Lauren's Peace Corps Experience in Honduras

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and experiences described in this travelogue are mine personally. Nothing written here should be interpreted as official or unofficial Peace Corps literature or as sanctioned by the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. I have chosen to write about my experience online in order to update family and friends; I am earning no money whatsoever from this endeavor. Please do not copy or forward any of these contents without my permission.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Back to reality!

Hi all!

So I am back from a great trip with my dad...it was awesome. He came on Monday the 12th and left this past Friday...about 11 days in all. I will let him tell you about it (he´ll be posting about what he thought of the whole thing), but I´ll just say that I was glad to have him see more of Honduras than he did the last time he was here. He is also the only visitor I have actually taken out to the villages to work - he went with me on a two hour hike out to this tiny remote town to do a stove demonstration and he took some doctor stuff and examined about 15 people out there, which they were really appreciative of because doctors never go out there. We had a luxurious time out at the Lodge at Pico Bonito, which I HIGHLY recommend! Great hiking, swimming in pristine rivers, awesome food...Chris Cole can attest to the fact, cuz he is the only other person who has taken me there! It´s a great place. I think dad really liked the hikes, did some bird watching, and we met some interesting travelers.

Now that I am back I have to dispel all the rumors that I had left for good - this always happens whenever I leave town. People see me and they are super surprised - "YOU´re still here??" they say. Yes, thanks, I am still here. Today we gave out the shoes that Glen Evans from Arlington had brought, and let me say, it was priceless to see the kids´happy faces. They were sooo content to have a pair of new shoes for school. Glen is doing great work here (I think dad will write about him because he got to meet him). If you are looking for a great cause to support, go to Artforhumanity.com and donate. This time he brought 57 pairs of shoes for kids attending schools, last time he brought 13 sacks of use clothes for the women´s group to sell to start their co-op tree growing business, and he has also brought 2 computers for the library, and paint.

Next week is Semana Santa - holy week. The only week of the year most Hondurans have off. I also get vacation but I am so nice that I offered to give up 3 days of it to help with training the new group of health volunteers in the town of La Paz. I am going to teach them how to make the stoves and also talk to them during a session with my counterpart the Profesora about counterpart relations and how to work with NGOs in their sites. The rest of the week I am hoping to go somewhere with Lester´s family and go swimming...that´s the tradition here. Everyone asks you during Semana Santa - "Have you gone swimming yet?". They go to rivers, water parks, lakes, the beach, hot springs, whatever they can get. They take food, blankets, music, and family and friends.

I have to choose my grad school in the next week or two. It´s turned out to be a tough decision. I will let you know :)

Well hopefully dad will not procrastinate too long and will write about our trip soon! Thanks to all the Girl Scout Troop 205 for the DVDs for the library, and Blanca also (your movies found some fans here!), and Patty Prout as well! We have a full shelf of some great family movies to show at the library - they´ve already had one showing, of Lil Rascals. Thanks to Grandma for her memoirs, and mom for all the yummy food and special things you sent down with dad! I will be home before you know it...