Saturday, July 28, 2007
Honduran Food
Honduran food is yummy. My host mom is a good cook. In Honduras, everything is fried. Tortillas, cheese, eggs, beans, meat, plantains, bananas… It’s all delicious, BUT it’s all fried. Nothing seems to escape the 2 inches of deep frying oil (at least they use vegetable oil). Ok, so the oatmeal and pancakes escape this fate. I’m not complaining. My host mom cooks these great fried tortillas with melted quesillo (this really good stretchy, salty cheese similar to Mexican Oaxaca cheese) in the middle and Pico de Gallo on top. She makes great enchiladas (Honduran enchiladas are fried tortillas with everything on top of it (with great guacamole). She makes this great dish with fried plantains, pico de gallo, hamburger meat and barbeque sauce. And her Baleadas are amazing! Baleadas are thick pancakey tortillas filled with eggs, beans, cheese and sometimes pico de gallo or meat or avocado. They are delicious!
The Plato tipico contains: red beans, rice, queso fresco, huevo and usually a little avocado. And tortillas on the side. However, they don’t make tacos with their food, like in Mexico. Instead they roll them up and put them in their left hand and occasionally eat take a bite of them while they eat. (Personally, I prefer the Mexican way. It’s just easier to stomach corn tortillas when they are filled with stuff.)
So today I went to Teguz with my host mom and my uncle. We went to this big market with lots of fruit and vegetables. Thankfully, my mom likes to give me fruit and vegetables for lunch! We also stopped at a supermarket where I bought 3 jars of peanut butter (2 for my PC friends and one for my host family). My family likes peanut butter, but it is too hard to find and expensive for them to buy. It costs like $4/jar! Everything Americanesque is more expensive in the Supermarket. For example, my favorite cereal, Smart Start costs almost $6/box here (I didn’t buy it.) I also bought some brownie mix, chocolate chips and Dove dark chocolate bars.
Today, my host mom and I made brownies. It was like the second time that they had ever used their oven! It’s just that in Honduras, no one knows how to use ovens. My family really liked the brownies, so maybe I can start cooking with them a lot and show them how to use the oven more. However, they thought it was strange that I would drink milk plain (ie: not in coffee or oatmeal). I told them that milk went well with chocolate. Maybe this is just an American culture thing. They just laughed and drank Pepsi or banana soda with their brownies. I brought a Velveeta shells macaroni and cheese box. So that’s next on my cooking agenda. I gave my mom a Betty Crocker cookbook when I first arrived in Honduras. She’s super excited about it. So maybe I can cook some of the recipes with her and show her how to use the oven.
The Plato tipico contains: red beans, rice, queso fresco, huevo and usually a little avocado. And tortillas on the side. However, they don’t make tacos with their food, like in Mexico. Instead they roll them up and put them in their left hand and occasionally eat take a bite of them while they eat. (Personally, I prefer the Mexican way. It’s just easier to stomach corn tortillas when they are filled with stuff.)
So today I went to Teguz with my host mom and my uncle. We went to this big market with lots of fruit and vegetables. Thankfully, my mom likes to give me fruit and vegetables for lunch! We also stopped at a supermarket where I bought 3 jars of peanut butter (2 for my PC friends and one for my host family). My family likes peanut butter, but it is too hard to find and expensive for them to buy. It costs like $4/jar! Everything Americanesque is more expensive in the Supermarket. For example, my favorite cereal, Smart Start costs almost $6/box here (I didn’t buy it.) I also bought some brownie mix, chocolate chips and Dove dark chocolate bars.
Today, my host mom and I made brownies. It was like the second time that they had ever used their oven! It’s just that in Honduras, no one knows how to use ovens. My family really liked the brownies, so maybe I can start cooking with them a lot and show them how to use the oven more. However, they thought it was strange that I would drink milk plain (ie: not in coffee or oatmeal). I told them that milk went well with chocolate. Maybe this is just an American culture thing. They just laughed and drank Pepsi or banana soda with their brownies. I brought a Velveeta shells macaroni and cheese box. So that’s next on my cooking agenda. I gave my mom a Betty Crocker cookbook when I first arrived in Honduras. She’s super excited about it. So maybe I can cook some of the recipes with her and show her how to use the oven.
