Last July when my cousin Ian came to visit, we went to visit Cayos Cuchinos, small islands off the north coast of Honduras. On the boat ride over there I met a woman named Perla and hit it off with her daughter, who goes to university in the states and has been to Ian’s hometown of Ashtebula, Ohio. Well, it turns out that Perla works with Garifuna youth from the north coast and HIV prevention, and so after months of talking we managed to put together three workshops with Garifuna youth, training over 60 of them with the Peace Corps Honduras Men’s Health methodology “Here Among Us”. It was a wonderful experience to go to Tela and Ceiba on the north coast and work with both the staff of her organization as well as the youth participants. The participants from the first workshop in Tela have all been part of youth theater groups for years and were full of energy, knowledge and spirit. I can honestly say it was the best group we have ever worked with and the activities have never run better.

The second set of workshops we did in Ceiba was with guys who hadn’t been part of the theater groups for as long and there was a marked difference. They were younger and more immature and it really showed us what a large impact the theater groups can make on the lives of these youth.

One of the goals of the Men’s Health Initiative is to train more Honduran NGOs and GOs in the “Here Among Us” methodology, so that it can grow beyond Peace Corps. So, as Peace Corps volunteers it was a big accomplishment to work with another organization to plan a large scale training in which Peace Corps didn’t pay for a thing. The participants liked it, we had fun, and the organization seemed to love it, so it was an all around success.

Larry, Rene, me, Chris

Members of the Rotary group from Bemidji, Minnesota have been visiting Santa Barbara, Honduras for the past twenty years. During my service I have had the honor of working with them during four of their visits. This year they brought down thirty people, including dentists, a construction team, a urologist, a gastroenterologist and miscellaneous others. As the Peace Corps volunteer living in Santa Barbara, I set up all the translators and then worked with the group while they were here for over a week. I actually had one of the easiest jobs translating for Dr. Ted Will. I call him the MC of the group and he is now retired after years of coming to do good in Santa Barbara. So, I basically just acted as his assistant and we both went around and supervised, making sure everything was going well. I feel that I have become a very good supervisor during my time here in Honduras.

While with Ted I actually got to drop in on surgery and endoscopy and see some cool stuff.

I would say the prize goes to the worm they found in a young boys appendix. He had an appendicitis, so they performed an appendectomy and when they opened it up found what had caused the problem.

The appendix is on the left and the worm is on the right.

I also got to see endoscopies (the insides entering through the mouth) and colonoscopies (entering through the other end).

Another important part of the medical brigade was the teaching that many of the doctors did. One of the ER doctors gave a number of talks about airway management and stabilization to residents at the hospital and the firemen in town. One doctor gave a talk about foot care for diabetic patients and another gave a lecture on gastric pathology to all the doctors at the hospital. In addition to their formal lectures, the doctors from Minnesota worked side by side with Honduran doctors throughout their entire visit, teaching as they worked.

In addition to the work in the hospital and the dental and construction work done in the rural communities surrounding Santa Barbara the group also spent a day at the prison. Since I have been working with the prisoners over the past year, I helped coordinate a visit by the dentists to the prison to pull teeth. Apparently the dental team was a little apprehensive about visiting the prison, but at the end of the day I think they all really enjoyed the experience and came away with a positive impression.

Thanks to the leaders and the guards that I work with helping out, everything was perfectly organized and the dentists saw over 50 people in one day.

In addition to the dentists, the construction team purchased materials to build new stoves and chimneys in the prison kitchen. Previously they were cooking over open fires in completely enclosed rooms, causing all sorts of health problems for those who work in the kitchen. When I visited it last year I could hardly see after 10 minutes, I can’t imagine working in there all day.

Kitchen before

One of the prisoners is a mason, so Minnesota just ordered the materials and he took charge from there.

Katie and I often gush about why we like the Minnesota Rotarians… Here is a top ten list:

1. They rent and drive their own cars

2. They learn Spanish

3. They feed us

4. They are patient

5. They are flexible

6. They know more people in Santa Barbara than we do

7. They come twice a year (once to plan and once to work)

8. They teach

9. They listen

10. They get it

Just days after the group from Minnesota left Peace Corps Volunteers from all over the country started arriving for Katie’s second annual b-day BBQ bash. Somehow over 25 people fit into Katie’s and my apartment as well as two empty “borrowed” apartments. We had tons of food, tons of friends and tons of fun.

On January 15th the monthly Honduran minimum wage was raised from 3,500 L to 5,500 L ($185 to $291). Of course this was done to raise the standard of living for poor Hondurans, but the hike had unintended consequences (that couldn’t have been that hard to foresee). Many businesses and organizations didn’t have enough money to cover the abrupt change and therefore laid employees off or shut down completely.

One especially sad example of this is the case of the IHNFA. The IHNFA is basically a day care center for children from economically challenged families. They all have parents, but they work during the day or for whatever reason cannot take care of their kids, so they send them to the IHNFA from 8 am to 4 pm, where they are taken care of and receive three meals, a bath and help with homework.

I started working with the older girls at the IHNFA last year through a program called “I Deserve” which teaches self-esteem, abstinence and decision making to young girls in order that they will decide to delay initiation of sexual relations. They are a tough group to work with but I had grown very fond of them and knew how important the IHNFA was to their livelihood. Unfortunately the minimum wage hike meant that there was no longer enough money to pay the 5 employees who work at the IHNFA and they made the sad decision to close. This not only meant that 5 people were out of work, it meant that about 60 kids were on the streets and not being fed.

About a month after the day care closed they had a meeting with the parents and some community leaders to brainstorm solutions to raise money. One of the problems is that the day care is not its own recognized institution, so it has less power to solicit donations and funding. It receives $600 a month from Reach International, an Adventist organization, and must ask for donations from the community to cover the rest of the monthly operating expenses ($3,070). During the meeting they talked about the negative impact that the closing of the day care has had on the children that rely on it and that one of the girls even tried to kill herself. She is 14 and the oldest of 6 kids and has never been to school, so not having the day care to go to during the day means that she has nothing to do. She took 25 pills that she found in her house and was then taken to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. Luckily she survived and was taken out of her home to live in the orphanage just outside of town also run by Reach International.

