hello world out there. Things in Sabanagrande have been going very well menos my constant battle with my stomach. Today is Good Friday and I just witnessed a procession of the Stations of the Cross. It was very interesting and very long. I couldn´t make it through all the stations. Yesterday a group of us went to a river which was a lot of fun because I have wanted to swim ever since I got here. Today we are going to another watering hole for some more swimming. Tomorrow my family is taking me to Sedeño, a beach in the south. Supposedly it is not really a good place to go swimming because there are a lot of people there but I am going to enjoy it nonetheless.

I went for a hike last weekend with my host brother and cousin and a couple of wat-san volunteers and was at the top when I noticed that my camera screen is broken/cracked in half. I have been taking pictures with it but am looking through the viewfinder oldschool style. I still haven´t taken too many pictures but I promise you when it will rain it will pour. I still have a long time to post pics.

The entire country is basically shut down for Semana Santa and not much gets done. When I don´t have training there aren´t too many things that I can do besides be outside, walk/hike, read, or converse with my family/friends. It is actually very relaxing and it feels rewarding. My spanish is improving poco a poco. I just had my second spanish interview and moved up two levels. I can now officially pass the PC language test and still have 6 weeks of language training.

Thats all for now. HAPPY EASTER!

From Sunday to today (Wed) I was in La Paz visiting a volunteer in wat-san. It is about a 2 hour bus ride from Tegucigalpa, but if I were to drive it, it would take about 1 hour. I had a great time learning about the life of a volunteer. My volunteer and I went to a town named Concepcion where we plotted GPS points for a community map. It was a small village of 290 houses and I think I walked 25K plus while going up and down mountains. It was really beautiful walking from house to house and talking to the locals. Luckily we worked with two members of the waterboard who walked with us the entire time (730-530). It was a long, enjoyable day eventhough I was really hot and sweating persistently. Hondurans are very welcoming and warm. Hopefully the work we completed will aid in making a better water system and giving water to everyone, because many houses were lacking water. It is not my project so I´ll just have to ask about the progress.

Next weekend I move to Sabanagrande for 6 weeks and live with another host family. The town is south of here and I am going with the other wat-san aspirantes. I am sorry I am lacking the photo dept. It is for two reasons. I am not taking that many pictures (mental memories for now) and I am going to post pictures elsewhere once I start taking photos. I haven´t been to the internet cafe in a long time and I cannot gaurantee when the next time will come. I have to go to training for a recap of the past trip to La Paz.

much love,

CRH

Hi everyone out there on the blogosphere. I am so happy to be here, in Honduras, right now. It took awhile to get here but I made it. I am currently in Santa Lucia a town located about 45 minutes north of the capital, Tegucigalpa. I live with a extremely nice, extremely patient host family. I have 5 siblings and two nephews, ages 2 and 3. They are so much fun to try to talk to and most of the times hard to understand! My basic day consists of training from 730am-430pm Monday thru Friday. I take multiple hours of Spanish a day along with other cultural chats, health chats, and security chats. I am learning a lot about the Honduran culture and lifestyle and to some it up in one word, bonita. Everything is beautiful from the mountains, to the town, to my family. I washed my clothes by hand the other day which felt like an aerobic workout. I think they are clean. I also do use the bathroom in an outhouse and take cold showers, but believe me I am not complaining. It feels natural already. I was able to play soccer the other day with soon to be volunteers and eight or so locals. I´pretty much stink at playing soccer but that didn´t matter. It was all in good fun and at the expense of my out of air lungs and my can´t move fast enough legs. In two weeks I move to my field training site about an hour south of here in Sabanagrande. I can´t wait to learn about Honduran water systems and practice my skills. I will basically learn what the next two years of my life will consist of. In May I swear in as an official volunteer and I am sure I will blog again before that time. In the meantime I am practicing my Spanish as much as possible. My family doesn´t speak an ounce on English, but it is the best way to be forced to speak Spanish. OK, time to go for now and do some homework.

Much love.

So, I got my flight to DC! I leave Newark on Feb. 11th at 9am and get to Reagan at 1027am. I'm staying at the Georgetown Holiday Inn until the 13th and then I fly to Honduras! Am I nervous? Not really, I am just anxious...Plus I have to pack, which is no easy feat. I am making a last visit to friends on Thursday by traveling down to Blacksburg, Va and hopefully stopping in Gloucester, Va. I don't have that much more time in the states and hopefully I can stay relaxed!

I guess this could be classified as Post #1. I am sure there will be many more to come within the next 2.5 years. I want to thank everyone(especially my family) for their support towards me going to the Peace Corps and allowing me to do what I truly love to do. In due course, a complete understanding of why I want/have/need to do this will become clearer. I cannot wait for February 11th 2008 to arrive and I can start this adventure in Honduras. Here is what it looks like for those lacking Central American geography knowledge:

I end my current job as an environmental scientist in Jan, before I run the marathon. Then I have a couple weeks off before I leave the country. I plan on going to Atlantic City with my VT friends mid-January and then to Virginia for about a week. The rest of my time will be spent at home freaking out because I have no idea what to pack. I joined a facebook group of future Honduran Peace Corps volunteers and am looking forward to meeting them all in T minus two months! Buenos noches mis amigos!