ETing
To the surprise of everyone, 4 people in our group of 48 trainees have ETed or Early Terminated their Peace Corps service. Some did this for health reasons or missing fiancés or boyfriends or a variety of reasons. It makes me wonder how many people are going to finish the whole 27 months. It has only been 2 weeks and we’ve lost 1/12 of our group. I wish the best for everyone who’s ETed.
Retro Night at the Disco
The the Disco Movil had a retro night with American music from the 80s. It was quite an experience…Hondurans dancing and singing to music from the 80s. It was a good time. Definitely hilarious. I wish you all could have seen it. I went with my host brothers and sisters and taught some locals how to dance to 80s music (as if I knew how…I was born in 1984). Just working on Peace Corps goal #3: To give people of other cultures a greater understanding of American culture. It was definitely a good time. There were only 3 of us gringas there. I think the funniest part was watching the random 80s music video clips which usually clashed in a hilarious way with whatever song was playing. My siblings and I stayed out until the late late hour of 1 am.
Some of My Favorite Peace Corps Quotes, So far…
“Peace Corps is not about your job—it’s about your life.” –Luis, our Training Director. He is the coolest.
“You are professionals. You are not kids. The only things that make you look like kids are the thermoses and the yellow bus.” --Luis, talking about professionalism
(We really do carry big thermoses to school everyday for lunch and, yes, most public transportation here is on yellow school buses.)
After a frightening charla (chat/presentation) on Safety and Security:
Trudy (PC Country Director): So, what’s your first impression of Honduras?
Wesley (fellow PC trainee): Good chance of getting shot…
“Don’t be a hero; make heroes out of other people.” -Luis
“You are professionals. You are not kids. The only things that make you look like kids are the thermoses and the yellow bus.” --Luis, talking about professionalism
(We really do carry big thermoses to school everyday for lunch and, yes, most public transportation here is on yellow school buses.)
After a frightening charla (chat/presentation) on Safety and Security:
Trudy (PC Country Director): So, what’s your first impression of Honduras?
Wesley (fellow PC trainee): Good chance of getting shot…
“Don’t be a hero; make heroes out of other people.” -Luis
Die rooster scum…Die…
So, there are these crazy and very confused roosters that live in a house down the hill from me. They do their little cockadoodledooing all night long. It could be 11 pm, or 2 am or 4 am. No les importa. (They don’t care). This is not the cute storybook version of cockadoodledoo. No this sounds more like the roosters are drowning or are at least gargling. It is FAR from cute. I’m usually a pretty sound sleeper, but sometimes they are just too loud for even the soundest of sleepers. Every once in a while I meet them in the street. I usually have my words with them. I tell them in Spanish to shut up and threaten to kill them. They just give me a menacing look and then run away in fear that I might carry out my threats.
What lives in my ceiling?
So, I’m pretty sure that some creatures live in my ceiling or perhaps on my roof. Every night before I go to sleep I hear an intermittent pitta padda pitta padda pitta padda above my head. The first few nights I heard this I freaked out. The headlamp was definitely one of the best things I brought. I hang it on my bedpost and whenever I hear a strange sound or need to go to the bathroom at night, I wear it. I guess the creatures in the ceiling can’t hurt me, so I will ignore them for now. I like to think that they are cute little geckos or pigeons perhaps. I try not to think about the fact that they might be rats or cochroaches.
My new roommates
So after about 2 weeks here I’ve come to the conclusion that Honduran bugs are nocturnal. Unlike their American counterparts who practically throw themselves at lightbulbs and lanterns, the Honduran bugs walk in the shadows and make appearances in the middle of the night. Thankfully, I own a headlamp. Headlamp=most useful thing I brought, besides the quickdry towel. (Future PCVs, I recommend the PETZL brand.) My headlamp lights up my whole room, so I can see the bugs, but it’s still just dark enough that they still believe that they can roam freely.
Little do they know that I’m the bug cazador (hunter). With my bugzooka, I have a bug-catching range of nearly 3 feet. I’m getting quite skilled at using the bugzooka.
Phoop. I caught a probably malaria or dengue-carrying mosquito. Phoop. I caught a big red ant. Phoop. I just caught a 2-inch long cockroach.