Tanya and me at the orphanage

During my sessions with the girls, she was always the most helpful to me, hanging around before and after to help me set up. She would write in her diary each week about her sadness and worry and then let me read it. Hearing about what happened to her really affected me and I became frustrated that there was no money to support this day care center that served a vital need when millions of dollars come in to Honduras every year. I had to leave the meeting early so I got up to leave and knew that if I said anything I would start crying. I tried to duck out without having to address the group but it didn’t work. They asked me if I wanted to say anything and I just nodded my head “no” while looking at the ground because the tears were already coming. They kept asking me and told me to stay around a while and then talked about how great I was for supporting the center. By the end I was sobbing and couldn’t say anything or do anything to stop it. I just looked at my feet and then left trying to smile goodbye.

There have really not been that many things in Honduras over the past two years that have touched me deeply but two of them have involved the IHNFA. I can honestly say that a lot of money comes to Honduras and a lot of it gets wasted, but the money spent on this day care is money well spent and it makes me feel impotent to know how much money there is and that this place that really needs it is not getting it.

The day care is now opened again, but only from 11 am to 3 pm. I have two more weeks in my 14 week “I Deserve” program.

Agua Pura staff, Maine Rotarians and filter workshop workers at the filter workshop

Agua Pura para el Mundo (Pure Water for the World), my counterpart organization, receives its funding from grant money raised by various Rotary Clubs in Maine and other states, then matched by Rotary International. Every six months members of the head Rotary Club from Maine come to Santa Barbara to visit the project, meet with local Rotarians and help us with the project. The trip is always productive and allows us to deal with things that can’t necessarily happen over e-mail. This year they came with a group of five to spend the week visiting the filter factory, installing filters, giving deparasiting medicine and checking up on filters already installed. In addition to that, they donated medicine and supplies to the hospital and helped Nineth review the finances and project goals.

Me in El Dorado with Community Agents

One of the big things that needed to get done during their visit was a meeting with the local Rotarians on the filter committee. I was supposed to be the translator but I only lasted about five minutes. Just as soon as I sat down on of the Rotarians asked about something written on our white board in the office (we has listed who was lending us cars and drivers to take the group to the communities). I mentioned that Medicos del Mundo (Doctors of the World) was very generous to lend us their SUV with driver for three days. He responded back that he was also very generous to lend two of his cars for two days (although at the last minute he canceled and we had to find cars at 11 pm the night before…). To anybody else that comment wouldn’t have seemed like a big deal, but to me it encompasses all that I dislike about those men. He needed to feel good about himself and get credit for all that he was doing and didn’t even care that I had gotten another organization that has nothing to do with us to lend us their car and driver for three days. It really got to me and I left the room and started crying. I eventually called Nineth out and told her I couldn’t do it because I knew that the meeting would just get worse and I would just get more upset. I felt selfish ditching Nineth like that because she didn’t have the option to leave, while I did. In the end it was a horrible meeting for Nineth, who called me afterward crying. I felt guilty that I hadn’t been there to support her. She is so strong and puts up with so much disrespect; I hope I never have to deal with a situation like that.

Just a few days later we attended the weekly Rotary Club meeting. Nineth and I were there until 11 pm trying to organize cars, drivers and translators for the following day. When we finally finished we sat down with the Rotarians still hanging around. The same men that give Nineth and I such a hard time were teasing and flirting with us and just being incredibly jolly. We stayed until 1 am and had a wonderful time laughing like crazy. It really amazes me how differently people can act and how people who despise each other can act like the best of friends. In the end, although working with them hasn’t been pleasant, it sure has taught me a lot about life.

Maine Rotarians, Nineth and me at the Santa Barbara Rotary meeting

Like Minnesota, Maine has had some experience in Honduras and has kinda figured out how things work and they are a pleasant group to host. Well, half way through the week a group of 13 from Michigan (including 3 from Canada) arrived in Santa Barbara. They had contributed to the Agua Pura matching grant and were also interested in starting a new water filter project or funding one in Santa Barbara when the current grant is up, so they came to check it out. Individually, the members of the group were all very interesting and kind but as a group they were a handful. It seems like whenever large groups get together, go to a country they don’t know, in a language they don’t know, they loose all reasoning abilities. I felt like a travel agent, tour guide and babysitter. They didn’t rent cars and only one of them spoke Spanish so we had to find cars, drivers and translators for them as well as set up their transport out of Santa Barbara. It was a lot of work but they all expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the help I gave them, which was nice. They wanted to give me a thank you gift for all my work but I really couldn’t think of anything I wanted since I will be home in a month and can have whatever I want. So, finally I told them that I would like them to donate to Agua Pura and they ended up giving $185!

Rotary members from Maine, Michigan and Canada

Being around the group helped me appreciate the perspective I have gained being in the Peace Corps. Many people who come down have good intentions but can be naïve. People say things like “We are going to transform this country” and “Once we fix these people…”. Hearing things like that always makes me a little self-conscious about being an American and aware of our altruistic yet sometimes arrogant attitudes.

After two years of sharing a site with Katie she is leaving! We both often wonder how our Peace Corps experience would have been different if we had been in a site alone. Would we have made more Honduran friends, would our Spanish be better, would we be lonely? Who knows how things would have been different, but I do know that Katie and I have been perfect site mates, that we get along amazingly (thanks to having separate apartments) and that we have been wonderful supports for each other throughout these two years. I think we have actually made each other better listeners as well. And my final crowning achievement is that I have (almost) converted her into a vegetarian!

Molly, another volunteer in the department of Santa Barbara, is also leaving a month early, so we had a joint despedida (going away party) for them. The new Peace Corps trainees that arrived in Honduras just three weeks ago also happened to be doing their volunteer visit (to see what volunteer life is like) so they joined us for the party and made it a bienvenida/despedida. It was also St. Patrick’s day, so that just added to the fun.

