Machetes, flaming Ouija board, and a puppy

My apologies for taking a bit of time to write this, but it has been a very busy week and a half, but it’s long so don’t get your panties in a bunch.

 We left Sunday morning for our volunteer visits and got back Thursday evening. Volunteer visits basically are when each volunteer is matched up with another volunteer already in the field (all over the country) in their branch (in my case youth development) so that we can shadow them and get a feel for the work that we will be doing. I went to the department of Choluteca which is in the south to a town of about 3,000 called Namasigue.  Let me just say that Choluteca is hot, there was one morning at about 6am that my eyelids were sweating, ufff, and it wasn’t even the hottest time of the year. It made me really appreciate the climate where I am currently living which is nice and fresco, it rains almost every day in the late afternoon or early evening and is surrounded by greenery and mountains.

The first day of the day of the volunteer visit I traveled with two other trainees who were also going to the region of Choluteca and met my volunteer in the city of Choluteca. We took a bus to Teguz where I sat near a man who had a machete wrapped in a piece of newspaper on his lap. PS machetes here are the go to tool, lawn mower sissors chasing off rabid dogs, wielded by drunks etc. Once we were in Cholu we ate at Wendy’s (ahh American food) although they did have balleadas on the menu and went to a big grocery store. Which is pretty rare here as well unless you are in a really big city, mostly there are just pulperias (mini-convience stores -store fronts or at the front of people’s houses) everywhere.  So why is a big grocery store such a big deal- variety and they have lots of stuff that are not in pulps like bagels and cream-cheese yum and other American stuff like cheddar cheese and 30 varieties of shampoo oh and of course the sell machetes too which someone in line was buying. We picked up some things then headed to the other volunteers site who was in Conception de Maria about 3 and a half hours away. My host volunteer and I were going to Conception de Maria with the 2 other trainees in my group because  our 2 host volunteers were friends and Conception was in Feria (Their annual festival) aka mini cornfest. My host volunteer made tacos from taco seasoning that her family had sent her from home (there are a lack of spices in this country) and they do not do Mexican style tacos here unfortunately, which were really yummy. Then we all went out to the Feria with another PC health volunteer that lives in a nearby. There was a crazy Ferris wheel that I ventured on once, that went really really fast and was probably not up to any safety code in the entire US (living on the edge J ).Flying swings, a merry go around that guys ran around and pushed, cotton candy and lots of deep fried foods, shooting games to win cheesy prizes you get the idea small scale carnie goodness. There was also a dance party that cost 100 limps to get into but luckily the local host volunteer was able to work her connections and get us in for free. There was a live band that kind of looked like a Latino version of the backstreet boys with matching white vests and hilarious synchronous dance moves.  But not to give you the impression that this was a 8^th grade dance vibe before we went in there was a group of military men carrying loaded machine guns and throwing out a drunk guy, not so gently. We closed the evening sleep over style sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags.

The next morning my host volunteer and I left early (6am) to get back to her site. The next couple of days I followed my host volunteer around and got to meet the counterparts she worked with, the local high school, elementary school, pre-k, library, health center, mayor’s office. She spent time preparing for a dental brigade that was coming in sponsored by a rotary club, collecting info from teachers about students, and organizing a parent meeting, as well as time prepping for a lesson at the kinder on cavities, and a teacher training.  She was very organized and involved volunteer which impressed me and a good cook too which I appreciated. The last night I unfortunately had some GI problems and had to keep waking her up in the middle of the night so I could use the bathroom outside, which was protected by Danger the guard dog, which she had to hold so I could get outside without being attacked. One interesting instance was when the host family insisted that she burn the Ouija board that a previous volunteer had left in her house, because a local girl in the community recently had gone crazy because she had used one. Being of a practical minded save everything to use in the classroom mind set I wanted to know why she just didn’t cover the box with paper and the board and use it for an educational game. Game boards and boxes are very hard to come by here, after all. That idea was shot down immediately and I watched the game go up in smoke as it was burned in the backyard. Hondurans seem to be very concerned about people being possessed and lots of evangelical churches here have services for exorcisms here.

I was glad to have the experience to get a glimpse of how my life might be over the next 2 years. When I got back home I was greeted by a chubby adorable puppy, which my host mom is watching for her granddaughter while she is at school and he is SOOOOOOO cute and you can actually pet him. Dogs here basically live on the street and do their own thing. They are pretty dangerous so it’s advisable to walk with a rock in hand just in case and are covered in all kinds of gross things, aka they’re not pet-able and huggable like this adorable puppy or my miller (who I miss terribly). The volunteer I visited had her own dog and it’s pretty typical it sounds like for volunteers to adopt or buy a dog here, but they were allowed to have their own place so I don’t think that is going to be an option for our group, So I’ll just have to soak up this puppy time while I can. Speaking of dogs the language director was driving the Peace Corps van yesterday with us and ran over a dog in Teguz which was one of the most depressing sounds I have ever heard.

But not wanting to end in such a depressing tone, I got mail!!!!! A letter from Margret! And some boxes from the padres with some much needed items! YEAH!!!!! Chelsea is married YEAHHH! Kim had a healthy baby boy YEAH!!!!! My parents celebrated their 35^th wedding anniversary YEAH!!!!! Good luck to all my teacher friends as the school year is starting, ahhh beginning of the year room prep, I feel your pain! Love you all I hope to hear from you soon.

Em