INTERNET ACCESS!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so to start where I left off:

I got back from the celebrations, and then began to plan for my upcoming technical four day training. This is done every year and called reconnect. Monday I basically sat around and packed, and relaxed. Tuesday I got up early and caught the bus to Teguc. This ended up being more stressful than need be because to get a ride up to the reconnect site, and thus arrive on time, I had to get to the office by a certain time, and it was doubtful for a while. I did make it, and then got to chill for the ride, and even scored some Burger King out of it! I like Burger King.

Seeing everyone for the first time since training was cool. Some people have changed quite a bit (sickness can cause weight loss), and I don’t know, it was just a time to relax. The first afternoon was filled with a field trip to visit this awesome sustainable agriculture farm. They have collection systems to drink the rain water (tested clean by Univ. of Vermont) and also have larger rainwater collection tanks for other uses in the farm. They have composting latrines, ceramic filters, compressed dirt buildings, organic crops, a biodigestor to trap methane gas which they use in their kitchen, and are a leader in encouraging diversifying crops and preventing erosion in fields. They also have coffee wine there, which one person bought a bottle and all of us tried it. The guy called us drunks because we immediately opened the bottle and finished it that afternoon. But, one bottle and 15 people doesn’t last long, so one afternoon is sufficient to down it.

That night was just filled with hanging out. During training several groups had formed, but we just hung out as one groups, which was nice. It didn’t get out of control, which out boss was worried about. Oh, the first night it was just the Health group and Wat/San (my group) who arrived in Feb.

The first morning we went out to build a latrine. Now, normally this should take two or more days, but we built what we could in the time frame to get an idea of the process. This was super helpful because I have a large latrine project coming up at work. I was pretty tired from moving rocks and sand around, but when we came back the H12-ers were at the training site. These are the people who arrived a year before me. Afternoon was filled with a lot of processing and how is everyone, any concerns, how is everyone holding up with the political situation, etc. I got bored quickly with that. The second night was definitely more energized than the first, a lot of people, a lot of drinking. It is a PC event after all. Nothing too out of hand happened.

Next morning people were in various stages of hurting. Some people got sick, some hung over, and some just tired from staying up later. More meetings, more talking, not much more.

Third night was a party. We had a dj, but most people were just content to sit around and talk. It was a themed party, 70’s style. The costumes ranged from party-poopers who didn’t do anything, to some really crazy outfits. My camera doesn’t work at night, so eventually I will get some pics from someone else to show how great my home-made costume was. I am so proud.

Next morning everyone had to get packed and out pretty early. Everyone travels by bus here, so the travel time home ranged from 15 minutes to 10 hours. I went to Gracias, Lempira to visit the site of friends. We stopped at a really cool place for a while, and this town has a HUGE market. Our market is tiny but theirs is huge with just a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables. I am jealous of that. The area I went to is also the traditional home of the Lenca people, so there is a lot of pottery there as well. I was carrying around an already stuffed bag, so I will have to go back later and buy some.

Finally we made it into their town. We ended up going to the hot springs that night. I was amazed, I could walk around there in my bathing suit without comments; in my town I can’t even wear capris without hearing piropos. They are so nice, they have made the place a nice family atmosphere and have created these giant pools for the natural hot spring water. We got to talking with these girls from a tourism school who are going around and studying Gracias, and that was cool to hear their views on Honduras and tourism and ecotourism as well.

Saturday was the big day. We decided to hike up the highest mountain in Honduras in one day. Normally people do this in 2. We ended up starting a little late. Then we walked very slowly to start (I had serious allergy problems and felt like the pressure in my head was twice what it needed to be). We hiked for a very long time, and at 2:15pm made it to the top. We headed back down at 2:48pm. Pretty soon after the clouds rolled in, and it started to get dark faster than normal due to cloud cover and the tree canopy cover as well. At this point let me assure you that we are alright, just with valuable lessons learned. We are hiking as fast as we can, trying to only stop when absolutely necessary, and it just keeps getting darker. Once we climbed down the seriously steep section we were running whenever possible to make up time. Then we got flashlights out, but only had 2 for the 3 of us. Eventually it started to rain. We were doing good thanks to Bert’s amazing sense of where the trail was, but then we got to a tricky spot, and were like, did we cross this raging river? Was it a raging river earlier, or did the rain make it this way? Eventually we back-tracked the 20m until we found the trail, and then found where we were supposed to go. There was still a small stream crossing that I ended up just walking through it instead of trying to jump on slick rocks, and thus got soaked because it was deeper than I thought.

We had called a mototaxi driver to come and get us at a certain time when we had cell phone signal, but we seriously misjudged the distance we had left before the visitor’s center. So, by time we finally got there it was past pitch dark and the guy wasn’t there. It turns out he went (still amazing because no other driver would even attempt it, especially at that hour) but his kids were in the mototaxi and were crying because they were scared, so he left again. Well, we walked as fast as we could on the dirt road, and eventually got signal to call him and he headed back up to get us. This is why you need to make friends with the taxi drivers! He had to drop his kids off with friends because they were refusing to go back up. We did give him a lot of extra money for doing this for us.

The next day he saw us hobbling around town in all our pain. He even gave Kalin and I a short FREE ride because he saw us wincing while walking down a street.

So, lessons learned: always have emergency items with you, you can’t use I’m in Honduras and don’t have them in my traveling bag excuse, always stick with your turn around time, it doesn’t matter how close to the top you are, and love your taxi drivers. Except for some aching muscles and joints, everyone was fine afterwards.

It took me 12 hours to get home. In the States I could drive from Allentown, PA to my house in 8 hours, but not in Honduras, things just travel slowly here.

Well, then I got home, and had these crazy things on my legs, and other places. I go to the doctor, and she says I have scabies. For those of you who don’t know what this is, I have little mites crawling around through my skin. Apparently they are supposed to itch more, but it’s not too bad. Therefore, I have spent an enormous amount of time the last few days ironing everything. The heat is what kills these little pests (they can live in your clothes for a few days), and since we don’t have a dryer (unheard of in Honduras), I have been ironing everything. This includes my mattress, underwear, and later today the straps on my backpack. It’s a good time.

A few days later I went to visit my friend’s site for her birthday. It was a good time, and a few volunteers from other areas came by.