What is that smell???

Written July 26th

Among the many differences we face everyday here in Honduras, I have just come across the one that is my least favorite. Plumbing. This was never something I thought I would miss. I don’t mean in the sense of having pluming over a latrine or an outhouse, I mean the difference between how things are plumbed here in Honduras vs. how things are plumbed in the United States.

I have been in my new house for about five days now, and since day one, a scent was lingering in the bathroom that I couldn’t place. It was an unpleasant smell, but the first day I just ignored it. Day two however, I realized that it was not going away, so I sniffed it out. The smell was coming from the sink - the sink of all places. So, I plugged the drain, and the smell seemed to die off a little bit. The next day I went and met up with other volunteers for Leticia’s Birthday and explained my predicament. Erin said she had the same problem, and when she asked her landlord, he said there was nothing that could be done about it.

Apparently, in the United States, we use the nice, snaky pipes to plumb things, which allows air pockets to form and trap the unpleasant smells, keeping them from making their way up the pipes. However, here in Honduras, pipes are installed in the straightest, most direct route to where they need to go, which allows for all the unpleasant odors to sneak back up the pipes and linger in my bathroom!

What to do about this unfortunate predicament? The guidance given to Erin, who so generously passed it on to me, was to keep the plug in the sink. However, Erin said that if I dump bleach down the sink every so often, it helps with the smell, too. So, we’ll see how this goes. I get to live with it for two years, so hopefully I can either figure out a way to keep the smell out, or I’m just going to have to learn to deal with it, which I really don’t want to have to do.

On a different note, it is amazing what can brighten one’s mood here in Honduras. Take today for example. I went to Santa Rosa to buy a few more things for my new home (a 2-burner stovetop for example), but before that I met Slater for lunch. He took me to a place with great smoothies and baleadas, which just made my day. Then, on top of that, when I was at the grocery store before I got on the bus, I found sugar-free vanilla pudding and they had the peanut butter Special-K protein bars. Those Special-K bars are like candy. They are one of my mom’s and my addictions. The only problem with those is that we always ended up eating two instead of just one, which is worse than if we would have just had a Snickers in the first place, but they are better than Snickers!

It is ridiculous how much we all think about food in this country. We eat the same beans, eggs and tortillas so frequently that when we have the opportunity to eat other things we tend to go a little bat-shit-crazy and stuff ourselves. And, now that we are all (as in us H-18rs) slowly making that transition into our own houses/apartments and have the opportunity to cook for ourselves, we are thinking about food even more. Now we can make whatever we want, but where to even begin. I had my own stove for the first time tonight, so I made whole-wheat pasta with pesto! It was delicious! I of course followed it up by the sugar-free pudding that I found at the store today, which made for a great after-dinner treat!

I truly feel bad for the H-19rs that just arrived in Honduras. A new rule was put in place, which requires all new volunteers to live with a host family for their whole 2-year service. I know that the Peace Corps is going to work hard to find placements for volunteers where they will have full access to the kitchen, but I always felt a little awkward using my host families kitchen. I suppose if it had to stay, I would eventually get over the awkwardness and just make myself at home, which is hopefully what all the new volunteers will be able to do. I salute all the new Youth Development volunteers for being the first of the volunteers under the new rules, and for any of you that end up in the West, you will always be welcome at my home for a nice home-cooked meal!

On another note, shopping today I also bought what I need to do my laundry in my pila. I bought a little bucket and a big bucket, powder laundry soap and bleach for soaking, and the big cylinder chunk of laundry soap for the actual washing. I think I’ll attempt that tomorrow afternoon. I got spoiled when I was living with my host family - they had a washing machine. So, it has been two months now since I washed my clothes by hand - don’t worry, though, it is not something you forget how to do.