Now that I have just over a month left of service I am starting to wrap up my projects and start my Peace Corps paperwork to leave. One of the fun things we do is called a Close of Service Survey about our good and not so good memories of Peace Corps. Here is mine, although some of it may not make much sense…

Nicknames: Ali, Alise

Biggest Accomplishment: Working myself out of a job with my counterpart

Biggest Disappointment: That I didn’t get the super hard core Peace Corps experience I expected

Biggest Regret: That I spent a large part of my time working with a group of people I didn’t like

Things you will miss most: Wearing flip flops every day and my flexible work schedule

Things you will miss least: Machismo

Biggest Irony: That I am in a Latin county and I miss burritos and salsa dancing from the states

Worst Illness: When my foot swelled up like a watermelon from an ant bite

Biggest Freak-out: When I yelled at the Rotarians for not supporting us enough

Biggest fear during PC: I don’t really remember being scared…

Most useful thing I brought: My computer

Least useful thing I brought: Therma Rest (haven’t used it once)

Favorite activity I did when bored: I was never really bored…

Favorite Hondureñismo: Fijese que…, Ya viene…, Cheque

Greatest lie I told at my site: I was pretty honest about everything

Favorite Honduran Inquiry: “But you make money in the states too, right?”

Best Honduran Gesture: Gotta be the lip point

Favorite CD/Song during my service: Isabella

Favorite books during service: Eat, Pray, Love and of course all 7 Harry Potter books in Spanish

Favorite Honduran fashion: Wearing dresses that should actually be shirts.

Best jalon: I was driven from my apartment to the PC office in Teguc by the driver of an Israeli engineer, free of charge in a nice SUV.

Worst jalon: In the back of a truck full of pineapples

Best bus ride: From Teguc to Santa Barbara with my grandfather, he loved the scenery

Worst bus ride: Anything on the north coast in the summer

Favorite food: Baleadas, tamalitos

Worst thing I ate: Nance

Untrue fact told to you as an undeniable truth: That a little girl got a sty from watching a chicken poop

You know you’ve been in Hn too long when: You request reggaeton

I never thought I would: Use an umbrella when it is not raining

If I had to do it all over again I: would

Favorite piropo: I hate them all

Favorite Ropa Americana t-shirt: Anything that involves “princess” on an old campesino man

Favorite animal story: Horse back riding through the campo on my volunteer visit

Best habit acquired: Practicing yoga on my own

Worst habit acquired: Referring to people as “el gordo” or “el negro”

Things you missed most from the U.S.: Salsa dancing

Things you missed least from the U.S.: Studying

Hn Highlights: Visiting Cayos Cuchinos

Things you wish you’d known when you signed up: That I wouldn’t be in a hut in the middle of nowhere

Best advice for fellow PCVs: “Act as if the future of the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that your actions make any difference.” -Buddhist advice

Finishing Peace Corps feels much like graduating from college; everyone is asking you what you will do next. Some are applying for grad school, some are looking for jobs, and some have no clue and just plan to move back in with their parents (I fall into the third category). Some of you may have heard a little rumor that I would be going to Africa next year to extend my Peace Corps service…Well, I did actually apply to extend to Africa for one year but due to budget issues they cannot accept transfers at this time (or in the foreseeable future). So, what now? Every year USAID (United States Agency for international Development) offers two internship positions in the Strategic and Program Support Office in Tegucigalpa. The positions are only available to Peace Corps Volunteers from Honduras who have finished their service so I am considering applying to gain more experience in international development. We shall see…

Throughout service volunteers come up with grand plans to travel through all of South America or to travel back to the US by land, but one by one they loose steam and many of my friends have decided just to fly straight home without traveling afterward. I personally have wavered back and forth a great deal. After my Guatemala trip I was totally inspired to travel afterward, but after my Nicaragua/Costa Rica trip I was sick of all of Central America and didn’t want anything more to do with it. Then after being re-inspired by the COS Conference I am now interested in traveling again. So, regardless of whether I stay in Honduras or not I will have a few months off to travel and see family. I plan to go from Honduras through northern Guatemala, Belize and Mexico, and then fly home from Cancun. Sadly, all of my friends are either leaving early or flying straight home so I will be traveling by myself. Shortly after I arrive I will be having a welcome home party, so get ready for Honduran food, meringue & reggaeton music and Jeopardy to see how well you have been keeping up with my blog.

If I do not stay in Honduras with USAID I will move back to Cleveland to live with my parents. Although many people my age shutter at the idea of moving back in with the folks, I have no shame and love living with my parents, can’t wait to spend time with them and be back in Cleveland (although I think I will have to do something about the winter issue). Maybe I will go to India…When I graduated from college my parents gave me a wonderful gift; a plane ticket to anywhere in the world. I have been thinking about how best to use it and think that I may take advantage of it to go to India. I have been practicing yoga for a while and in the past have wanted to go to India to practice yoga. In Costa Rica our yoga instructor mentioned how cheap the teacher trainings are and since then I have been considering the possibility of going to study and getting certified as a yoga instructor. It would be nice if I could coordinate that with winter in Cleveland because I would really like to avoid that if at all possible.

Tegucigalpa, India, Cleveland…who knows where I will end up next year. On the other hand, I am pretty sure I want to go to grad school in Public Health Administration the following year, so wherever I am, I will be researching schools (in warm climates) and applying for fall 2010.

I really don’t know what I will be doing next and I am totally okay with that. I am excited for whatever my future brings and know that regardless I will make the best of it.

COS stands for Close of Service (yet another Peace Corps acronym) and refers to the process of finishing a term as a Peace Corps volunteer, including final report writing, administrative procedures and medical clearance. In January we had our COS Conference to start this process and help prepare us for the culture shock that is sure to hit us after we leave Peace Corps. I actually think it was one of the most useful Peace Corps conferences that we have had in the past two years and it did wonders to bring me out of a bitter slump.

36 volunteers (out of an original 51) showed up at the two day conference to talk about future job opportunities, resumes and interviewing skills, hear from RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) and learn that we will have to poop in a cup three days in a row just to make sure we have no parasites before we leave Honduras. The wife of a RPCV living in Honduras came to talk to us about all of the skills we have acquired and honed in Honduras and how to sell them to a future employer. We talked about soft, hard and transferable skills, such as patience, flexibility, cultural sensitivity (soft), Spanish language proficiency, grant writing, manual development (hard) and facilitating groups, planning and budgeting (transferable skills). Thinking about everything we have accomplished and learned here made me feel very satisfied about my time here and also excited about how I can use the skills learned here in future jobs. Speaking of future jobs…

I arrived back in Honduras without trouble and spent just a few days in Santa Barbara before I left again to go to our Close of Service (COS) Conference. It was nice to be back in my own home in Santa Barbara but I was also feeling a little sick of being in Central America and just wanted to be done with my service and go home. Not to mention that I was actually physically sick as well. I returned home with a horrible sore throat and then came down with pink eye a few days after I got home. Luckily my little slump only lasted a few days because the COS conference really helped change my attitude and antibiotics cleared up my ailments.

