About three weeks ago we had our Close of Service Conference with Peace Corps. Everyone who came to Honduras in our group (Honduras 13) who is still a volunteer was at this conference. Forty-one of the original fifty-one volunteers of our group were there. Those are actually pretty good numbers too. This was the only time since training that we have all been in the same place at the same time and Shannon hadn’t seen a couple of people since training so it was an exciting time to see everyone together again for the last time. About half of us are staying until September 24th, our actual close of service date, and we will get to see those people again. Others, who have plans to go back to school or teach or for whatever reason want to leave early have up to a month before that date to close their service with no penalties. We spent three days talking about what we have done here, how we can make training and service better and most importantly how to go about our futures. We had a lot of fun with everybody and had a good time but we also had to say a lot of good byes to people we will not see again here in Honduras – how sad. After the conference, it seemed as if we were already done but then we got back to Catacamas and realized we still have three months left so we got back to work. We are trying to finish all of our projects, not starting new ones, so we can finish everything before we go as neither of us is being replaced by new volunteers. It looks like we should be able to do that.
Other news: We visited another volunteer’s (Ryan) site and got to see our cats’ two sisters who now live there. They were doing very well and loved seeing us too. We also got to see a hammock bridge that Ryan helped build for his community which is pretty awesome. The Friday after we got back to our house, Shannon went to grab a bag and noticed a snake coiled up in the corner of the kitchen. Kevin went to get the camera and snapped a couple of pictures as the snake started moving. Not knowing if it was poisonous or not, we did not want to grab it and it went behind the oven and we couldn’t get it out. So, hoping it was not venomous, we eventually went to bed and didn’t see it again. Then, while cleaning Sunday morning, Kevin found about two inches of its tail by the front door that we assumed the cats had bitten off but still no sign of the snake. Shannon thought the cats had eaten it but Kevin was sure there would have been signs of part of the snake somewhere. Monday morning, after coming back from running, Kevin went in to take a shower, like most Honduran things, the shower doors do not fit right into the frame and the snake was coming out of the shower into the bathroom. We opened the back door and shooed it out, noticing that it was missing the end of its tail. We never saw it again but Kevin did look it up and found that it was a Northern Cat-Eyed Snake and is very docile and non-venomous. If only we had known that beforehand we could have just grabbed it and saved it some misery. One of our cats did have a sore that started oozing puss on his chest after that so maybe the snake did turn violent as it was getting its tail bitten off. We will never know.
We tried to hike the tallest mountain in Olancho two weekends ago. We have been wanting to do it the whole time we have been here and now that time is running out we are trying to squeeze this three day trip in. Unfortunately, it rained so much the night before that the river that we’d have to cross three times was impassable and we were unable to go. We have rescheduled it for another weekend and hopefully the same thing doesn’t happen again. It has been raining almost every afternoon now which also means our water turns brown and we often don’t have any running water in the morning and resort to showering by bucket or the other alternative of just not showering.
We invited all the volunteers in our department, along with some others, over for the 4th of July last weekend, which we celebrated on the third by finding ridiculous used “patriotic” clothing to wear. We had over 15 people at our house that night and had tons of food to eat and had a great time.
Dengue has also been hitting a lot of people in our site and around the country including our site-mate Elisabeth. Dengue is not fun. She barely had enough energy to pick up a glass of water and take a drink. This lasts for about a week. We took turns helping her out, taking her to the medical facility and cooking her food. Kevin didn’t mind as he went over every day to watch the World Cup games anyway. Now that the World Cup is over, he is really sad and was pretty devastated after the Netherlands lost. He had been rooting for them since before the World Cup even started. Maybe in four years. He even has a shirt he can wear in four years supporting the Netherlands, although it is in Spanish.
