos the soles can be replaced if they go bad. The only drawback was this: If you plan to spend a long amount of time in Honduras and your sandals go bad and need replacement, you can send them back to company-but it will cost you half the price of the sandals to mail the package.
Especially if you aren't earning dollars.
Also, you have to wait to have them mailed back. Overall, communication won't be the easiest. Friends we had while in Honduras had their Chaco soles go bad, and basically gave up in the end and bought a new pair when they went home for Christmas, or had a friend or family member bring a new pair 3/4 of the way through their service/trip.
Both sandals are great and owning a pair is extremely handy and worth the money in the end.
B. Hiking Shoes or Good Tennis Shoes
Merrells
We both had a pair of Merrells, but they sometimes got a little heavy for me. And they also got really hot. It was nice that they were water-proof, but this didn't really help us much when stepping into a foot deep mud puddle. Having to wade through mini rivers in the forest was hard with hiking shoes, too. They were slippery on moss and rocks and hard to dry out later.
If you don't think you'll be doing too many hard core activities, you can probably not bring hiking boots and get away with just a good pair of sandals for a leisurely stroll through the forest or anything else for that matter. It will cost less, and be less for you to carry from Hostel to Hostel.
If you really plan to do some more heavy duty hiking and know you will be hiking in an area with scorpions or snakes or something, then closed toed shoes are a must. Also, if you plan to hike any volcanoes in neighboring Guatemala or Nicaragua, you will need shoes like this-there aren't many regulations to climb active volcanoes in Central America (as you can read in later posts) but this is their one rule and for good reason. Shoes or boots will protect your feet from getting burned.
C. Flip-flops
Flip-flops
These are cheap and plentiful in almost every Honduran or Central American village everywhere.
They will cost you a dollar, and are an absolute necessity for wearing in dirty hostel and hotel showers, for the beach or the pool, on the boat, in the back yard washing laundry, or even just for running down the street to buy breakfast from your nearest neighbor's pulperia (corner store).
Due to rocks and dusty floors and the general dirtiness of everything in the dry season AND the rainy season, having something on your feet most of the time is just smart considering the amount of parasites that can be caught from walking barefoot in the dirt.
Whether you bring them with you, or buy them when you get here, make sure to keep a couple pairs around.
A. Teva Sandals (or Chacos).
Tevas
ChacosWe had Tevas only because we couldn't afford Chacos at the time of our departure from the states. There are a number of different opinions on both brands of sandals and which is better. My Tevas cost me 50 dollars USD and lasted the entire 2 1/2 years.
1. They were easily washable with dish soap or any other kind of soap available, and dried rather quickly.
2. They were comfortable and never rubbed or left blisters on my feet from so much walking.
3. Easily adjustable.
4. The velcro never wore out.
5. They have a decently thick sole that I never felt rocks through-and they were great for playing in the ocean or waterfalls, rivers-or just mud.
They really were the most comfortable sandals I've ever had.
Chacos seemed to be even more popular than their Teva counterparts by travelers and volunteers of all types. I never own these, but they seemed just as nice, if not nicer than Tevas. Also, with Chacos the soles can be replaced if they go bad. The only drawback was this: If you plan to spend a long amount of time in Honduras and your sandals go bad and need replacement, you can send them back to company-but it will cost you half the price of the sandals to mail the package.
Especially if you aren't earning dollars.
Also, you have to wait to have them mailed back. Overall, communication won't be the easiest. Friends we had while in Honduras had their Chaco soles go bad, and basically gave up in the end and bought a new pair when they went home for Christmas, or had a friend or family member bring a new pair 3/4 of the way through their service/trip.
Both sandals are great and owning a pair is extremely handy and worth the money in the end.
B. Hiking Shoes or Good Tennis Shoes
MerrellsWe both had a pair of Merrells, but they sometimes got a little heavy for me. And they also got really hot. It was nice that they were water-proof, but this didn't really help us much when stepping into a foot deep mud puddle. Having to wade through mini rivers in the forest was hard with hiking shoes, too. They were slippery on moss and rocks and hard to dry out later.
If you don't think you'll be doing too many hard core activities, you can probably not bring hiking boots and get away with just a good pair of sandals for a leisurely stroll through the forest or anything else for that matter. It will cost less, and be less for you to carry from Hostel to Hostel.
If you really plan to do some more heavy duty hiking and know you will be hiking in an area with scorpions or snakes or something, then closed toed shoes are a must. Also, if you plan to hike any volcanoes in neighboring Guatemala or Nicaragua, you will need shoes like this-there aren't many regulations to climb active volcanoes in Central America (as you can read in later posts) but this is their one rule and for good reason. Shoes or boots will protect your feet from getting burned.
