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.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Hangin´out in Dulce Nombre...

Well hi to all...life is feelin´good right now. It´s a breezy lazy Friday afternoon and I feel like I was very productive this week with wrapping up projects and feel like I almost am on a vacation, coasting through my last few weeks. It´s been fun showing Kito around and introducing her to people, hanging out with her and our puppy in the afternoons and being silly...did I write about our pup, Maní? She´s my niece, or better to say, I´m her aunt, and Kito´s her mom. I take her at night cuz Kito´s with a host family. It´s making my like dogs a lot more...I guess I just got used to having cats even though I like dogs, but now I am starting to get used to having a dog too.

Today we walked out to an aldea, Las Caleras, to supervise 10 stoves that the women made this month...it was my last supervision and it went quick since there were so few. We walked there and back, no rides passed by...but as it´s the closest aldea, it was only an hour walk each way. It felt good, the weather was nice, and except for the occasional trucks passing by and lifting up a cloud of dust, Kito and I enjoyed our chatting. It´s weird walking around speaking English with someone...everyone looks at us funny, and rightly so. But yeah, I am finished with the stove project! We made 116 stoves with the money from my friends and family (a bit over $2000) and the $200 from the University of Maine. This little old lady who we visited today to see her new stove was sooo soo happy to see us and couldn´t stop thanking me. She kept saying how much she had needed a stove and had prayed for help from God, and He sent two little "gringitas" to help. She was so sincere I felt the tears coming on, she was just so cute and happy. She sent us away with some bananas for the road, a gift to show her gratitude. All I have left to do is write up the evaluation of the project and sent it to Peace Corps.

Other than that I have been enjoying my last few weeks here. I have helped some in the library, last night with a parents of the youth group meeting (they are trying to start bi-monthly adult meetings for fellowship, reading, activities and snacks). I have been planning a women´s workshop for next tuesday, the 29th, that I am excited about. It´ll be a workshop with 30 or so women, about gender and work, women and men, gender and self-esteem, etc. A woman from Chile I met while in Santa Rosa is coming to give the workshop - she travels all over Honduras talking to women. I just had to get the women there, a locale, find funds for the lunches and snacks, and find a projector. An NGO named ASANOG agreed to fund the food for the women. So that´s next week. I think this weekend I may go to Copan Ruinas with Lester to celebrate my birthday and just get away for a bit. Other news, there´s a new internet place in town! Which is where I am. It costs 15 Lps instead of 20 Lps like the other place, and the connection is a little bit faster, and more importantly, it´s right by the church, so much closer to me - although the walk to the other one was good for me. Kito is excited. It´s good to see a little bit of progress. Now what I would love to see are paved roads, trash cleanups, and a reliable water system. But good internet is a start.

One sad thing that has started up for me is now whenever I see friends or people I know in the street, the first thing they say is, "When are you leaving?" or "I thought you had left already!"...they look very concerned, but still, I´d like to enjoy my last time here instead of being constantly reminded! Denial is good :)

I have been using more internet lately looking on Craigslist for an apartment and looking at cars, and I think I may have an apartment in Baltimore. It looks nice and the girl I have been corresponding with went to visit it this week and liked it a lot. So that´s exciting :) I´ve been busy at that but it still seems unreal, to be living in the states and all that. It´s hard to imagine. I´m sure once I´m there I´ll adapt quickly, but sitting here in Dulce Nombre, in my little internet cafe with a fan blowing on me and hearing the roosters crow outside, it seems unreal.

Well lots of love to all...I´ll try to write more soon!

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