This past Friday and Saturday we went to Tegucigalpa to help do two training events with the brand new group of volunteers (trainees) that just came to Honduras three weeks ago. Friday afternoon we were on a panel to talk about safety and security since between the two of us we have been robbed, witnessed murders, had stuff stolen from our back yard, been bitten by a dog, etc. It’s always a fun time when you get to scare the new trainees. The next day was the fun day where we got to talk about the different Peace Corps support groups and do activities to really get to know the new trainees. We also had plenty of time for questions from the new trainees about what life is really like as a volunteer without any PC staff around. We can get some pretty interesting questions and it is pretty fun. We remember this activity very well from when we were in training and how exciting it was to finally get to talk to actual volunteers and ask them questions.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
El Mundial
Unlike the U.S., the World Cup, or Mundial, is huge in Honduras. Soccer is the main sport played here and everyone plays it. When Honduras qualified for the World Cup everyone went crazy celebrating and the next day was declared a holiday! This is the first time in 28 years that they have qualified and it meant a lot to the people. Everyone kept asking us if the people in the U.S. were excited that the U.S. had also qualified and were shocked when we said that a lot of people probably had no idea. That is just crazy to them since it is such a big deal here. That said, it was an awesome experience to be here for the World Cup. In the months leading up to the event, there were signs, banners, store windows painted, and World Cup paraphernalia everywhere. Even the movie theaters participated with World Cup trivia on the screen before the movie.
The first game Honduras played in the World Cup against Chile started at 5:30 A.M. but that didn’t deter anyone from watching. We were in Tegucigalpa and got absolutely no sleep because there was a party outside of our room and they were playing the World Cup songs (you may not know this but there are two World Cup songs, one by Shakira and the other by K’nann and David Bisbal) and a Honduran artist Polache over and over again. We finally got up at 3:00 A.M., put our Honduras jerseys on and headed to T.G.I.F. with a bunch of Peace Corps volunteers to watch the game. Fridays stayed open all night and when we got there at 4:30 there were quite a few people. By the time the game started it was full and they were bringing out more chairs. Needless to say, Honduras lost and everyone was sad but they still cheered. It was a great experience because everyone was so into the game.
For the second Honduras game against Spain, we were staying with a friend in a small town. We went to his host family’s house for lunch and to watch the game. It was a bad game and super hot and Shannon fell asleep after eating lunch. The Honduran men present gave her a yellow card for sleeping during the game. Needless to say, Honduras lost again but it was another good experience watching the game at someone’s house and talking about it with them.
We watched the third game against Switzerland at our site-mate’s house since we no longer have cable (Kev actually goes over there for every game even the ones at 5:30 A.M.). Honduras finally played a lot better in that game but was still unable to score a goal and ended up tying 0-0. Honduras controlled the game and had plenty of scoring opportunities but was just not able to put the ball in the back of the net. We could hear shouts from the neighboring houses when a bad call was made and when the power went out for a few seconds.
So Honduras left the World Cup without having scored a goal but they left proud to have made it that far. People still wear their Honduras jerseys and they wear them proudly knowing that they proved to the world that they are a force to be reckoned with and vowing that they will be back in four years and this time will score lots of goals!
The first game Honduras played in the World Cup against Chile started at 5:30 A.M. but that didn’t deter anyone from watching. We were in Tegucigalpa and got absolutely no sleep because there was a party outside of our room and they were playing the World Cup songs (you may not know this but there are two World Cup songs, one by Shakira and the other by K’nann and David Bisbal) and a Honduran artist Polache over and over again. We finally got up at 3:00 A.M., put our Honduras jerseys on and headed to T.G.I.F. with a bunch of Peace Corps volunteers to watch the game. Fridays stayed open all night and when we got there at 4:30 there were quite a few people. By the time the game started it was full and they were bringing out more chairs. Needless to say, Honduras lost and everyone was sad but they still cheered. It was a great experience because everyone was so into the game.
For the second Honduras game against Spain, we were staying with a friend in a small town. We went to his host family’s house for lunch and to watch the game. It was a bad game and super hot and Shannon fell asleep after eating lunch. The Honduran men present gave her a yellow card for sleeping during the game. Needless to say, Honduras lost again but it was another good experience watching the game at someone’s house and talking about it with them.
We watched the third game against Switzerland at our site-mate’s house since we no longer have cable (Kev actually goes over there for every game even the ones at 5:30 A.M.). Honduras finally played a lot better in that game but was still unable to score a goal and ended up tying 0-0. Honduras controlled the game and had plenty of scoring opportunities but was just not able to put the ball in the back of the net. We could hear shouts from the neighboring houses when a bad call was made and when the power went out for a few seconds.
