Honduran Funerals

We have had an interesting/sad couple of days. Our host grandma, who was 104-years-old and lived with us, died yesterday. They originally said that she died early in the morning, then reported that she "came back to life". The rest of the day was spent basically waiting for her to die. Friends and relatives came to say goodbye and help prepare the house for the wake and we waited. Around 3:00, she died and the 24-hour wake began. We took everything out of the sitting room and it was decorated with flowers and white sheets. All of the pictures except one of her were removed and her casket was placed there for the viewing. It was interesting to say the least. Her grandchildren put her in the casket outside of her bedroom (with everyone watching) and then it was carried (Kevin helped) to the viewing room. All day and all night people came to say goodbye and pay respects to the family. It is very different here and the family is responsible for providing food, drinks, and lots of snacks to the mourners. We did not eat until around 11:00 P.M. and then most of the people left, only the close family remained. We finally went to bed around 12:45 and people stayed there all night and most returned around 8:00 A.M. Today was much the same, people hanging out, eating lots of cookies and drinking lots of soda, and then at 3:00 (24-hours after she died) the funeral procession began. Her casket was carried to the Catholic Church and there was a funeral complete with communion and offering. We then traveled to the cemetery where her casket was put into the tomb and cemented in. Then the family returned to the house and we took down all of the mourning paraphernalia, cleaned the house, and ate leftovers. It was very interesting to see how different cultures mourn. It was certainly an interesting Halloween! Now we plan to eat junk food and watch movies.

The power is back

The power came back on Sunday at about 4:00 p.m. It was nice coming back home to power after visiting Juticalpa. So we ended up not having power for just over a week. It wouldn't have been that bad if power outages were common but living in a city that relies on electricity is not good when the power is off for that long. Tomorrow we have a safety and security meeting with all of the volunteers in our department, Olancho-which is bigger than El Salvador. That should be fun or at least nice to be together with everyone. We heard that the Texaco between where we live and the university where Kevin works sells Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper. If that is true, and more than person has said this, Kevin will be happy to finally have found a place that carried Mt. Dew. It is kind of far to get to though, so that is the one drawback but we can live with that.

No Electricity

So we have had a ton of storms and heavy rain the past two weeks and apparently our power station flooded and a bunch of power poles broke so we hae not had power since last Sunday morning. When it rains a lot, the water also stops working because the pipes get clogged with dirt so we have only had water occasionally for the past week. And when it starts working again it is black with dirt...makes for a nice time. We came to Juticalpa today which is about an hour away to use the internet and have a little sanity. Living without power in a big city where everything is electric is not a lot of fun. The supermarket has a generator and a couple other places do but for the most part nobody can cook unless they happen to have a gas stove or an outside wood oven. There is one restaurant that has a generator and it is always packed. On a happy note, we went to the birthday party of our twin host nieces last weekend out in the country. They turned one and wore awesome tiras and butterfly wings...so cute. We left at 8 and got home at 7, a very long day but it was relaxing and we met a lot of people. The man´s house it was at had cattle, pigs, and lots of different fruit trees. He also gets endangered animals from the government and breeds them so they can be released in the wild. Very interesting, he had quite a few animals and a ton of birds. The next day we went to our host uncle´s house up in the mountains a little ways out of Catacamas and it was beautiful! He practically lives in the jungle and has monkeys and other animals. We had to cross a river to get there and the bridge had broken due to the heavy rain. It was still possible to walk accross it, but not to drive accross it. It was made of concrete and basically cracked in numerous places and is now different levels. A lot of bridges have broken, rivers have overflowed and ruined roads, and people´s houses have washed away. Rain does a lot of damage here mainly because things are not well constructed and cannot take heavy rain. It is really sad. Hopefully we will have a break from the rain so things can be repaired and people can get back to their lives.

pictures

Pre Swearing-in

Typical feria happenings

We almost met the president

Our host family in Zarabanda

Juan Carlos will protect us

Enjoying our last days in Zarabanda

Da bus

So we did go out to eat for our anniversary. We were going to go to the pizza place but it was closing as we got there at 6:00. You never know what is going to be open and when around here it seems. We ended up at this place called Tilapias. They do serve tilapia but neither of us had that. Kevin had fried chicken and fries, which were really good, and Shannon had chips with a bean/cheese sauce in pottery kept warm over hot coals. It is quite common here and tasty. Afterward we split a piece of cherry cheesecake and then a double scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice cream in a waffle cone. Shannon was in her first desfile (parade) Friday. It showcased the different schools and educational agencies in Catacamas. She marched with the district administrative office which is one of her counterparts. The Minister of Education for all of Honduras came and marched with them and then they all got to sit on the stage with him and watch the rest of the parade. Shannon’s name (correctly pronounced for once) was announced numerous times as they marched through the town and she was called “the Peace Corps Representative for the educational system in Catacamas”. It was an all day event and extremely hot and humid…not the best weather for a parade, but fun nonetheless. The ferria in Catacamas ended Saturday but there are still fireworks (in reality just REALLY loud booms) going off all of the time. Shannon hates them. Kevin continues to go to the small mountain town outside of Catacamas to meet more people and find out what he can do to help the people there. It is a slow process but is helping his Spanish.

Settling in at our site

Its been a little while since we have written so we figured we would write today. Today is our anniversary. We are both working today during the day. Kevin has a meeting with La Flor de Cafe, a community in the National Park, and with his counterparts from the university. Tonight we are going to go eat somewhere and maybe find some cheesecake or something. The choices of restaurants are limited and with Shannons pickiness it is hard to find somewhere to go. Things are going well here in Catacamas. This past weekend was the annual fair here and we saw the president of Honduras up close and personal as he is from Catacamas. We tried to shake his hand but he was on the other side of the street, so we missed out on that. A bunch of other volunteers from nearby came to town and so did a bunch of US teachers that are teaching at a private school in Juticalpa, a half hour a way. So, for a while there was a huge mob of gringos walking around town. We ate some food, watched some of the parade and then had ice cream. It was good. It has been hot and humid, of course, and raining more than usual but October is the wettest month of the year here. Our Spanish is slowly improving. Shannon understands most stuff while Kevin still struggles now and then. At least a lot of people at the university speak some English, that wont help him learn Spanish but it does help him communicate. Adios, for now.