I’ve had it with the cockroaches. Just to clarify, there are not cockroaches in my host family’s house because it is not clean. On the contrary, my house is extremely clean. However, in Honduras it stays warm enough year-round, that cockroaches can live outside, unlike most of their American domestic counterparts. The fact that my room opens up to an open-air courtyard does not help...
The cockroaches essentially live in my door frame. When I turn the light off, they sneak out of the door frame crevices and pitter-patter around the door and the wall. They are by far the hardest bug to catch with my bugzooka. They are really fast little buggers and seem to have this 6th sense when the bugzooka gets too close to them. They are also so big that I can’t help but doubt that they will fit into the bugzooka opening.
If you don’t suck them up just right, they don’t go into the zooka and merely loose their balance and fall to the floor where they potentially disappear under my bed or desk. This happened to me the other night. I totally freaked out, but luckily the cockroach had a change of heart, removed itself from under my bed and escaped under my door and out into the courtyard. But the night before, I caught a big fat one. Take that, sucker! Tonight, I’m sitting in my room on my bed with the lights off and my headlamp on with bugzooka in hand. Yeah, you laugh, but wouldn’t you do the same. Tonight’s cucaracha (cockroach) seems to be bigger the previous few and makes a sickening pitter patter as it runs along the door frame and sniffles its long antennas around. It’s already escaped me twice. But I’m not about to let it escape me again. I’m going to get you cucaracha scum!
For those of you who know me well, you know that my biggest fear has always been my spider phobia. However, you’ll be surprised to know that this is the creepy crawly that I hunt the least. There is definitely an abundance of spiders here, but I feel that the spiders and I have come to a kind of mutual understanding. We’re still enemies, but we have come to form a sort of alliance against the zancudos (mosquitoes), cucarachas and biting ants. This is not to say that I don’t Bugzooka them from time to time. I am definitely not allied with the big furry, creepy-crawly type that could end up on my face in the morning. I bugzooka those immediately. However, I’m cool with spiders provided that they do not violate my personal space and/or are not hanging from the ceiling over my head or roaming around my bed or closet. The daddy long leg ones make me a little squeamish, but as long as they are the sedentary-I-make-a-web-in-the-corner-and-stay-there type, we’re cool.
So, if the extensive Medical Clearance forms had had a question regarding bug phobias, perhaps I wouldn’t have received my clearance; or if I had received it, it is assured that I would have been sent to a permafrost land devoid of bugs.
Little do they know that I’m the bug cazador (hunter). With my bugzooka, I have a bug-catching range of nearly 3 feet. I’m getting quite skilled at using the bugzooka.
Phoop. I caught a probably malaria or dengue-carrying mosquito. Phoop. I caught a big red ant. Phoop. I just caught a 2-inch long cockroach.
I’ve had it with the cockroaches. Just to clarify, there are not cockroaches in my host family’s house because it is not clean. On the contrary, my house is extremely clean. However, in Honduras it stays warm enough year-round, that cockroaches can live outside, unlike most of their American domestic counterparts. The fact that my room opens up to an open-air courtyard does not help...
The cockroaches essentially live in my door frame. When I turn the light off, they sneak out of the door frame crevices and pitter-patter around the door and the wall. They are by far the hardest bug to catch with my bugzooka. They are really fast little buggers and seem to have this 6th sense when the bugzooka gets too close to them. They are also so big that I can’t help but doubt that they will fit into the bugzooka opening.
If you don’t suck them up just right, they don’t go into the zooka and merely loose their balance and fall to the floor where they potentially disappear under my bed or desk. This happened to me the other night. I totally freaked out, but luckily the cockroach had a change of heart, removed itself from under my bed and escaped under my door and out into the courtyard. But the night before, I caught a big fat one. Take that, sucker! Tonight, I’m sitting in my room on my bed with the lights off and my headlamp on with bugzooka in hand. Yeah, you laugh, but wouldn’t you do the same. Tonight’s cucaracha (cockroach) seems to be bigger the previous few and makes a sickening pitter patter as it runs along the door frame and sniffles its long antennas around. It’s already escaped me twice. But I’m not about to let it escape me again. I’m going to get you cucaracha scum!