So Honduras left the World Cup without having scored a goal but they left proud to have made it that far. People still wear their Honduras jerseys and they wear them proudly knowing that they proved to the world that they are a force to be reckoned with and vowing that they will be back in four years and this time will score lots of goals!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
stuff
So it has been a little while since we have written. Kev’s parents came to visit for a week and we showed them the exciting sites of Catacamas and went to Tela, on the north coast, where we all got sunburned snorkeling (Shannon’s first sunburn in years, she was sad). We got to see some monkeys at a natural reserve and lots of plants at botanical gardens. Our almost site-mate Josh’s parents came right after Kevin’s parents so we got to meet them and spend some time with them as well. They accompanied Shannon and Josh to their English class and the teachers were super confused by their South African accents. It was good for them to hear something besides U.S.A. accents.
Shannon marched in a caminata pacífica (peaceful walk) last week with her counterparts. It was the second annual parade in which 10 schools and 5 high schools from the prevention program they do participated. It was a lot bigger than last year and was a lot of fun and of course Shannon is famous now because she was on TV.
We both attended the inauguration ceremony for the veterinary school that will be starting next year at the university where Kevin works. It was a huge event and people came from other countries as well as various ambassadors and diplomats. This will be the first veterinary school in Honduras so it is really exciting. The closest schools right now are in Nicaragua and Guatemala so having one in Honduras will be a great advantage for all of the young students who wish to study veterinary medicine. There is also much need here as many people treat their “pets” terribly and have no idea how to take care of them. It is very uncommon to spay and especially neuter animals (hence the millions of stray dogs and cats that run wild) so hopefully the school will focus on educating people about the advantages of this as well.
We celebrated biodiversity day a couple of weeks ago. The university hosted a big program put on by GTZ, a German organization, and we went on a trip to a town a couple of hours away to learn about biodiversity. We participated in a bird and plant count (Shannon almost died of boredom) where the vice mayor of the town was one of the guides and was extremely knowledgeable about birds. He impressed us by being able to identify all different types of birds just by listening to their calls. He also knew their names in English, Spanish, and their scientific names. We also got to see an endangered tree, Teocinte, which is endemic to the area and nowhere else in Honduras or the world. The Maya used it a lot during their reign and it the agency is trying to get people to protect and preserve it. We went to a local town pretty far into the campo (we had to ford a couple good sized rivers to get there) and saw the pine trees they planted as part of a reforestation project. It was a long day but we learned a lot and met a lot of interesting people. Go biodiversity!
Today we had some excitement when we went for a run at 5:30 in the morning. We got the to field where we normally run and saw special forces police officers everywhere crouching in bushes and surrounding about a block of houses. They were wearing bullet proof vests, helmets, and carrying semi-automatic weapons, something you don’t see everyday. A women who usually walks told us that they were trying to capture someone and that it was probably drug related so we should use the other entrance (on the side of the field away from them). We weren’t sure if it was safe to run but she assured us it was fine. Everyone else was going about their normal business, running, driving, and even walking through the mobs of police. So we ran as normal and after about 30 minutes they all stood up and it seemed like they were calling off the operation. It was weird. Later, our safety and security officer called to tell us that the DEA was running “operations” in Olancho this week. We assume this was part of it.
It rained a lot last weekend due to the storm Agatha. We heard that there were problems in Catacamas with flooding and bridges washing out and that the mayor had called a state of emergency. However, we didn’t see any of this and nobody could tell us where it was happening so we’re assuming everything was fine in most parts. Some other parts of the country were pretty hard hit so we were lucky we just had lots of rain (but don’t worry, if there had been an emergency Shannon recently went to the annual emergency zone coordinator meeting and is well prepared should there be an emergency). It tried to rain cats and dogs, but all it could muster up was a dead baby kitten on our patio. We’re still not sure where it came from, Kevin thinks that this evil stray cat that eats our cats’ food had babies but Shannon doesn’t think it was pregnant. A ver… Now we are just battling the terrible heat and humidity and trying not to melt (impossible).
Shannon marched in a caminata pacífica (peaceful walk) last week with her counterparts. It was the second annual parade in which 10 schools and 5 high schools from the prevention program they do participated. It was a lot bigger than last year and was a lot of fun and of course Shannon is famous now because she was on TV.