C. Flip-flops
Flip-flopsThese are cheap and plentiful in almost every Honduran or Central American village everywhere.
They will cost you a dollar, and are an absolute necessity for wearing in dirty hostel and hotel showers, for the beach or the pool, on the boat, in the back yard washing laundry, or even just for running down the street to buy breakfast from your nearest neighbor's pulperia (corner store).
Due to rocks and dusty floors and the general dirtiness of everything in the dry season AND the rainy season, having something on your feet most of the time is just smart considering the amount of parasites that can be caught from walking barefoot in the dirt.
Whether you bring them with you, or buy them when you get here, make sure to keep a couple pairs around.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
The last supper
We leave in 12 hours. I can't really sleep, so I'm just putzing around on the computer. Tonight was a nice night.
My mom and dad made my favorite dinner! Dumplings! I savored every last bite. I also decided that I needed to take a bubble bath in my parent's new bathroom whirlpool tub. Unfortunately, I over loaded the tub with bubble bath and flooded the bathroom. It was like bathing in a room full of Lemon meringue, but not getting to bathe, and having to clean it all up instead.
We are off. We will update as soon as we can! Take care everyone.
-C
My mom and dad made my favorite dinner! Dumplings! I savored every last bite. I also decided that I needed to take a bubble bath in my parent's new bathroom whirlpool tub. Unfortunately, I over loaded the tub with bubble bath and flooded the bathroom. It was like bathing in a room full of Lemon meringue, but not getting to bathe, and having to clean it all up instead.
We are off. We will update as soon as we can! Take care everyone.
-C
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Weather
(This post has been added to since our return)
The weather in Honduras really seems to depend on where in the country you visit/live in. There is a 6 month dry season and a 6 month rainy season.
On the North Coast, the rainy season is longer-more like 8 months...it rains more often there due to the ocean. It is also very hot and humid on the north coast (yeah-like 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity).
It's also hot in the South, all around the department of Choluteca. It's a more dry heat here, and dusty and brown. Not like the rainforests of the North Coast at all. It's more like the desert. And conserving fresh water it very important.
The Wild East (the Olancho region) is also hot. Are you starting to see the pattern here? Here you will find pine forests and dry land in the mountains.
Out West and nearing El Salvador and Guatemala, the country turns very mountainous. Here is where it starts to cool down. The higher in the mountains you go, the colder it gets, and in some areas, it gets so cold at night that there is even frost (La Esperanza). Now, when you come prepared to travel Honduras and know that most of the country is relatively warm, please take care to pack a fleece for those colder nights in the mountains if you plan to spend time in these regions.
We lived near Lago de Yahoa, the only lake in the country (well, it is a pretty small country). It was pretty warm and humid around these parts, but at night it could get as low as the 60s, and when you dont have things like sweatshirts or indoor heating and the house is made of brick walls and cement floors, this can be colder than you might expect. I had to have my parents mail me down a fleece and some wool socks! It also rains more often near the Lake, as it has its own little eco-system. When it rained like this, I was happy to have my Teva sandals. They were easy to wash the mud off of and better than walking around in muddy wet tennis shoes all day.
All in all Honduras is pretty warm and semi-tropical with high humidity.
The weather in Honduras really seems to depend on where in the country you visit/live in. There is a 6 month dry season and a 6 month rainy season.
On the North Coast, the rainy season is longer-more like 8 months...it rains more often there due to the ocean. It is also very hot and humid on the north coast (yeah-like 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity).
It's also hot in the South, all around the department of Choluteca. It's a more dry heat here, and dusty and brown. Not like the rainforests of the North Coast at all. It's more like the desert. And conserving fresh water it very important.
The Wild East (the Olancho region) is also hot. Are you starting to see the pattern here? Here you will find pine forests and dry land in the mountains.
Out West and nearing El Salvador and Guatemala, the country turns very mountainous. Here is where it starts to cool down. The higher in the mountains you go, the colder it gets, and in some areas, it gets so cold at night that there is even frost (La Esperanza). Now, when you come prepared to travel Honduras and know that most of the country is relatively warm, please take care to pack a fleece for those colder nights in the mountains if you plan to spend time in these regions.
We lived near Lago de Yahoa, the only lake in the country (well, it is a pretty small country). It was pretty warm and humid around these parts, but at night it could get as low as the 60s, and when you dont have things like sweatshirts or indoor heating and the house is made of brick walls and cement floors, this can be colder than you might expect. I had to have my parents mail me down a fleece and some wool socks! It also rains more often near the Lake, as it has its own little eco-system. When it rained like this, I was happy to have my Teva sandals. They were easy to wash the mud off of and better than walking around in muddy wet tennis shoes all day.