For those of you who know me well, you know that my biggest fear has always been my spider phobia. However, you’ll be surprised to know that this is the creepy crawly that I hunt the least. There is definitely an abundance of spiders here, but I feel that the spiders and I have come to a kind of mutual understanding. We’re still enemies, but we have come to form a sort of alliance against the zancudos (mosquitoes), cucarachas and biting ants. This is not to say that I don’t Bugzooka them from time to time. I am definitely not allied with the big furry, creepy-crawly type that could end up on my face in the morning. I bugzooka those immediately. However, I’m cool with spiders provided that they do not violate my personal space and/or are not hanging from the ceiling over my head or roaming around my bed or closet. The daddy long leg ones make me a little squeamish, but as long as they are the sedentary-I-make-a-web-in-the-corner-and-stay-there type, we’re cool.
So, if the extensive Medical Clearance forms had had a question regarding bug phobias, perhaps I wouldn’t have received my clearance; or if I had received it, it is assured that I would have been sent to a permafrost land devoid of bugs.
Bugzooka, the best invention ever!
Yeah, you may laugh, or rather, you will laugh. Because I have a Bugzooka. What’s that, you ask? Well I happen to have a bug phobia. I looked into getting a bug vacuum when I found out I was going to Honduras, but I didn’t buy one because they were all at least $40 and required electricity (which I may not have) and batteries. About a week and a half before I left for Honduras, I found it. The Bugzooka. Look it up: www.bugzooka.com . Basically, it is this gun thing that sucks up bugs. It uses a bellow system, so it does not require batteries or electricity. It also has 10 times the suction of normal bug vacuums. My problem is that I’m afraid of bugs, but at the same time, I can’t kill them. I guess I have a certain sense of compassion for them. So the bugzooka lets me catch bugs from a distance of up to 3 feet away at the press of a button and then release them outside. Greatest invention ever! Other PC trainees were laughing when I mentioned this at training in the “weirdest thing I brought” conversation, but now they are all asking to borrow it. Best $19.99 I’ve ever spent. 78 cents/month is a cheap price to pay for my sanity. You too can buy it on Amazon.
Just Say No
Women in Honduras (except in cities and bigger towns) generally do not drink in public, if they are of an “upstanding reputation.” In fact, most women won’t even drink a coke if it is not directly from a bottle, lest someone think that they were tomando alcohol. This is a product of extreme machismo, a strong religious influence and for general safety reasons.
In Honduras, unlike the US, there is generally no such thing as drinking in moderation. Therefore, if you are drinking, it is assumed that you are drinking to get drunk. There is no such thing as having a beer or two after work. There is a huge alcohol problem here in Honduras. There are a large number of bolos (drunks). Generally, the bolos sit around on the sidewalk and are good humored and harmless. They may yell out things like “Hey baby, where are you going?” or “Yu hav boyfrin?” in broken English. The best policy is to ignore them, pretend you don’t understand them or give them a “Buenos dias” and walk away. However, machetes are commonplace, and the bolos with machetes, although also generally harmless, can be intimidating.
It is still a little unnerving every time I meet someone carrying a machete in the street. There is no such thing as a safety cover, in this country. But I’m getting more accustomed to it every day. After all, for many people, it is how they make their living.
In Honduras, unlike the US, there is generally no such thing as drinking in moderation. Therefore, if you are drinking, it is assumed that you are drinking to get drunk. There is no such thing as having a beer or two after work. There is a huge alcohol problem here in Honduras. There are a large number of bolos (drunks). Generally, the bolos sit around on the sidewalk and are good humored and harmless. They may yell out things like “Hey baby, where are you going?” or “Yu hav boyfrin?” in broken English. The best policy is to ignore them, pretend you don’t understand them or give them a “Buenos dias” and walk away. However, machetes are commonplace, and the bolos with machetes, although also generally harmless, can be intimidating.
It is still a little unnerving every time I meet someone carrying a machete in the street. There is no such thing as a safety cover, in this country. But I’m getting more accustomed to it every day. After all, for many people, it is how they make their living.
Disco Movil
One advantage of having siblings around my age is that I can go out dancing with them on Saturdays. There is one disco in town, Disco Movil, which is about 2 blocks uphill (and I mean uphill) from my house. For 35 lempiras (about $2) you can dance to punta (a Honduran dance from the coast), reggaeton, meringue, cumbia and salsa (if you’re lucky). The disco opens at 9, but no one really goes out until at least 10. Disco Movil boasts a video screen (which plays random music video/movie clips) and light shows (lots of strobe lights and fog machines). It’s supposed to be the best disco outside of Teguz.