We both attended the inauguration ceremony for the veterinary school that will be starting next year at the university where Kevin works. It was a huge event and people came from other countries as well as various ambassadors and diplomats. This will be the first veterinary school in Honduras so it is really exciting. The closest schools right now are in Nicaragua and Guatemala so having one in Honduras will be a great advantage for all of the young students who wish to study veterinary medicine. There is also much need here as many people treat their “pets” terribly and have no idea how to take care of them. It is very uncommon to spay and especially neuter animals (hence the millions of stray dogs and cats that run wild) so hopefully the school will focus on educating people about the advantages of this as well.
We celebrated biodiversity day a couple of weeks ago. The university hosted a big program put on by GTZ, a German organization, and we went on a trip to a town a couple of hours away to learn about biodiversity. We participated in a bird and plant count (Shannon almost died of boredom) where the vice mayor of the town was one of the guides and was extremely knowledgeable about birds. He impressed us by being able to identify all different types of birds just by listening to their calls. He also knew their names in English, Spanish, and their scientific names. We also got to see an endangered tree, Teocinte, which is endemic to the area and nowhere else in Honduras or the world. The Maya used it a lot during their reign and it the agency is trying to get people to protect and preserve it. We went to a local town pretty far into the campo (we had to ford a couple good sized rivers to get there) and saw the pine trees they planted as part of a reforestation project. It was a long day but we learned a lot and met a lot of interesting people. Go biodiversity!
Today we had some excitement when we went for a run at 5:30 in the morning. We got the to field where we normally run and saw special forces police officers everywhere crouching in bushes and surrounding about a block of houses. They were wearing bullet proof vests, helmets, and carrying semi-automatic weapons, something you don’t see everyday. A women who usually walks told us that they were trying to capture someone and that it was probably drug related so we should use the other entrance (on the side of the field away from them). We weren’t sure if it was safe to run but she assured us it was fine. Everyone else was going about their normal business, running, driving, and even walking through the mobs of police. So we ran as normal and after about 30 minutes they all stood up and it seemed like they were calling off the operation. It was weird. Later, our safety and security officer called to tell us that the DEA was running “operations” in Olancho this week. We assume this was part of it.
It rained a lot last weekend due to the storm Agatha. We heard that there were problems in Catacamas with flooding and bridges washing out and that the mayor had called a state of emergency. However, we didn’t see any of this and nobody could tell us where it was happening so we’re assuming everything was fine in most parts. Some other parts of the country were pretty hard hit so we were lucky we just had lots of rain (but don’t worry, if there had been an emergency Shannon recently went to the annual emergency zone coordinator meeting and is well prepared should there be an emergency). It tried to rain cats and dogs, but all it could muster up was a dead baby kitten on our patio. We’re still not sure where it came from, Kevin thinks that this evil stray cat that eats our cats’ food had babies but Shannon doesn’t think it was pregnant. A ver… Now we are just battling the terrible heat and humidity and trying not to melt (impossible).
Friday, April 30, 2010
Swimming without suits (almost)
We have been working hard since our last post and trip to La Moskitia. Shannon continues working with her English classes, Colgate program, HIV/AIDS, helping with Kevin’s swimming team, presentations, and many other random things. Kevin has been focusing on his swimming team as well as helping with English in the university and will start working with a class next week to hopefully start a recycling program at the university. We both went to Tegucigalpa this past Saturday with the athletes from the university that participated in the third annual JUDUCA (Juegos Deportivos Universitarios de Centroamérica). Eight countries and 19 universities were present at the games. It was the first time our university took teams to this event and we were represented in soccer, indoor soccer, basketball, swimming, track, tae kwan do, and chess. It was the first time many of these athletes had participated in a competition like this.
The Universidad Nacionál de Agricultura is set up so the students take classes about four hours a day and work about four hours a day on the university land. It is a hands-on approach to learning as well as regular classroom learning. After their time allotted to eat their three meals, study, and do anything else they need to do, they don’t have much free time. The students call it jail, and it kind of is like a jail. Everyone lives on campus, no one can leave without permission, and they are not allowed to have tattoos, piercings (for males), long hair (for males), drink alcohol, smoke, or fight. They get strikes for missing class, doing badly in classes, or getting caught breaking the rules. If they get too many strikes, or fail a class, they get kicked out of the university.
