Hey, there! I just got back from a weekend up in the mountains. I had a good time and was surrounded by good people. My sister would like them, the women are trying to make me fat by giving me HUGE plates of food 3 to 4 times a day. One day I finally convinced them only to feed me twice, although once was enough!
The first day we get out there, a cold front came through and it rained freezing cold rain (for Honduras that is). Anything under 70F is cold to me now. One day I was cold at 72F and then really cold at 68F. Later I got a little better and only needed the sweater under 70F. Anyway, to avoid the very cold rain, I had one of the guys helping me cut me a banana leaf. I balanced it on my head between points. Later, someone ran to their house and got me an umbrella. While I was taking the points, I could not hold it with my hands, so someone would hold it for me. Now that's service!
I remembered something very important on this trip- the problem with water. This time I mean drinking water. In the States, everyone drones on about dehydration, but here it's rare to see the villagers carry water although they do hard work all day. The first few days out I was really thirsty, but had forgotten my water bottle at home, so I was just thirsty. I would get like two to three cups of coffee a day and that's it for liquid. Later, they gave me water with meals and then I ran into the other end of the problem: what to do when you have to go to the bathroom. I thought I would be gone for two to three days, but ended up being gone a week, and thus didn't bring enough toilet paper. That's only a small problem when I could find a bathroom. Somehow while surveying through coffee plants I can't see the meter stick, but always feel that I might be seen through the branches. I stayed with a family one night that didn't have a latrine, so everyone goes in the great outdoors.
Normally when I work, I have three guys with me and then everyone else either making stakes, moving branches out of my way or cutting the underbrush. The three guys are: one hold the backshot stick, one carries the theodolite and one the meter stick. This time I had four guys working with me one day- the third had to help me get from one spot to the other. It started when I needed to do a jump from one rock to the other. Now, not normally a problem but I felt uncomfortable jumping from one slick rock to another with a six foot drop to the stream between. Later, I was just falling all over the place. In the last few months of little work, I lost my mountain legs. By the end of the week I got my mountain legs back!
One day I was working and the backshot and person carrying the theodolite were kids, well, teenagers. One was staring like he was in LOOVVEEEE, with me. All day, just staring at me, it's weird. This kid saw S and I when we danced at the dance festival in the plaza. He also told me that it is rumored that S brought a bunch of teenagers to the States. Not actually true, she went home alone.
One thing, a lot of people talk to you about helping them get to the States. Now, we can't actually do it, Peace Corps rule. One guy who helped this week was talking to me about helping him get a visa to go work in the states for a few years. The passage through Mexico is extremely dangerous for illegals, so he doesn't want to go illegally. All I could think though was: you are never going to get a visa. Pretty much, you need money to get a visa. The process is long, involves several trips to the capitol and maybe some bribe money. The bribe stuff I am not sure about, but it's rumored to be true. This guy does not have the money for all the trips into the capitol, not to mention flight to the states and start up cash. I smile and nod when people talk to me like that, because I know there is no hope.
One thing about life in the mountains, life starts early. The women are all up by 5am, starting the cooking fires and general business. The men who work in the fields leave the house around 6:30am. This was true for my work too. They normally stop working around 1 or 2pm, while we worked until 5pm. The teenagers just up and left though at 3:30pm the day they helped out. I was at the base of the hill, the others at the top and I had to scream to them that the kids just left. They had had enough. Suffice it to say, the others weren't so happy about that. Without someone to carry the equipment, I was done. Before I got my mountain legs back, I was slipping and sliding down a LOT. Even afterwards, I am not carrying that heavy thing up a mountain side! I am not in that great of shape people!
Sometime the person carrying the equipment would try to level it off. At first I encouraged it, why not? Their job was to carry the thing, which is not so exciting. Well, one day this guy really wants to do it, but he was so SSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW. Seriously, ten minutes to level it when I can do it in under 2. I was seriosly trying to get some zen calm. By the end of the day I started jumping in and grabbing two of the three legs of the tripod and managing to level it with only those two. As nightfall was closing in I finally was just like, move over! I was trying not to be mean all day, but my patience has a definite limit!
Now, a little note on poverty. Someone not used to this here would assume that everyone in the mountains live in a state of poverty. There are however levels of poverty. Some people are actually doing pretty well although their house may or may not look like it. Others, well they are really poor. Then, there is the level of hygene that people keep to. You will see some people cleaning their dirt floors with brooms made of a stick with leaves to keep their house clean. Then you have some people who let the livestock enter their house, everyone goes to the bathroom wherever, and well it's dirty. At one such house I saw a pig walk into the kitchen and come out with a banana in it's mouth. Ok, so a pig walks in it's own feces. If you then allow it to enter your house, it drops that feces in your house.
Likewise, some people will keep their kids clean. A quick dip in the stream does that. In this particular regions, there were streams everywhere, so it would only take a few minutes to run your kids to the stream and clean them. Note: people who don't have water at their house do everything at the stream (bath, wash dishes, clothes, etc.). So, you see some poor people who try to keep basic sanitation high, and then those that don't. I always feel bad for the kids in those situations.
Seca is doing well for all those that are curious. My new sitemate, M, took care of her. She is afraid of street dogs though, so doesn't walk her very far. I now know most of the street dogs, or at least those on the streets that I frequent. Most of the time it's Seca that creates a problem if there is a problem. I still hear, "and your dog?" if I walk around town without her. She's famous.
Health update: To add to all the skin problems I have had here, I now add a fungus to that list. That's right, the skin parasites love me. Not to worry, it is not harmful, just itchy and I went to the doctors and got me some meds to get rid of my new problem.
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