My parents arrived about two hours before me and were already at the Pura Vida hotel in Alajuela waiting for me. I was so excited to see them that I was almost crying. It has been just over a year since I had last been with them and I couldn’t wait. I got to the hotel and the owner showed me to their room and I started cry as I walked with her and then burst out crying as soon as I saw them. I was so excited that it took me a minute to realize that my dad had a beard!

That night we had a wonderful dinner and then opened Christmas presents. I gave my parents a large plaque that says The O’Donnell Family to put over the front door and they gave me many wonderful things. Most notably my mom bought me 15 pairs of underwear which means I can throw away my old saggy underwear with holes and no elastic. I don’t think people are generally excited to get underwear for Christmas but I certainly was.

Puerto Viejo

The next day we took a 4.5 hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca a small town on the Caribbean coast near the Panamanian border. When we stepped off the bus we weren’t exactly impressed with what we saw. When I imagined Costa Rica I thought of incredible white sand beaches and all inclusive resorts…Well, let me just say that that is not what we got. We checked into Cashew Hill Lodge, owned by an American couple with four kids who moved to Costa Rica as self proclaimed political refugees. It is on a beautiful property with about 7 different houses, all very colorful and unique.

Then we walked around town pondering if we should stay in Puerto Viejo or leave the next day for the Pacific side and check into an all inclusive resort on a pristine beach. Actually, throughout our entire vacation we continued to ponder if we should cut our loses and go but in the end we stayed there the whole time and did enjoy ourselves although it wasn’t exactly what any of us expected.

Yoga

Once we got settled in we rented bikes and went in search of a yoga studio/instructor. The owners of the hotel put us in touch with an instructor named Ishmael and he ended coming to our house everyday to give private class to my parents and I. My mom and I have been practicing yoga for years and we have always tried to get my dad into it since he has a bad back, but it never seemed to work out before, so we were both overjoyed that we could all take class together. Ishmael was great and my dad liked it, so we all ended up happy.

Surfing

Another order of business was to set up surf lessons. We checked out a few places and then finally went with the son of the hotel owner. We got long, sort boards and started off on the beach with about 2 minutes of instruction and 2 minutes of practice popping up, then into the waves we went. The instructors basically held our boards, pushed us into the wave and yelled at us when to stand up. Beyond that, there wasn’t much teaching involved. I got up on my first try and both mom and dad were able to get up as well. Overall, it was fun but we were all a little frustrated that there was not more solid instruction. Whenever I asked how do I know which waves are good and when to go, my instructor just told me that I would feel it with time.

A few hours after our lesson the backs of my legs began to burn and I realized that somehow suntan lotion either didn’t get on the backs of my legs or it somehow came off…very curious. By nightime my legs hurt so badly I could barely move and I made my mom put wet towels on me and then Aloe Vera.

Originally I had told my dad I wanted to surf four times so I could really get in some practice, but my legs hurt so bad that I didn’t go again until the last day in Costa Rica.

Puerto Viejo is a town of only about 500 residents and a few thousand tourists. Most of them are young backpackers who come to surf and be hippies. No matter who they are they all dress with minimal clothing. The girls wear very short shorts, skirts of dresses and the boys wear board shorts. I personally enjoyed this since I haven’t worn shorts in Honduras for two years even when it is 40 degrees Celsius. However, the boys did something that boggled my mind. They would wear their board shorts so low that you could see their pubic hair in the front and their butt crack in the back. See photo below for example.

I asked a few guys about this and they just said it was the fashion and didn’t think it was odd at all. Hmmm…

Salsa

I had hoped to go out with the daughter of the hotel owners numerous nights but at first I was too exhausted and then after I burned my legs I was in too much pain. Luckily by Friday night I was finally ready to go out and went to a salsa club called Maritza with a live salsa band. My parents stayed with me at first and then once people started dancing they went home to go to bed (Although my dad came back an hour later to check on me). I was bored for about the first hour but finally I met some good salsa dancers and enjoyed the rest of my night.

The Beaches

The beach at Puerto Viejo didn’t exactly strike my parents and me as the most beautiful beaches we had ever seen (in fact the beaches at West Bay in Roatan, Honduras were much better). Fortunately, the beaches down the coast were beautiful so we visited a few of them. Cocles beach had great waves so we could watch people surf and play in the waves.

Cocles

Punta Uva was beautiful with white sandy beaches and fairly clear water.

Punta Uva

Towards the end of our trip we went to Manzanillo, a tiny town at the end of the road (literally) to go dolphin watching. Sherman, our guide, took us about 30 minutes down the coast towards Panama to a spot where the dolphins are.

They advertise an 80% chance of seeing dolphins because apparently the dolphins are pretty consistent. Luckily we were not part of the unlucky 20% who see nothing and saw tons of bottle nose and spotted dolphins. It was the first time I had ever seen dolphins swimming in the wild, so I was pretty excited.

When we finished with the dolphin watching we just relaxed on the beautiful beach at Manzaillo and Sherman cut up tangerines and watermelon for us.

Manzanillo

After we finished eating he did an amazing thing, which sadly I don’t think would ever happen in Honduras. He gathered up all of our trash, then he picked up some more trash that had been left nearby, then he walked about 50 meters to a trash can and threw it all away. I was personally blown away! My dad commented on it and he said “Yeah man, this my home, I got to take care of it.” Although that may seem like a very logical and simple mentality, unfortunately I have found few Hondurans that think the same way.

Sherman

The only thing we didn’t get out of our beach experiences was snorkeling. My dad had his heart set on it but everywhere we asked said the “sea was ugly” meaning that things were just too choppy to be able to see anything. After the dolphin tour my parents tried for a bit but we just weren’t there at the right time of year.