The universities we competed against were much more like universities at home. You can take classes when you want and then do whatever you want in your free time. They have real sports teams set up like universities at home. The swimmers were told from the very beginning that they would probably not win at this competition and would probably face competitors who had swum their whole lives. They wanted to go ahead and do it so we put in about two months of practice starting from learning to breathe in freestyle as well as learning all of the other strokes and they advanced a lot (at the beginning Shannon could beat all of them and by the end they could all beat her in 50 yards). Minus Easter week and the time we spent back home in March, they really only had 5 full weeks of practice. Needless to say, having never swam competitively in their lives and barely knowing how to swim when we started, we went to the competition with low expectations. When we arrived at the pool, the other teams were wearing their warm-up suits with their school names and had flags from their schools and we knew that these teams were for real. We were standing there in jeans and polo shirts. Our team dove off blocks for the first time in their lives the morning the meet started and we bought suits and goggles at eight o’clock the night before!
Our guys swam hard but we still finished last in almost every event we swam. One of our swimmers had the only false start of the meet, not that the meet was run super well but that is another story and Kevin is still upset about that. Afterwards, they all asked if we were still going to practice and were excited to continue swimming. So, we will. The next JUDUCA is in two years in Guatemala. The four swimmers we took are all freshman or sophomores and can practice, without our help, for two more years and keep improving. We will help them until we leave and continue to teach people to swim and how to improve their techniques if they already know how. The other teams from our university did just about as well as the swimmers but we did get one bronze medal in tae kwon do and the chess players were still competing when we left with the hopes to medal.
Our swimmers learned a lot from this experience and it is something they will never forget. We all went to the opening ceremonies and were introduced like in the Olympics where the teams walk in after the name of the country. Shannon and Kevin got to walk in the front with the University president and other professors who were there. Kevin got to give out medals to the swimmers as he was the only representative for the university at the swimming closing ceremonies. He also got the best seat, right next to the JUDUCA queen. Shannon and Kevin got free food and lodging for a few days and got to see parts of Tegucigalpa they had never seen. We got to bond with the students and learn a lot of slang! We also went to a playoff soccer game for one of the major teams in the capital with most of the athletes from the university which was a lot of fun. Our first soccer game in Honduras, unfortunately not the national team but better than nothing. Overall, this was an awesome experience for everyone that will never be forgotten.
The Universidad Nacionál de Agricultura is set up so the students take classes about four hours a day and work about four hours a day on the university land. It is a hands-on approach to learning as well as regular classroom learning. After their time allotted to eat their three meals, study, and do anything else they need to do, they don’t have much free time. The students call it jail, and it kind of is like a jail. Everyone lives on campus, no one can leave without permission, and they are not allowed to have tattoos, piercings (for males), long hair (for males), drink alcohol, smoke, or fight. They get strikes for missing class, doing badly in classes, or getting caught breaking the rules. If they get too many strikes, or fail a class, they get kicked out of the university.
The universities we competed against were much more like universities at home. You can take classes when you want and then do whatever you want in your free time. They have real sports teams set up like universities at home. The swimmers were told from the very beginning that they would probably not win at this competition and would probably face competitors who had swum their whole lives. They wanted to go ahead and do it so we put in about two months of practice starting from learning to breathe in freestyle as well as learning all of the other strokes and they advanced a lot (at the beginning Shannon could beat all of them and by the end they could all beat her in 50 yards). Minus Easter week and the time we spent back home in March, they really only had 5 full weeks of practice. Needless to say, having never swam competitively in their lives and barely knowing how to swim when we started, we went to the competition with low expectations. When we arrived at the pool, the other teams were wearing their warm-up suits with their school names and had flags from their schools and we knew that these teams were for real. We were standing there in jeans and polo shirts. Our team dove off blocks for the first time in their lives the morning the meet started and we bought suits and goggles at eight o’clock the night before!