All in all Honduras is pretty warm and semi-tropical with high humidity.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Address Information/ Sending Packages
(This post has been slightly edited since our return. After 2 1/2 years of trying to get packages, we learned a few tricks to get past the corrupt and quite slow Honduran Postal Service.)
Our mailing address until further notice is:
PCV __ and __
Voluntarios del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3158
Teguciagalpa, Honduras
America Central
This is the address to the main Peace Corps office in Tegucigalpa, where most volunteers would travel to pick up any mail ever few months.
Addresses in most smaller Honduran villages and even some of the larger cities are hardly like the typical U.S. address-or even like the address above, which was in the capital.
A typical addy is more like this: Mr. So and So
The Main Street in Town
3 houses up from Miss Tina's store on the Right
The house with the chickens and the blue paint
Las Vegas (city) Santa Barbara (department)
Honduras
Central America
This is really how the addresses end up looking. In a lot of Honduran towns there will be a lady who is hired by the mayor of that town to run a village 'Post Office'. Often times this is run right out of her house- and open 8-3 with a 2 hour break from 12:00-2:00 for lunch (2 hours you say? That's a long break-get used to it-sometimes it turns into 3 or 4 hours). Sometimes the Mail lady might not decide to open again for 2 days.
Our Mail Lady in Las Vegas said she was open Monday through Friday. In the end it was usually Tuesday- Thursday, with Wedneday being a 'half day'. Just because she felt like it. She got paid by the mayor's office either way...
The mail system is corrupt. Though we lucked out and never had any major issues other than a lost package (that showed up 3 months later), we have heard countless stories of problems-Mail workers going through packages and taking anything of value and sending empty packages, packages that mysteriously go missing, never to be seen again, Birthday cards sent with money taken out.
Here's what it comes down to-if a letter or package has ANYTHING worth money, it's probably not safe to go through Honduran Post. It's truly a crap shoot. We also knew someone who had cash and a digital camera sent down-it made it fine.
In our humble opinion though, anything worth value is best left to be brought down with a friend or family member and handed to you directly. Just to be safe.
When you are going to be receiving packages, here are some helpful tips to make sure it makes it to you in one, unopened piece:
Write things like, " Cosas Religiosas" (Religious Artifacts) or " Materiales Educativos" (Educational Materials?. This will keep people from tampering with your stuff. If you’d like, you can write in Red Sharpie or draw a cross (Honduras is a very religious country), as this will also deter thieves. Chances are slim that the Postal Workers are going to tamper with a package with crosses on it, as it could be for a mission or meant for a church. Nobody will want to mess with that.
Our mailing address until further notice is:
PCV __ and __
Voluntarios del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3158
Teguciagalpa, Honduras
America Central
This is the address to the main Peace Corps office in Tegucigalpa, where most volunteers would travel to pick up any mail ever few months.
Addresses in most smaller Honduran villages and even some of the larger cities are hardly like the typical U.S. address-or even like the address above, which was in the capital.
A typical addy is more like this: Mr. So and So
The Main Street in Town
3 houses up from Miss Tina's store on the Right
The house with the chickens and the blue paint
Las Vegas (city) Santa Barbara (department)
Honduras
Central America
This is really how the addresses end up looking. In a lot of Honduran towns there will be a lady who is hired by the mayor of that town to run a village 'Post Office'. Often times this is run right out of her house- and open 8-3 with a 2 hour break from 12:00-2:00 for lunch (2 hours you say? That's a long break-get used to it-sometimes it turns into 3 or 4 hours). Sometimes the Mail lady might not decide to open again for 2 days.
Our Mail Lady in Las Vegas said she was open Monday through Friday. In the end it was usually Tuesday- Thursday, with Wedneday being a 'half day'. Just because she felt like it. She got paid by the mayor's office either way...
The mail system is corrupt. Though we lucked out and never had any major issues other than a lost package (that showed up 3 months later), we have heard countless stories of problems-Mail workers going through packages and taking anything of value and sending empty packages, packages that mysteriously go missing, never to be seen again, Birthday cards sent with money taken out.
Here's what it comes down to-if a letter or package has ANYTHING worth money, it's probably not safe to go through Honduran Post. It's truly a crap shoot. We also knew someone who had cash and a digital camera sent down-it made it fine.
In our humble opinion though, anything worth value is best left to be brought down with a friend or family member and handed to you directly. Just to be safe.