Our Tour with Delroy

Delroy and his wife Veronica own a macrobiotic vegetarian restaurant in Puerto Viejo and after eating there we decided to take a tour with Delroy. First, we stopped off at an iguana farm. The owners raise the iguanas and then let them into the wild because the population has been depleted mostly due to people hunting and eating them.

Then we talked to a proud BriBri man about his culture and history and bought some of the handicrafts that the rural BriBri communities make.

After that we took a hike through the jungle to a beautiful waterfall and my mom fell half way in trying to jump from one rock to a large tree trunk (I think she subconsciously did it on purpose).

Finally we finished the day with a tour of the cocoa (chocolate) making process. I was actually very impressed by the woman who ran it and her ability to concisely explain the process. We got to suck on cocoa beans right from the fruit, see the production process and then sample the finished product.

Time to go home

I actually left a few days before my parents since I didn’t have enough vacation days. Ironically my parents were ready to go home when I left and even tried to change their flight to leave early. Even though we did have a wonderful time the vacation turned out to be a little rougher than we expected. There were lots of bugs in the hotel (a crab scurried across our bathroom floor our first night), everything was a little damp (which causes mold), dad was attacked my mosquitoes and some unidentified creature that made his eye swell up and dad and I both got sick…and of course there was the face meets bottom of ocean incident

Notice he shaved his beard…it got itchy.

I realized that I have been living a rustic lifestyle for two years now and I have had my fill. I really just want to enjoy luxury and comfort, so I’ll have to keep that in mind for my next vacation.

Earthquake

A few days after we got to Costa Rica there was a 6.2 earthquake outside of San Jose, the capital city. We heard about it through the news because fortunately Puerto Viejo did not feel it and was in no way affected. Maura, my aunt, called our hotel to make sure we were okay and many friends asked about it when I got back (it was nice to know that people were thinking about us).

After almost two years in Honduras I had only visited one other Central American country so I decided that I needed to get a move on it. So after Christmas I headed to Nicaragua with a few Peace Corps friends and then to Costa Rica with my parents for a long vacation. Overall, it was wonderful to relax and see my parents but neither of the trips were exactly what I expected them to be.

When everybody left after Christmas I was incredibly bored and still had to wait over a week to see my parents. I called Mary, a fellow PCV, to come down to Santa Barbara and keep me company and then we headed to Teguc the next day. The following day we took a 6.5 hour bus ride to Managua, Nicaragua (the capital) on a luxury air conditioned bus (we were freezing!). Things went smoothly on the first leg of the trip, but when we tried to catch a cab to the next bus station the cab driver lied to us and tried to cheat us. First, he tried to overcharge us (which is to be expected) and told us we had to leave right away because the next buses were leaving. Then once we were in the taxi he told us that the buses weren’t leaving now because they were full of students and he would have to take us to another bus station that was farther away and would cost more. We didn’t buy it and he took us to the original terminal which was functioning just fine. The second we stepped out of the taxi the bus attendants instantly surrounded us and started grabbing our bags and arms telling us to come with them. We plowed ahead and got on a bus where the bus attendant then proceeded to charge me an extra fair because I had a bag (which they didn’t do on the way back, so I think he was just taking advantage of me being fresh of the bus). Needless to say, our first impression of Nicaragua was not a favorable one. I think the fact that we live here made it even more infuriating because I am not just some clueless tourist that doesn’t speak any Spanish that can be taken advantage of. It also infuriated me when they would try to speak English to me and quote prices in dollars (I told them I didn’t earn dollars and didn’t have any).

We arrived in Granada, a popular colonial tourist town about an hour outside of the capital, and met up with Kendra and Nick, two other PCVs, as well as Nick’s friend Nick (yes, they are both named Nick) from the states.

Our first activity was to take a very slow and crowded chicken bus to Catarina a nearby town to go to the mirador that overlooked the nearby lake and the city of Granda.

After that we contemplated going to another little town known for its arts and crafts but were too lazy. Instead we headed back to Granada and looked for a place to eat. As we were searching we ran into one of the Rotary members who visits Santa Barbara a couple times a year with a medical and construction brigade. Small world! So of course we sat down and had a “safety meeting” over burritos with him and his wife.

To celebrate New Year’s Eve we met up with some of Nick’s friends from the states and had a wonderful dinner at El Hotel Corazon, a brand new hotel in Granada that gives 100% of its profits to a local community organization. We also celebrated Nick’s birthday with a chocolate chip cookie cake.

Then we headed to El Club for dancing until the wee hours of the morning. Mary and I realized we have been in Honduras too long when we begged the DJ to change up the techo music and play reggaeton.

New Year’s day we had the brilliant idea of going to the lake to swim but once we got there we realized that our idea wasn’t unique and that the rest of Nicaragua also had the same idea. We had to walk along the bank of the lake for about 20 minutes just to find a rocky slopped spot to lay down our towels.

As we walked in Mary, Kendra and I realized that we were probably the only foreigners there and that about half of the men had tattoos. In Honduras, tattoos are quite taboo and often associated with gang membership, so we began to feel slightly unsafe. Luckily a kind Nicaragua later explained to us that tattoos don’t have the same stigma in Nicaragua and they are quite common. We all felt better after that.

We had planned to travel to Ometepe, an island in the middle of the lake formed by two adjoining volcanoes, but decided to stay in Granada because Mary was sick all over. Our hotel wasn’t very nice and we had a little tiff with the owner about the exchange rate (yet another guy trying to cheat us) so Kendra and I scouted around town to find a nicer hotel to stay at for the next two days (ie. AC, cable TV, pool, beds with no springs sticking out, etc.). We found a great place called Hotel Capricho and spent the next two days there laying by the pool and snuggled three in a bed watching TV in English.

Although we really didn’t get to see much of Nicaragua we all enjoyed just relaxing. As we have all been in Honduras for almost two years we are a little tired of it all and didn’t mind holing up in a hotel for a few days if it meant we didn’t have to deal with cat calls, sweating, trash on the streets and drunk men that small like urine sleeping on the stairs of the Catholic Church.