Last weekend my brothers and sisters and I went to one of their friend’s birthday parties. It was in the basement of this old restaurant. The party basically consisted of a dance floor, a DJ and a makeshift bar. There were about 5 of us PC gringas there. It was kind of funny because when we first showed up, people either 1. already had novias (girlfriends) and therefore couldn’t dance with us (everyone seems to be novios here) or 2. were very intimidated by us. But after an hour or so, the locals (besides are host brothers and sisters) started to dance with us. In Mexico, at the more sophisticated discos, techno music was the staple and sometimes that was all they played. However, in Honduras the staple is reggaeton. For those of you who don’t know, reggaeton is sort of like Latin Rap which has a distorted reggae beat to it. Generally, the lyrics are too dirty to mention, yet still som
ehow widely accepted in the conservative country of Honduras, where everything seems to be taboo. Two of the most popular artists are Daddy Yankee and Don Omar. Did you ever hear the song “Gasolina”? I think they used to play it on the radio in the US. Anyway, it’s music like that. Almost every song is reggaeton and when they run out of reggaeton songs to play, they just play the same ones over again. They never get tired of them. At the party everything was reggaeton except 3 or 4 punta songs and maybe 2 merengue songs.
Generally, my family’s curfew is 9:00, but on Saturdays we can “ask permission” and stay out until the late hour of 12.
Last weekend my brothers and sisters and I went to one of their friend’s birthday parties. It was in the basement of this old restaurant. The party basically consisted of a dance floor, a DJ and a makeshift bar. There were about 5 of us PC gringas there. It was kind of funny because when we first showed up, people either 1. already had novias (girlfriends) and therefore couldn’t dance with us (everyone seems to be novios here) or 2. were very intimidated by us. But after an hour or so, the locals (besides are host brothers and sisters) started to dance with us. In Mexico, at the more sophisticated discos, techno music was the staple and sometimes that was all they played. However, in Honduras the staple is reggaeton. For those of you who don’t know, reggaeton is sort of like Latin Rap which has a distorted reggae beat to it. Generally, the lyrics are too dirty to mention, yet still som
ehow widely accepted in the conservative country of Honduras, where everything seems to be taboo. Two of the most popular artists are Daddy Yankee and Don Omar. Did you ever hear the song “Gasolina”? I think they used to play it on the radio in the US. Anyway, it’s music like that. Almost every song is reggaeton and when they run out of reggaeton songs to play, they just play the same ones over again. They never get tired of them. At the party everything was reggaeton except 3 or 4 punta songs and maybe 2 merengue songs.
Generally, my family’s curfew is 9:00, but on Saturdays we can “ask permission” and stay out until the late hour of 12.
Pretty Honduras Photo and Boiled Milk, Anyone?
WOW! Honduras is beautiful! This photo was taken from Santa Lucia, where I live. My friend Diana run every day after school (yes, we have classes from 7:30-4:30ish) and this is the view we have when we run.
On a completely unrelated note...
So, evidently it is very normal to boil milk here. In the smaller towns it is necessary because the milk is not pasteurized. In the rest of Honduras (ie: Santa Lucia) this is not necessary because the milk is pasteurized. However, almost everyone still boils milk because that is what they are accustomed to doing. My family also boils milk, but as they have had 4 Peace Corps trainees before me, they realize that the gringos don’t necessarily like boiled milk with their Corn Flakes. I’m thankful that my mom actually asked me if I preferred cold or hot milk. Some of the trainees are too shy and/or don’t have the Spanish skills to tell their families that they like cold milk. And a handful actually like boiled milk. I am extremely happy to find out that Hondurans refrigerate milk (this was not always a given in Peru).
