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.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Back in the States...

Hi all! Well I don't know if anyone will be reading this now that I am back home, but I felt like I should go back and talk about my last few days there and about how it's been since I got home.

I hope I haven't forgotten too many of the details since I waited so long to write, but my last few days in Honduras were incredible. I felt so loved and appreciated. I had several goodbye get togethers. The first one was in late May, as I may have written about earlier. The women's group threw me a birthday/goodbye party all in one. They had games, gave me a small jewelry box, said a few words about how much they appreciated the projects I had helped do, and of course, there was much dancing and they made chow mein (which may seem odd to some of you, but the Hondurans love it). After that I spent about a week in Teguc for COS, a bunch of beaurocratic stuff, papers to get signed, bank accounts to close, interviews, description of service reports, etc. Luckily I was there the same time as Justin, another Hondu 5, and many Hondu 6s from the West that I knew. I stayed with Lauren Dickson in her apartment with her weiner dogs, and had a great time. We got sushi one night, another night we went to a mexican restaurant with great margaritas. I officially finished my Peace Corps service on June 15th...it was bizarre. It really really went super fast, although many may not believe me. I loved it and I already miss the laidback lifestyle, my Honduran friends and PCV friends, speaking Spanish...and many other things.

After Teguc I went back to Dulce Nombre for 3 or 4 days because I really missed Lester (it took Justin and I two days to get back because we missed the last bus out of San Pedro Sula). After that I met up with Lauren and Jenn (in from Austin) to go to Joe and Emily's wedding in Utila, one of the bay islands. There were both PCVs, Joe from Hondu 6 and Emily from Hondu 7. It was fun hanging out with many PCVs from the west that went out to the islands, and a couple RPCVs came back to celebrate. Utila was beautiful and very laidback. The wedding was small and intimate, and Lauren and I, not being officially invited, went to the party afterwards.

After Utila, I had about 10 more days to spend in Dulce Nombre. It was bittersweet...every day it seemed like I was doing something for the next to last time, then the last time, and it was sad. Lester and I took advantage of our last few days together...he came back to Dulce almost every day after class instead of staying in Santa Rosa. I spent a lot of time with Kito and her puppy also...it was hard leaving her because I know she was worried. Kito and I went out to Last Caleras at the school for my going away, and it was very moving. These women were very poor and made my small stove project seem like a very big deal. Each woman, 10 in all, stood up and spoke, and almost all of them broke down and cried in the middle of their speech. Many brought me a gift, a small cheap item, lovingly wrapped, and I know each gift came from their houses and meant a lot to them. There were two cakes there, and all the kids in the one-room-school classroom were very very excited about the cake...it was obvious the cake was a huge and rare treat for them. Cake was divided with care so that everyone got a piece, and you should have seen those cake boxes afterwards....every single speck of icing was hunted down by little fingers afterwards. The experience made me wish I had started work in Las Caleras earlier...I only spent my last few months out there with one small stove project, but the women had gotten very attached and I felt very cared for and loved. I hope Kito keeps working there.

Ok I am tired for now, but soon I will write about my two other goodbye events and final thoughts...g'night.