On January 4th Mary was feeling slightly better and she and Kendra headed down south to go to the beach while I headed to the airport to fly to Costa Rica. As I went through immigration they looked quizzically at my passport. Due to the fact that I entered Nicaragua over land they did not stamp my passport and therefore there was no record that I had left Honduras. I wanted to tell them that “clearly I had left Honduras because here I am standing in front of you”. The immigration officer told me I couldn’t leave Nicaragua and that I would have to go back to Honduras and then fly from there to Costa Rica. I told them that wouldn’t work for me so could they please find a way for me to get on my flight. The officer left and talked to some other people and then explained to me that I would have to buy a tourist visa for $3 and then I could go. Although I didn’t really buy it I wasn’t going to argue over $3 so I paid it and off I went for a 45 minute flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.

Even though this is my second Christmas in Santa Barbara it feels like my first. Last year I was in Cleveland until the 22nd of December and then returned to Santa Barbara with my parents and celebrated Christmas together, which meant that we basically just spent time together and didn’t do much community stuff. This year I have been here to see all aspects of the Christmas season. Work started to taper off around the 18th and I started to relax a little, which was wonderful. On the 19th Katie and I invited some of the women we work with over for dinner and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Their husbands/boyfriends kept calling them to see what they were doing and my counterpart Sara said it was the first time she had ever been to a party with only women.

Then I went to Copan Ruinas, a wonderful little town just a few miles from the Honduran border to visit friends for the weekend and saw the performances for their festival. They had fire throwers, jugglers, lots of people on stilts (including a precious little boy who looked about 8 years old) and drummers from Honduras performing. They also invited a theater group from Guatemala that did a performance on Mayan culture in the central park (their central park is gorgeous…unlike Santa Barbara’s).

Once I got back I started cooking and didn’t stop until Christmas. Another Peace Corps Volunteer happened to be staying in Santa Barbara for a few days to wait for her parents to get in since their original flight was canceled due to snow (snow?). It was wonderful to have her around to cook with since Katie was in Copan Ruinas with her parents. We made Rice Krispie treats for my Yo Merezco group (actually they were chocolate krispies since they don’t have Rice Krispies here). Then we experimented making yoghurt (I think it turned out all right for my first time). Then came the fudge…I was pretty nervous about this since I thought it was some big complicated process, but my mom sent me a recipe off the back of a Nestle Chocolate Chip bag and it turned out perfect and everyone was very impressed with me (including myself). The pumpkin bread was easy and this time we didn’t burn it in our little toaster oven, so that was good. Laura also helped me make a few dozen cookies for the prisoners I work with. We finished up with green bean casserole and roasted garlic (so good).

Christmas Eve I visited my counterpart Nineth and gave her some fudge and pumpkin bread.

Nineth & Allison

Then Katie and her parents and sister got back from Copan Ruinas and we went to the local sports bar for dinner and then watched Love Actually (a wonderful movie). At that point Katie and her family went to bed and I went to a Christmas Eve party. In Honduras they celebrate Christmas on December 24th, not the 25th. They actually celebrate it similar to how we celebrate the 31st. During the day they cook (and clean) and then may go to mass around 9 pm, then the parties and the eating start after that. I was invited to a friends party so I arrived at about 10:30 to a basketball court full of teenagers listening to (but not dancing to) reggaeton music. As awkward as it was I stayed there for about an hour and then went to the house of another woman I work with and she fed me tamales (made of corn mush with peas, potato and meat inside) and egg nog. She had a crèche that was about 12 by 15 feet with 3 feet tall Mary and Joseph. When I arrived there was a paper towel over the baby Jesus. They explained that it was because he hadn’t been born yet (at 12 they removed it with a broomstick). Then at midnight the fireworks reached their peak, which had been building for about a week prior.

While the rest of Santa Barbara stayed up the rest of the night eating, drinking and partying I went to bed around 1 am. Christmas day (when the rest of Honduras does nothing) I celebrated with three other Peace Corps volunteers from the area and Katie’s family.

We visited the jail around 11 am to give them cookies and then ate dinner around 5 pm (which would be Honduran time, since we planned to eat at 2 pm). For appetizers we had cheese & crackers, veggies & dip and hot mulled cider. For dinner we had mashed potatoes, chicken, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls and roasted garlic. Then we had an intermission to let our stomach’s settle and watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation followed by apple pie, pecan pie, fudge and pumpkin bread.

At that point most of us went to bed but a few stayed up to watch A White Christmas, which I had never seen before, but loved.

Friday all the volunteers left and I finished up some work that needed to get done before leaving the country. On December 30th I will go to Nicaragua with some other Peace Corps Volunteers then on January 4th fly to Costa Rica to meet up with my parents and spend almost two weeks with them. So once I get back you can look forward to a Nicaragua and Costa Rica blog entry.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This Thanksgiving I went to La Esperanza, Intibuca, a volunteer’s site about three hours away from Santa Barbara. It was a full house with about 30 volunteers and plenty of incredible food. Robynn, the host, is an incredible cook and prepared three turkeys (one of which they killed and prepared themselves), mashed potatoes, corn bread, biscuits, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing and much more. Susan was the designated pastry chef and made numerous pumpkin and apple pies as well as a pumpkin log. Yummy!

Since September I have been working closely with 12 inmates (it was originally 13 but one left…) in the local prison and have developed strong friendships with them. A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a “high school graduation”. They had been taking classes in the prison and six of them had reached graduation and planned a big event. They held it in the prison school room and decorated everything very well, invited a band and had tables set up for the families of each graduate. It was really wonderful to be there to see them graduate. I felt so proud of them that they have taken advantage of their situation and worked to better their lives. It is great to talk to them and recognize that they are thinking about their future and what they can do to improve their lives for when they leave. After the ceremony they had a dance with a live band and some of them asked me to dance, which was slightly awkward, but I got through it.

The rest of the prisoners were locked up in their cells and watching through the bars so the central part of the prison was completely empty. Maybe that is why the guards weren’t on high alert…

December 1st was World AIDS Day for the rest of the world. Honduras on the other hand celebrated on December 2nd. Why? Because they decided to change their elections from the middle of November to November 30th, and mandated that no events could take place 24 hours before or after the elections. So…we moved the date, which turned out fine. The HIV Network in Santa Barbara had been (trying to) planning the event for months prior and yet when the day came it seemed as though nothing had been planned and nobody knew who was supposed to do what. Actually, that is how things usually happen but in the end everything works out (I still don’t know how that happens).