I'm in Honduras and I have HBO
So the main form of entertainment in Santa Lucia besides going to the Cyber Alex internet café is watching TV. Strangely, my family has over 100 channels, including HBO and every movie channel imaginable and seemingly obscure channels for Honduras such as a Chinese channel. TV has been a great source of conversation at my house. Quite interesting conversation actually. On most nights, my family gathers around the TV to eat dinner and watch mostly American movies. Most of the time, they are in English with Spanish subtitles, although some are dubbed in Spanish. The other night, we were watching Saving Face, a movie about a family in Chinatown where the grandparents were ashamed of their daughter because she was having a child out of wedlock and the daughter was mad at her daughter because she was a lesbian. So here were some interesting Honduran taboo conversation topics…
The Honduran (and general Latin American) view of Asians is quite strange. Every person of Asian descent is referred to as Chino (Chinese), whether they are Korean, Japanese, Chinese or American. Hondurans see Asians as one and the same, and don’t seem to realize that there are huge differences not only between the Chinese and other Asian cultures. For example, there is a program called JAICA here, which is kind of like the Japanese Peace Corps. JAICA also has its training center here in Santa Lucia. One of our neighbors is a JAICA trainee. Yes, he is Japanese, but to everyone here (my family and even his own family included) he is Chino. Many people are big fans of martial arts movies here, especially with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. So he gets asked if he knows Kung Fu or Karate almost every day here. (He doesn’t.)
Back to the movie… My conservative family kept asking me about Lesbians, because obviously, as an American, I am a lesbian expert. I explained that in many places in the US being a lesbian is socially accepted, although some people still disapprove of it. They kept asking me awkward questions like, So, in a lesbian couple is one girl the guy and one girl the girl? How to answer this question… They seemed to think that the concept of people being lesbian or gay was hilarious and giggled throughout the movie.
My family enjoys watching Dragon Ball Z (and sings the theme song). I’d never seen this show. They also are big fans of BET. Every night, there seems to be more and more conversation topics…
The Honduran (and general Latin American) view of Asians is quite strange. Every person of Asian descent is referred to as Chino (Chinese), whether they are Korean, Japanese, Chinese or American. Hondurans see Asians as one and the same, and don’t seem to realize that there are huge differences not only between the Chinese and other Asian cultures. For example, there is a program called JAICA here, which is kind of like the Japanese Peace Corps. JAICA also has its training center here in Santa Lucia. One of our neighbors is a JAICA trainee. Yes, he is Japanese, but to everyone here (my family and even his own family included) he is Chino. Many people are big fans of martial arts movies here, especially with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. So he gets asked if he knows Kung Fu or Karate almost every day here. (He doesn’t.)
Back to the movie… My conservative family kept asking me about Lesbians, because obviously, as an American, I am a lesbian expert. I explained that in many places in the US being a lesbian is socially accepted, although some people still disapprove of it. They kept asking me awkward questions like, So, in a lesbian couple is one girl the guy and one girl the girl? How to answer this question… They seemed to think that the concept of people being lesbian or gay was hilarious and giggled throughout the movie.
My family enjoys watching Dragon Ball Z (and sings the theme song). I’d never seen this show. They also are big fans of BET. Every night, there seems to be more and more conversation topics…
The Do’s and Don’ts of Honduran Culture
In one of our Peace Corps manuals there is a 3-page section on “The Do’s and Don’ts of Honduran Culture.”
Some interesting do’s:
-You can push to be first on the bus or in other lines
-Women always wear bras
Some interesting don’ts:
-Don’t hang out in cantinas, pool halls. Women in Honduras don’t play pool especially in small towns
-Women generally don’t smoke or drink in public.
-Don’t go out with your hair messy
-Don’t invite people of the opposite sex over and close the door of the house/room. This could give the person the wrong idea and people in the town will gossip.
-Don’t wear flip-flops out in the street, to visit people, to go to a meeting; they are your shower shoes
-Don’t show tattoos and body piercing; people might think you are a gang member or are into drugs
-Don’t throw toilet paper into the toilet bowl (there is a trash can beside the toilet)
Some interesting do’s:
-You can push to be first on the bus or in other lines
-Women always wear bras
Some interesting don’ts:
-Don’t hang out in cantinas, pool halls. Women in Honduras don’t play pool especially in small towns
-Women generally don’t smoke or drink in public.
-Don’t go out with your hair messy
-Don’t invite people of the opposite sex over and close the door of the house/room. This could give the person the wrong idea and people in the town will gossip.
-Don’t wear flip-flops out in the street, to visit people, to go to a meeting; they are your shower shoes
-Don’t show tattoos and body piercing; people might think you are a gang member or are into drugs
-Don’t throw toilet paper into the toilet bowl (there is a trash can beside the toilet)
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Getting Here
So I'm finally in Honduras. It has been an interesting trip so far.