Our guys swam hard but we still finished last in almost every event we swam. One of our swimmers had the only false start of the meet, not that the meet was run super well but that is another story and Kevin is still upset about that. Afterwards, they all asked if we were still going to practice and were excited to continue swimming. So, we will. The next JUDUCA is in two years in Guatemala. The four swimmers we took are all freshman or sophomores and can practice, without our help, for two more years and keep improving. We will help them until we leave and continue to teach people to swim and how to improve their techniques if they already know how. The other teams from our university did just about as well as the swimmers but we did get one bronze medal in tae kwon do and the chess players were still competing when we left with the hopes to medal.
Our swimmers learned a lot from this experience and it is something they will never forget. We all went to the opening ceremonies and were introduced like in the Olympics where the teams walk in after the name of the country. Shannon and Kevin got to walk in the front with the University president and other professors who were there. Kevin got to give out medals to the swimmers as he was the only representative for the university at the swimming closing ceremonies. He also got the best seat, right next to the JUDUCA queen. Shannon and Kevin got free food and lodging for a few days and got to see parts of Tegucigalpa they had never seen. We got to bond with the students and learn a lot of slang! We also went to a playoff soccer game for one of the major teams in the capital with most of the athletes from the university which was a lot of fun. Our first soccer game in Honduras, unfortunately not the national team but better than nothing. Overall, this was an awesome experience for everyone that will never be forgotten.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
home and La Moskitia
Almost another month has passed since our last post due to varying circumstances. We went home on an unplanned trip after Kevin’s grandmother passed away in March. It was under sad circumstances that we returned home but we were glad to be able to spend time with our family and friends.
The weekend before we went home we participated in a training activity with the new group of volunteers who are currently in training. We represented the married couples support group, one of five support groups that PC Honduras offered. We got to talk about what each of the groups did as well as any other questions the trainees may have had. It was a good 4 hours of interaction with the new group and we think they learned and enjoyed it as well. It was almost two years ago when we were in their positions wondering just what Honduras had in store for us in the future and were full of questions about PC life that were answered on the same activity day.
After being spoiled at home with whatever food we wanted, we flew back overnight to Honduras, caught a ride most of the way home from some nice people we met on the plane, finally got home that night to clean some cat messes that had been created while we were gone and packed our stuff to get ready for our planned vacation to La Moskitia, the wildlands of Central America. If you didn’t read the last blog, it is the largest intact forest in Central America and we went right into the middle of it. It was a lovely nine day trip that we will never forget. We took a plane in and then traveled around in dugout boats on lagoons and rivers until the last day when we rode a vehicle out on the beach. The first day was spent in the Savannah where we saw some huge cranes, caimans, water buffalo and other animals. Day two involved going to more of a beach community and a cultural night of dancing with the locals. Day three was the long, six hour boat ride up river to the community of Las Marias. Day four we went farther upriver and took a short walk in the jungle and saw some ancient petroglyphs. Days five, six, and seven were a camping trip/hike into the jungle and climbing Pico Dama (you cant get up the top rock face but can hike up until that point). During the trip, two types of monkeys, many birds, snakes, lizards and other animals were spotted. We also had to climb up roots ( really fun for Shannon and her broken toe) and use branches at some points to get up the trail. On the hike out we saw wild hog marks and jaguar poop as well. Day eight was back down the river to another beach community where we learned to fish like the locals although only one person caught one (Yay Ana!). We refreshed ourselves with coconut juice and soda and got ready to start our adventure home at three in the morning. Two hours by boat, three and a half hours in the back of a truck on the beach and dusty roads with 14 people packed in the bed. Some waiting, then many more hours on a bus that kept stopping and making us mad. We finally made it home at about seven that night only to find the cats had peed on our bed and we had to clean it off before we could go to sleep. What a trip!
All in all, it was a fabulous trip and a great chance to see a different part of Honduras. All the people speak the local language of Miskito and do not learn Spanish until they enter school. Most speak Miskito in their houses as well and only use Spanish when speaking to non-Miskito people. They were no cars and only a few motorcycles in most of the communities which meant no dust! Everything was green and beautiful and the people were very welcoming. We didn’t feel like we were in Honduras anymore. Now it is back to the real world of dust and heat…
The weekend before we went home we participated in a training activity with the new group of volunteers who are currently in training. We represented the married couples support group, one of five support groups that PC Honduras offered. We got to talk about what each of the groups did as well as any other questions the trainees may have had. It was a good 4 hours of interaction with the new group and we think they learned and enjoyed it as well. It was almost two years ago when we were in their positions wondering just what Honduras had in store for us in the future and were full of questions about PC life that were answered on the same activity day.