We started out with a parade through town and all the organizations of the HIV Network marched as well as 12 taxi drivers with their taxis who have been receiving HIV prevention education through a Red Cross project I am working on.

Then once the parade got to the center of town we had an EXPOSIDA (which consists of big games that kids can play to learn about HIV and win prizes for participating).

The EXPOSIDA went very well and the fact that it was in the middle of town was good because then anybody walking by could participate. At one point I saw a couple of street kids fighting on the ground so I went over and asked one of them if he wanted to play a game. He said no because he didn’t know any of that stuff. I finally convinced him to play with me once and then told him he could play the rest of the games as well and he spent the next few hours playing. It felt very satisfied.

A few months ago I started working on a project through the Honduran Red Cross to educate taxi drivers in HIV prevention and stigma reduction associated with HIV/AIDS. I worked with a wonderful woman hired by the Red Cross and we used the Peace Corps’s methodology to work with adult men and it worked splendidly. We started out trying to have meetings but soon realized that working with the taxi drivers in the street at the taxi stop while they waited for their next client worked much better. This week we had a formal “graduation” for all those who had participated. I made a power point presentation and presented our achievements and all the taxi drivers got diplomas. Overall, I was a great project and I am thankful that I was able to be part of it (not to mention free rides).

Just 9 months ago my parents moved to Pittsburgh. While it was a surprise to me I was excited about the prospect of getting to know a new city. It was fun to hear their stories of bike riding on the trail just behind their house and I was very impressed that both of them were learning how to row. Well, this past week they moved back to Cleveland! They actually moved back into the same house since they hadn’t sold it yet (is that a curse or a blessing?). So, now I am excited to go back to Cleveland and back to the same house that I love and back to all the family and friends that I have there. It is still odd to me that my parents moved to Pittsburgh and I never even got to see the house and then moved back to Cleveland, all while I have been in Honduras (makes it seem like I have been here a long time!).

My official “COS” (Close of Service) date is May 1st, 2009, which means that as of November 1st I have just 6 months left of service. I think I will be ready to leave when the time comes but I still have lots to do here and will probably be very busy until the end. I am now starting to think about my projects in terms of finishing before I leave and who will replace me. In January we will have a meeting with all the Peace Corps volunteers that came at the same time as me to start the COS process, which I am sure will create mixed feelings of excitement to go home, anticipation for what will come next and desire to wrap up projects and tie up loose ends.

Things are going well in Santa Barbara. It finally cooled off and rained almost non-stop for two weeks. Santa Barbara did not suffer that much but other areas of Honduras, especially the north coast, suffered severe flooding not seen since hurricane Mitch.

As was the US, Honduras is preoccupied with elections, which were supposed to take place in the middle of the month but have been postponed until November 30th. It makes it difficult to get work done because everybody is busy campaigning. I saw a very interesting campaign commercial that involved four girls in mini skirts and crop tops singing and dancing the Macarena in support or a political candidate. Hmm…

The Christmas season is upon Honduras, since they don’t have Halloween or Thanksgiving to delay the festivities the fake Christmas trees and plastic Santa Clause went up at the end of October. I think I will wait until December to put up my little fake Christmas tree.

Every year Peace Corps volunteers go to Copan Ruinas for a huge Halloween bash. Last year I planned on going but got sick about two days before Halloween and decided not to go, which was a big disappointment. Luckily this year I was feeling wonderful so I went for the weekend and celebrated with fellow volunteers, some of which I hadn’t seen for a year and a half.

Robynn (Actress hiding from the paparazzi), Kendra (Honduran school girl), Allison (Belly dancer)

As you can see, I went as a belly dancer (I had my parents send my costume down to me last year and have been waiting since then to wear it). Some of the projects did group costumes; the Fanta girls and the billiards set were very creative.

After a year and a half in Honduras I took my first vacation to a neighboring Central American county. Fellow Peace Corps volunteers Molly, Robynn and I took an 8 day trip to Guatemala to see Semuc Champey, Lake Atitlan and Antigua.

Me, Molly and Robynn in Copan Ruinas before leaving for Guatemala.

We left Copan Ruinas on November 2nd and traveled to Coban (with a B) which took about 6 hours (not too bad) and checked into Dona Victoria’s one of the cutest hotels I have stayed at in Central America. It used to be an old house and all the furniture and fixtures were vintage. The only odd thing about it was the bathroom door which had windows in it and no curtain…

The next day we got up early and went to Semuc Champey, about 2.5 hours away. The guide book describes Semuc Champey as a “…natural limestone bridge 300m long, on top of which is a stepped series of pools of cool, flowing river water good for swimming (Lonely Planet: Central America on a Shoestring).” Based on this definition I had one image in my mind but once we got there I was blown away by something totally different. When I read ‘bridge’ I thought of a typical bridge and imagined little hot tub sized pools on top of it. It is in fact a bridge and the river does go underneath it, but in a way I never imagined.

The first thing we did when we got there was climb a very steep path to the lookout and got an incredible view from above. Robynn, Molly, Allison climbing up to the lookout

Then we climbed back down and took a swim in the pools, which were beautiful, unfortunately it was not very warm that day and we didn’t last long in the water.

This is us at the beginning where the river water goes under the bridge

And this is the end, where the river exits.

The trip was almost perfect except that we had the worst guide of my life. He insisted on talking to us the entire time about inappropriate topics, made numerous personal stops on the way there and got mad at us for wanting to use a toilet instead of going in the woods with the flowers and butterflies.