When you are going to be receiving packages, here are some helpful tips to make sure it makes it to you in one, unopened piece:
Write things like, " Cosas Religiosas" (Religious Artifacts) or " Materiales Educativos" (Educational Materials?. This will keep people from tampering with your stuff. If you’d like, you can write in Red Sharpie or draw a cross (Honduras is a very religious country), as this will also deter thieves. Chances are slim that the Postal Workers are going to tamper with a package with crosses on it, as it could be for a mission or meant for a church. Nobody will want to mess with that.
Sending things Fedex, UPS or DHL is basically pointless. It all goes through the 2 main post offices (in San Pedro Sula or Tegucipalpa) and is then directed to the destined Department and seperated by region and then city or village. It will take just as long to get to you (about 3 weeks) as regular post.
One tip that we did utilize while we were living in Honduras was to have family and friends number all packages that they sent down. This way we knew if one had gone missing or not, and if it did, we could go to the mail lady and ask her to look for the package (or pay her a little extra out of our pockets to make sure it got to us when she found it).
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
First post
Well, this is my first attempt at trying to post a picture and write a post on our new Honduras blog. Seems easy enough.
Anyhow, as many of you know, Simon and I are leaving soon. PC sent us the tickets last week-it's all official. We fly out of Eau Claire Regional Airport to Minneapolis International to Washington DC, where we will have a couple days of orientation and such at the Doubletree Hotel, and on the 21st we officially fly out of DC-to Miami-to Tegucigalpa, Honduras for pre-service training (3 months of language, culture, safety and other types of things we need to learn).
We sold our car, paid off immediate debts and will be leaving our jobs in 2 weeks and are almost ready to leave our families and friends for 2 1/2 years. (Note: The PC set up our student loan payments out of the money that went into our final end of service allowance. We would get 225 bucks a month that we never saw. At the end service, you get like 5 grand to help get you back on your feet again. We used this to pay those pesky loans so we wouldn't have to worry about them for a couple of years, otherwise we would have needed to have this money in a bank account and ready to be pulled out automatically for 2 years. We didn't want that.
If you decide to go to Honduras for an extended period of time, however, it might be a good idea to have something like this set up if you have loans, as the Honduran Lempira is only 19 to 1 USD.
It is unknown at this point how often we will have internet access, but one of us will try to post whenever possible. Also, if you have specific things to chat about or want more in depth (location etc.) information please email us. After this posting will be a post called "Address Information" or whatever... Please use this information to send us tasty treats and fun things-ie-books, cds, tapes, lots of pictures, etc. Just make sure to follow the guidelines we emphasized in that post.
We will not be posting anything TOO personal, as we will soon offically be associated with the government. Everything posted on this blog has to be appropriate and non-offensive, therefore, I'm sure you'll be receiving many emails since most of our antics are far from appropriate. As I said, please send emails, or better yet, snail mail. This will take about 3 weeks to get to us from the U.S. but it's so much more exciting to get real mail.
That's all I have for now.
Anyhow, as many of you know, Simon and I are leaving soon. PC sent us the tickets last week-it's all official. We fly out of Eau Claire Regional Airport to Minneapolis International to Washington DC, where we will have a couple days of orientation and such at the Doubletree Hotel, and on the 21st we officially fly out of DC-to Miami-to Tegucigalpa, Honduras for pre-service training (3 months of language, culture, safety and other types of things we need to learn).
We sold our car, paid off immediate debts and will be leaving our jobs in 2 weeks and are almost ready to leave our families and friends for 2 1/2 years. (Note: The PC set up our student loan payments out of the money that went into our final end of service allowance. We would get 225 bucks a month that we never saw. At the end service, you get like 5 grand to help get you back on your feet again. We used this to pay those pesky loans so we wouldn't have to worry about them for a couple of years, otherwise we would have needed to have this money in a bank account and ready to be pulled out automatically for 2 years. We didn't want that.
If you decide to go to Honduras for an extended period of time, however, it might be a good idea to have something like this set up if you have loans, as the Honduran Lempira is only 19 to 1 USD.
It is unknown at this point how often we will have internet access, but one of us will try to post whenever possible. Also, if you have specific things to chat about or want more in depth (location etc.) information please email us. After this posting will be a post called "Address Information" or whatever... Please use this information to send us tasty treats and fun things-ie-books, cds, tapes, lots of pictures, etc. Just make sure to follow the guidelines we emphasized in that post.
We will not be posting anything TOO personal, as we will soon offically be associated with the government. Everything posted on this blog has to be appropriate and non-offensive, therefore, I'm sure you'll be receiving many emails since most of our antics are far from appropriate. As I said, please send emails, or better yet, snail mail. This will take about 3 weeks to get to us from the U.S. but it's so much more exciting to get real mail.
That's all I have for now.
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