I packed all night on Sunday and wasn`t really done packing at 5:30 am, when I was supposed to leave for the airport. It was a tough pack for a variety of reasons:
Reason #1: I'm packing for 2 years.
Reason #2: I won't know where I'm going until the 8th week of training. It could be near
freezing at night or 100 degrees everyday, depending on where I am.
Reason #3: My baggage has to be under 80 lbs. AND I have to be able to carry it (up mountains,
through rivers, etc.) No bag can be over 50 lbs.
Let's just say that on the way to the airport, I was taking stuff out of my bags and when I actually got to the airport, I took out some more stuff. As it had been a very emotional pack, it was a very emotional goodbye to my parents. When I got inside the gate, I sat down and the girl beside me saw the Peace Corps patch on my bag and asked me if i was going to Honduras. It ends up that Susan was also going to Honduras for Peace Corps. Que casualidad!
After an exciting 2 day pre-departure orientation in D.C., a 6-course middle eastern dinner and a last minute Reese's peanut butter cup, mac & cheese and crayon shopping trip, we were ready to go.
We had to be checked out of our hotel rooms by 2:30 am. That was quite fun. I didn´t sleep at all because I was making my "last calls" until 1 am. Don`t worry, calls are only 9 cents/minute here and when I get a cell phone, you can call me and I won´t be charged (although you might...) So those calls were definitely not my last.
We left the hotel in D.C. at 3:30 and arrived at 4:00 am. There was already a long line to check in. So we waited for about 30 minutes and then people started freaking out. A lot of people arrived late to the airport and had earlier flights than our group of 50, so our group was put aside and we waited for about 2 1/2 hours while all of the other travelers went around us. So our group of 48 Peace Corps Volunteers checked our bags between 6:30/6:45 for our flight that boarded at 6:45. Nice. Then we had to go through security. Somehow we made our flight, just as they were closing the gate.
In Miami we caught our connecting flight. It was delayed an hour and the gate changed 4 times. We arrived in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras (which will be referred to as "Tegus" from now on.) Then we immediately took a yellow school bus to Santa Lucia (the city where I will be living for the next 3 weeks). It is a picturesque little town in the mountains with cobblestone streets and great views of Tegus. We didn't find out any information about our host families until we were on the bus. (This made it very hard to choose host family gifts ahead of time).
After a brief host family orientation at the Peace Corps training center, we met our host families and went to our new homes. I got lucky. My host family is very nice. My host mom and dad are 50-something and I have 2 host brothers, 1 host sister and a parrot. My brothers, Marcio and Jairo, are 20 and 15. My sister, Iris, is 17.
My parrot's name is Polly. It is green and loud and very entertaining. It also bites. (I haven't made the attempt to try to pet it yet. Maybe one day I'll muster the courage. Right now I think he hates me. At least that's what I've gathered from his high-pitched screeches when I get to close to him.) My family alternates keeping Polly on a little ladder in the living room and a chair outside on the patio. It's a free-range parrot and doesn't have a cage. Polly enjoys eating sweet bread with coffee. He's quite the sophisticated parrot.
My family's house is located in the city centro (downtown). This means that I live only 10 minutes away from the training center. Some of my friends have to walk 30 minutes to get there. I also am blessed with the centro ambience. Our neighbors listen to their music very loudly (with their windows open, of course). Good thing it's good music. I rather enjoy it. We also live next door to a pool hall, so when our TV is not turned on (let me assure you, it almost always is), you can hear the collision of pool balls.
My family's open-air house is very simple with a living/dining room, 3 small bedrooms, 2 small bathrooms, a tiny kitchen and a patio/courtyard in the middle. But is also very neat. Everything is extremely clean. There are almost no bugs. I have only used by Bugzooka once (if you haven't heard about the Bugzooka yet, it is assured that you will in a future post).
Just to let you know, I have electricity, an electric shower (which provides me with lukewarm water) and a washing machine. However, these conditions, although nice, are definitely temporary. After training I may or may not have electricity, will most definitely have bucket showers and will wash my clothes with a washboard. AND, there will most likely be bugs...
I'll post some photos soon. If anyone wants to write to me or send me anything (Reese's peanut butter cups, brownie or cookie mix, skittles, etc.) feel free. Here's my address:
Beth Mayberry, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3158
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
America Central
I packed all night on Sunday and wasn`t really done packing at 5:30 am, when I was supposed to leave for the airport. It was a tough pack for a variety of reasons:
Reason #1: I'm packing for 2 years.