November 4th we spent a long day traveling to Panajanchel, a town on the Lake Atitlan, but in the end the trip was worth it. It took us one shuttle and three different buses to get there. We actually thought the first two buses would take us directly there (because they told us they would) but it turns out they lied to us just to get our bus fair and we really had to get another bus once we got off that one. Robynn was particularly offended that they would lie straight to our faces like that just to make money…

We finally got there after dark, checked into our hotel, ate dinner and then went to a sports bar to watch the election coverage. We were the only Americans there and the only ones who seemed to be interested, which surprised me, since in Honduras people had been pretty interested in the elections. There were actually two TVs on with different channels covering the election and one announced Obama as winner a little before the other so we were asking ourselves if it was really true. Once we finally realized it was we started clapping and cheering. Then we tried to watch Obama’s acceptance speech but it was horrible because the subtitles were messed up and we couldn’t understand anything! Later on in the night other people in the bar congratulated us and the consensus was that all of Europe and Central America was for Obama so they were happy as well. Molly and Robynn and I were all so emotional and felt like we were taking part in history in the making.

We finished off the night salsa dancing (they actually have that in Guatemala!) and went to sleep happy and relieved.

The next day was devoted entirely to shopping, eating and appreciating the wonderful scenery. The lake is a collapsed volcanic cone surrounded by three volcanoes and leaves Lake Yojoa in Honduras in the dust when it comes to landscape. Panajanchel, the first town we visited, is known as Gringotenango (Place of the Foreigners), which means there is lots of shopping of Guatemalan handmade goods.

I bought earrings, pillowcase covers, table runners, a painting and various other souvenirs. We had a few unmemorable meals during the trip, but in general the food was amazing! Lots of healthy vegetarian dishes (not available in Honduras) and lots of hot tea (since Guatemala is freezing compared to Santa Barbara). All us girls like to eat, but Robynn is especially interested in food so we really enjoyed wonderful food and ended the trip with tons of pictures of what we ate.

After a hurried shopping spree we caught the last boat to San Marcos la Laguna, another small town on the lake.

San Marcos la Laguna is a very interesting place… Katie, my sitemate described it as a secret garden with little paths all over the place to various restaurants, hotels, yoga studios, art studios, massage centers and hippie living. We stayed at The Pyramids Meditation Center…

…which as we were reminded by numerous signs “…is a center of study and not a hotel.” The center offered yoga, metaphysics and meditation classes (we accidentally missed the metaphysics class, but enjoyed the yoga and meditation). All the buildings and rooms were built in the form of pyramids…

And there were pyramid structures under which one could meditate… In between our yoga and meditation class we all got massages. I tried out Thai massage for the first time and liked it although it is pretty intense.

Although San Marcos was a little odd, the views were beautiful and the food was amazing.

Finally we headed to Antigua for the weekend, which is an incredibly cute colonial town with lots of great restaurants and shopping.

We checked in to the Jungle Party Hostel, which despite the ridiculous name turned out to be a great time.

Robynn, Allison, Molly

Our first day in Antigua we got up early to hike Volcano Pacaya, an active volcano about an hour away from Antigua.

Robynn and me waiting for the shuttle at 5:50 am (it arrived at 6:30)

We had talked to Katie and many other travels that had done the same hike and they told us how you can actually walk on the hardened lava around the top of the volcano and get right up close to liquid lava and poke a stick in it. Unfortunately for us the volcano had been exploding the three days prior to our visit and it was restricted to get too close. Our guide said that there were police guarding the access and if they took us too close they would loose their guide license. At first we were very disappointed and didn’t even think it was worth going because it seemed just like any other hike through the forest…until we came up over a ridge and saw the top of the volcano and a mass of hardened lava in front of us.

The abrupt line between normal vegetation and black lava was incredible and to see the volcano smoking and hear it grumbling was well worth the trip even if we didn’t get to see lava. Other groups with more adventurous guides did get to go right up close however…

Can you see the little people?

Although we were a little jealous I was okay with not taking the risk of being killed by an exploding volcano. I found it interesting that people didn’t really have any fear of being so close to an active volcano. I think there was an unfounded assumption that if we were allowed to do it on a guided tour it meant it was safe.

Molly, Allison, Robynn

Sunday November 9th was Molly 25th birthday, but we decided to start celebrating on Saturday night. We bought a cake and shared it with everybody at the hostel, which included Irish, French, English, Canadian and American travelers.

The Irish boys bought Molly an American bear which we decided to name Uncle Barack and for the first time we all felt proud to be Americans.

Molly with the Irish boys

Molly took Uncle Barack with her everywhere that night and kept him by her side the whole next day as well.

Allison, Molly, Robynn, Uncle Barack

We woke up Sunday morning and had breakfast at the hostel and watched Sex and the City the movie on huge bean bag chairs and then relaxed the rest of the day.

Monday we headed back to Honduras for a buffer night in Copan Ruinas and then finally got back to site on Tuesday.

Overall the trip was amazing! Molly, Robynn and I got along wonderfully the entire time (we didn’t even fight once). Guatemala was beautiful and it was interesting to see the similarities and differences to Honduras, just across the border. Guatemala has a much more developed tourism industry while people traveling through Central America often tended to skip Honduras L. Many people retain their indigenous culture, including dress and language, while in Honduras virtually nobody dresses in traditional clothing on a day to day basis. Most of the people we met were from Europe (with Holland in the lead) and Israel, and only a few Americans.

Traveling made me feel very good about my Spanish language skills, because despite the large number of tourists, many locals did not speak English. For example, our guide at the Volcano did not say one word of English the entire time so we translated for a few lost Americans. It also made me realize how comfortable I feel living and traveling in Honduras since I feel like I really know the country and how to get around. I know when I am being lied to and if I am being ripped off, but in Guatemala it was a little harder to judge.

Traveling also inspired me to travel after Peace Corps. When I finish my service, Peace Corps will either buy my plane ticket home or give me the money for it, which means I can use the money to travel, which I may very well do…

For the past year and a half Katie has had animal/insect invasions of various kinas, while I, in the apartment below her, have never had a problem…until now. I was noticing an unusually high number of teeny tiny little ants but I didn’t pay much attention because they are always around in manageable numbers. Until one day there was a huge line of them all across my wall I started to get worried. I did not have any Raid because I had never needed it so I had to call Katie down to help me find their nest and spray them out. I think we got the big nest but now they are looking for new places to nest and every day I have to follow the trail to a new hole in the wall and spray them with Raid jus to follow the trail again the next day...when will this end! This is a picture of under my bookshelf. They were forming a path behind it so I moved it away from the wall and found this.