After being spoiled at home with whatever food we wanted, we flew back overnight to Honduras, caught a ride most of the way home from some nice people we met on the plane, finally got home that night to clean some cat messes that had been created while we were gone and packed our stuff to get ready for our planned vacation to La Moskitia, the wildlands of Central America. If you didn’t read the last blog, it is the largest intact forest in Central America and we went right into the middle of it. It was a lovely nine day trip that we will never forget. We took a plane in and then traveled around in dugout boats on lagoons and rivers until the last day when we rode a vehicle out on the beach. The first day was spent in the Savannah where we saw some huge cranes, caimans, water buffalo and other animals. Day two involved going to more of a beach community and a cultural night of dancing with the locals. Day three was the long, six hour boat ride up river to the community of Las Marias. Day four we went farther upriver and took a short walk in the jungle and saw some ancient petroglyphs. Days five, six, and seven were a camping trip/hike into the jungle and climbing Pico Dama (you cant get up the top rock face but can hike up until that point). During the trip, two types of monkeys, many birds, snakes, lizards and other animals were spotted. We also had to climb up roots ( really fun for Shannon and her broken toe) and use branches at some points to get up the trail. On the hike out we saw wild hog marks and jaguar poop as well. Day eight was back down the river to another beach community where we learned to fish like the locals although only one person caught one (Yay Ana!). We refreshed ourselves with coconut juice and soda and got ready to start our adventure home at three in the morning. Two hours by boat, three and a half hours in the back of a truck on the beach and dusty roads with 14 people packed in the bed. Some waiting, then many more hours on a bus that kept stopping and making us mad. We finally made it home at about seven that night only to find the cats had peed on our bed and we had to clean it off before we could go to sleep. What a trip!
All in all, it was a fabulous trip and a great chance to see a different part of Honduras. All the people speak the local language of Miskito and do not learn Spanish until they enter school. Most speak Miskito in their houses as well and only use Spanish when speaking to non-Miskito people. They were no cars and only a few motorcycles in most of the communities which meant no dust! Everything was green and beautiful and the people were very welcoming. We didn’t feel like we were in Honduras anymore. Now it is back to the real world of dust and heat…
Friday, March 12, 2010
Back to Work...
Almost a month has passed since our last blog entry. My, how time flies. We will be living back in the States before you know it. School has started back up and we are both working on several things now. Shannon has started working on the drug and alcohol prevention program with her counterpart, has started her English class to teachers again, and started teaching young kids about dental care through the Colgate program once again. She is also going to be helping a volunteer nearby do English classes for teachers near his community. Kevin has taken it upon himself to coach a new swim team at the university that really needs some help. It started with six guys and after two days of helping them out has grown to eleven. Only one of them knows all four competitive strokes. If they could swim with their heads down, they were doing well. After two days, they look a lot better but still have a long ways to go and the one and only meet is April 23, a little over a month away, but who’s counting, right? Supposedly they are going to get some swim equipment this weekend, like goggles, kickboards, stopwatches and other necessities. The English lab and program are now in full effect at the university as well where every professor and student will have to take English. We both go to the new English club every Friday night at the university to do fun English learning activities like sing songs, play games or watch movies. We recently recorded a cd with three other volunteers pronouncing English words to go along with the third level of the English course that Shannon teaches with the school teachers. That was a lot of fun but we are glad it is over. We were hoping to be able to watch the Olympics but unfortunately, no channel that we have carried it so missed out on all the winter action in Vancouver . This week, Shannon went to Tegucigalpa to meet the new group of volunteers that just arrived in country to talk to them about safety and security, Kevin already go to do that once after we were robbed and now Shannon gets to go after witnessing a murder and being robbed. Then, we both go this weekend to talk to the new group about the married couples support group. The end of this month, Easter Week, we will be going to La Moskitia for a nine day trip into a UNESCO world heritage site and the Rio Platano Biosphere, the largest intact tract of forest in Central America where we will try to avoid being eaten by crocodiles (and mosquitoes, although it is not named after an abundance of mosquitoes) and see some of the most pristine forest in the world and the animals and plants that live in them.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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