Site Visit

Satruday was a day of complete bliss. Thirteen of us took a trip to Comayagua to get out of the Villa for a day, and to do some shopping. We had fun; i bought some clothes that were much needed. I bought two pair of capri pants. I have a feeling that they are not going to last a very long time because of their quality, but they will last me a little while, and I will use the heck out of them while I can. It is so hot in the Villa that I just really needed some shorty-pants. After we were done shopping, we took a bus to a restaurant that is between Comayagua and the Villa. We had lunch and then sat by their pool. Yes, that is right, they had a pool. That is why we chose to go there. It cost 40 Limpira to go in the pool, which is about $2, so its nothing. But, alas, I didn´t go in. I was still getting over my sickness and a couple people got me freaked out about fungi, so I just enjoyed the breeze and sat in the sun with everyone else. Sunday, we all had to make our ways to different towns. It is site-visit time. Everone, well mostly everyone, goes to different sites to visit current volunteers in their project. So, I am currently in Marcala, La Paz. I am actually here with Amanda and Jenna, and the three of us are sharing a hotel room. The people we are visiting in this area don´t have room for us at their houses, so we are being put up in a hotel. We were given money for a double room and a single, but we decided to save a little bit and all bunk up together! It ended up not really saving Amanda and I any money, but Jenna saved a bundle! It didn´t end up being very dificult to get to Marcala. We got a ride in the back of Jenna´s host family´s pick-up to La Paz (the city), then from there we waited with Tricia who was headed to Santiago, then after she was on her bus, we went looking for ours. While waiting, we sat in the shade and I went on a mission to find some water. I went into a mini pulparia where the guy there was extatic to see me and my blond-gringoness. Thankfully I didn´t get the "creeper" vibe from him, so I talked. He asked if I was just passing through and why I was here, so I explained that I am in Cuerpo de Paz and all that. He ended up complementing me on my Spanish, which completely made my day! Once we were on our bus, we realized that the bus-simulation that our Safety and Security advisor demonstrated for us, was completely accurate. Thankfully nobody got on with automatic wepons, but an uncountable number of people got on trying to sell us anything and everything. They just hop on, walk down and then back up the isle, and then get off. The whole time they are yelling what they are selling, and telling you how much it costs. Candy, soda, water, paletas; there was even a lady who got on selling sissors and nail clippers - you just never know what you are going to see. Once we started going, the kid sitting in front of Amanda and I stuck his head out the window, and he proceeded to keep it out the window the whole hour-and-a-half-long trip. At one point an old guy came leaned over and told me I should roll up my window. From what I could understand of his Spanish, with the help of his hand gestures, I think he was worried the kid in front of me was going to vomit, which would mean it would all come through my window and get all over me. He sertainly had good intentions, but I didn´t think the kid was motion sick - he simply just liked acting like a dog or something along those lines? Marcala is a very beautiful city. It is a city, too. Kristin, the girl I am visiting said the population in the urban area is 15,000 and that with all the aldeas, it is 30,000. So, that is very lager. There is small supermarket - nothing like the large ones in Comayagua and Tegus, but still it is much larger than a pulparia. And, there is a street market, which I love. I don´t know why, but I have always been fasinated by street markets. I just love them. Today we got to go through it very quicky because we were just grabbing some lunch from one of Kristin´s favorite vendors, but I hope to get a better look tomorrow. So, for the site visit: Today, Amanda and I met Kristin at her counterpart´s office. A counterpart is the person you are "assigned" to in your site. Some counterparts end up being better than others, and Kristin´s seems to be a good one. They organize groups for her to give charlas to, and do a lot of work with women in surrounding aldeas! Today, we went and gave a charla about nutrition to a group of women in an aldea about a half an hour away. Amanda and I didn´t do much. We helped pass things out, but it was good to just sit in on it. We were able to see what a real-life charla was like, we heard the questions that were brought up, and how they went about answering them. For nutrition, the thing that came up that struck me the most was a woman who didn´t like that Manteca (butter/oil/margerine stuff) was in the "other" catagory, meaning we are not supposed to eat much of it. She said that she fries everything and that she only likes the flavor when it is fried and that she has always used it. The way Kristin when about answering it was great. She simply said that all the food in that catagory (sugar, oils, candy, churros) are things that should only be eaten in moderation. They are things that you can maybe add to your already balanced diet, but none of those foods should replace the other catagories, which are very important for having proper nutrition. In Honduras, it is not uncommon to see a 3-month-old baby being fed Coke in a baby bottle, or to see 3-year-olds snacking on churros 24/7. So, our nutrition talks are based around the food "rainbow" and making sure that you eat things from all the imporant catagories. Rather than talking about protiens, carbohydrates and those fancy big words, Kristin talks about it in a different way. Her three catagories of food that she teaches are: foods to grow (basically protiens), foods to run (foods that give you energy), and foods that make you glow (all the fruits and vegtibals that are vital for life because all their minerals and vitimans). The women were able to understand these three catagories fairly well, and all in all, I think they enjoyed, and understood the charla. I am staying in a hotel here in Marcala and someone else needs to use the computer, but let me just wrap up by saying that it is actually a realy nice hotel, and I definately feel like we are living like queens right now, lol! We could have ended up in a ver different site, with very diferent living arangements. However, this might give us a little bit of a false impression for when we actually become volunteers.