The following is my tale from recent trip to the mountains:
Day 1: I am told we are leaving at 5am, so like a smuck, I arrive at 5am. No one is there, and I am sitting out by myself in the dark with my stuff. Thank goodness I live in a safe place. We actually leave at 5:38am. Later, one guy states that thank goodness we left on time for the first time! Now, what would your job be like if you showed up 38 minutes late and we considered on time?!
On the way out there, which is a 2.5-3 hour drive, there was some nice Christmas music in the background. That made me think of carolling last year with friends around my town.
Now, the people in my office like to joke around, and one favorite joke is to call an animal by person in the group's name. For example, a short person/animal/gnome on tv, is Edward, because he is really short. So, we are driving along and suddenly stop. Walter (my coworker) sticks his head out the window to ask how much does Nelson cost. Nelson, is another coworker, but he was referring to a pig. The very confused little girl answered that he wasn't for sale because they are planning on killing him (for food). Poor Nelson.
Good news: I can finally eat tortillas and mantequilla. Mantequilla is a sour cream type thing which has taken me almost two years to be able to eat like a Honduran. That's right, I can eat mantequilla now, so it's time to go home.
The community I am working in is called El Recuerdo and they have something very important going for them: a giant soccer field. This thing is almost regulation size. It is hard to find large tracks of flat land, so normally people play in small areas, but not here. They even have a league set up between all of the small communities, complete with championships. There are jerseys to wear, but the players don't take them home. This is common: one family takes care of the jerseys and at teh beginning of every game they fight over numbers and such. This one family (and by that I mean one woman) takes care of the jerseys, ie washes, and has them ready for the next game.
Lunch rolls around and one guy was excited to have me eat at his house. He is one of the people really advocating putting in this system and has been giving me a tour of the area all morning. So, I go there and am given a plate of food: balona and weird eggs cooked in a large amount of oil, a large portion of mantequilla, and 6 tortillas. My life is interesting, what can I say. If nothing else, Peace Corps has taught me to be less picky about food.
That afternoon I was sitting around because my work for the day was done. I was reading
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe in Spanish in a hammock and made myself nauseous due to the rocking motion. Later, I planted myself in teh kitchen next to the wood burning stove to keep warm and continued reading. As the afternoon progressed, I was tilting the book to get the last remnants of sunlight then toward to fire to get light there. A few minutes after I had given up on reading, the woman turns on the light. THe light! They had light! Actually, they have a solar panel which means that they have lights throughout the house and even a tv. I don't even have a tv. It shocked me to see electrical appliances in the house.
Day two:
One thing that should be done before dragging out the topo equipment is to pick your route so that you don't have to argue about the direction while carrying the equipment. So, that is what we did on day 1, but on day 2 all kinds of new people were there and there was lots of discussion. I allowed this for a few minutes until putting my foot down that there was a route, and there would be no changing of the route. Unfortunately, because they know the area so much better than I do, I don't always know that not being flexibe is a good thing. However, I can't have them taking forever to discuss something.
Later, I broke the equipment. Not so much that it doesn't work, but enought that I'm worried I could cause more problems. So, we had to carry the theodolite separately, baby-ing throughout the day.
At 1:30pm, I was asked until what hour we were going to work. My answer: 5pm. Their hope was 2pm. Sorry guys, we work long days when i am out there.
One of the things I like to do while on a topo study is let people look through the theodolite to see how much it magnifies things. So, at one point I set it up pointed a house which you could see the outline of the house with your eye, but no details. Through the eyepiece, you could see lots of details of the house. Now, later, while waiting for the guys to chop down some brush in my way, I started looking at a house and watching the people, although only for 5 seconds. Is it weird that I want to see something funny/ embarassing happen while spying on people? Don't answer that.
Later that night, I read two kids books that I picked up to the kids of the house. Now, it was hard for them to concentrate, but the little girl seemed to like it and played with the books pointing out all the animals to a smaller child later.
The next day I headed back to town (short trip, I know). I was riding in the cab of a truck with one of the guys with the community. He went through the basic questions: What is your name? Do you like it here? Do you have a boyfriend? No joking, this is how every conversation goes. What was funny though was later, when he asked why I was not married. I responded that I am young, and like travelling, and that I had plenty of time to marry later. So, he asked how old I was. 25 I respond (although only for another 13 days). The look on his face was precious. That is OLD to not be married in the villages. Normally girls here get married around 16.
That's all for now. More adventures on the next edition.
Weird hats for dogs, and humans!
This is half of those who went to Gracias for Thanksgiving.
Biggest hair clip I have ever seen!
That's right, you can even get the B's merchandise here in Honduras. Used, but it's still here.
3 of the 5 flower girls.
My first host mother and myself.
Me and the bride, my host sister. Isn't that dress fabulous!
Bride and groom (missionary, not Peace Corps)
Me, posing. For most of the day I was unofficial photographer. My friends really wanted to pose for pics, and they made me sit for a pic or two as well.