Reason #2: I won't know where I'm going until the 8th week of training. It could be near
freezing at night or 100 degrees everyday, depending on where I am.
Reason #3: My baggage has to be under 80 lbs. AND I have to be able to carry it (up mountains,
through rivers, etc.) No bag can be over 50 lbs.
Let's just say that on the way to the airport, I was taking stuff out of my bags and when I actually got to the airport, I took out some more stuff. As it had been a very emotional pack, it was a very emotional goodbye to my parents. When I got inside the gate, I sat down and the girl beside me saw the Peace Corps patch on my bag and asked me if i was going to Honduras. It ends up that Susan was also going to Honduras for Peace Corps. Que casualidad!
After an exciting 2 day pre-departure orientation in D.C., a 6-course middle eastern dinner and a last minute Reese's peanut butter cup, mac & cheese and crayon shopping trip, we were ready to go.
We had to be checked out of our hotel rooms by 2:30 am. That was quite fun. I didn´t sleep at all because I was making my "last calls" until 1 am. Don`t worry, calls are only 9 cents/minute here and when I get a cell phone, you can call me and I won´t be charged (although you might...) So those calls were definitely not my last.
We left the hotel in D.C. at 3:30 and arrived at 4:00 am. There was already a long line to check in. So we waited for about 30 minutes and then people started freaking out. A lot of people arrived late to the airport and had earlier flights than our group of 50, so our group was put aside and we waited for about 2 1/2 hours while all of the other travelers went around us. So our group of 48 Peace Corps Volunteers checked our bags between 6:30/6:45 for our flight that boarded at 6:45. Nice. Then we had to go through security. Somehow we made our flight, just as they were closing the gate.
In Miami we caught our connecting flight. It was delayed an hour and the gate changed 4 times. We arrived in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras (which will be referred to as "Tegus" from now on.) Then we immediately took a yellow school bus to Santa Lucia (the city where I will be living for the next 3 weeks). It is a picturesque little town in the mountains with cobblestone streets and great views of Tegus. We didn't find out any information about our host families until we were on the bus. (This made it very hard to choose host family gifts ahead of time).
After a brief host family orientation at the Peace Corps training center, we met our host families and went to our new homes. I got lucky. My host family is very nice. My host mom and dad are 50-something and I have 2 host brothers, 1 host sister and a parrot. My brothers, Marcio and Jairo, are 20 and 15. My sister, Iris, is 17.
My parrot's name is Polly. It is green and loud and very entertaining. It also bites. (I haven't made the attempt to try to pet it yet. Maybe one day I'll muster the courage. Right now I think he hates me. At least that's what I've gathered from his high-pitched screeches when I get to close to him.) My family alternates keeping Polly on a little ladder in the living room and a chair outside on the patio. It's a free-range parrot and doesn't have a cage. Polly enjoys eating sweet bread with coffee. He's quite the sophisticated parrot.
My family's house is located in the city centro (downtown). This means that I live only 10 minutes away from the training center. Some of my friends have to walk 30 minutes to get there. I also am blessed with the centro ambience. Our neighbors listen to their music very loudly (with their windows open, of course). Good thing it's good music. I rather enjoy it. We also live next door to a pool hall, so when our TV is not turned on (let me assure you, it almost always is), you can hear the collision of pool balls.
My family's open-air house is very simple with a living/dining room, 3 small bedrooms, 2 small bathrooms, a tiny kitchen and a patio/courtyard in the middle. But is also very neat. Everything is extremely clean. There are almost no bugs. I have only used by Bugzooka once (if you haven't heard about the Bugzooka yet, it is assured that you will in a future post).
Just to let you know, I have electricity, an electric shower (which provides me with lukewarm water) and a washing machine. However, these conditions, although nice, are definitely temporary. After training I may or may not have electricity, will most definitely have bucket showers and will wash my clothes with a washboard. AND, there will most likely be bugs...
I'll post some photos soon. If anyone wants to write to me or send me anything (Reese's peanut butter cups, brownie or cookie mix, skittles, etc.) feel free. Here's my address:
Beth Mayberry, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3158
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
America Central
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