Goodbyes Are Never Easy

I have never been one for goodbyes, but to be honest, who really likes to say goodbye?

I’ve been instructed not to talk too much about what is going on here in Honduras, but the news has already hit the international scene from different news sources, so I think I am safe saying that in January all the current volunteers in Honduras are being sent back to the United States, while Peace Corps Honduras makes important decision about their future.

So, that being said, I will be going back to the United States in January. I’m not sure yet of the exact date, but it is looking like the second week. There is still a possibility of returning to Honduras, but the program will probably be very different if that does end up being an option. We all just have to wait it out and see what is decided.

What does this all mean for me. It means that I’m left very sad. It is Christmas time and all I can think of is how I have to say goodbye to all the amazing people that I have grown to love and thought I would be living with and helping for the next year an a half. Trying to explain the citation here in Honduras never goes very well because the people in my site don’t understand the extent of the dangers here in Honduras - to them Mexico and Guatemala are 10 times more “dangerous,” but that just isn’t the case anymore. It is hard being in a small site that is very safe. It is one of those “bad things don’t happen here” situations because for the most part they don’t - bad things only happen in the bigger cities and to the narcos. The people in my site think that us US-ers don’t have to worry because all the violence stays between the narcos, but unfortunately it doesn‘t anymore. So, I am doing my best to explain to them why we have to leave and how I am going to miss them all so much. They all still have a lot of hope that I will be able to return, and I hope they are right!!

In addition to having to say goodbye to all the amazing people in my site, I also have to say goodbye to all the other volunteers - a lot of us have grown to be like a family and a support system for each other. I know that when we all go to the States it will be a lot easier to stay in touch with each other than with our Honduran friends. But, the United States is huge, and we are from all over the place. I’ll be over in Washington, and luckily there are a handful of volunteers from the Pacific Northwest, but then there are others all the way over in Massachusetts, Washington DC, the Carolinas, Wisconsin, Philly, Texas, Utah - we are spread out all over the place, and who knows when we will be able to see each other again. Yes, we can talk online and call, but it is a lot different than just being a bus ride away to spend the weekend together!

I have a lot to take in and a lot to think about over the next two weeks while I’m here in Honduras in limbo, waiting for the random updates from Peace Corps.

To look at the bright side of things - I will always have amazing memories from here in Honduras, I can always come back to visit, and I will be seeing my family soon!

I think the hardest part is going to be saying goodbye to all the kids because they are not going to understand...I don't want them to think I'm leaving them by choice!!!! I've grown to love them all so much!!!!

"Important Message From Peace Corps Leadership"

Written Sunday December 18th -

On Friday afternoon, Peace Corps Honduras volunteers received a text message from admin telling us that our country director sent out an e-mail and to please take a look at it. At that moment, my power was out in my site, so I text a couple friends to ask if they could tell me what the e-mail said. However, the people I text were not able to check their e-mail at that time, either. Luckily, my power came back on about a half hour later, so I didn’t have to wait too long. BUT, for some reason my internet was being even slower than normal, and would load g-mail. It took another half hour to get the Webpage loaded, and then when it finally was - "fijese que" there was no new e-mail for our country director.

I got onto Facebook and started chatting with a handful of volunteer friends - and it turns out that my training class H-18 (or possibly just the health group from H-18) were not sent this “important” e-mail from admin. So, as all of us were chatting and speculating about what the e-mail could possibly say, the rest of the volunteers were getting the info.

Some of the chisme (gossip) circulating around was that Peace Corps Honduras was going to be shut down, that new volunteers were not going to be allowed into country, that admin was just announcing the new Safety and Security Officer to replace the VERY missed Juan Carlos. Thankfully a few H-18rs have site-mates who received the e-mail and passed it on to the rest of us.

So, at 8:00pm, three hours after our country director sent out the e-mail, us H-18ers finally received it. It was a very stressful few hours. Speculation and wondering eats at your nerves, but some of the speculations were true - it seems that Peace Corps is suspending the incoming of new volunteers to Honduras due to increased security risks in country.

The e-mail said the following:

“Due to ongoing safety and security concerns, Peace Corps has made the difficult decision to implement some important changes to its volunteer program in Central America - specifically Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. As many of you are aware, there have been several incidents in recent months across all three posts that threatened the personal safety of individual Volunteers. Consequently we are immediately implementing a series of actions to help mitigate safety and security risks. Today Peace Corps suspended Honduras’ February 2012 training group. In doing so, we are asking staff to redirect its energies to reinforcing the currently safety and security systems in place and to implementing additional measures in support of the recent policy shifts regarding family home stays and travel.

In the coming days, we will be announcing additional actions as we continue our analysis of the operating environments in Central America. Please rest assured that we are taking these initial measures precisely because safety and security of our volunteers is the agency’s highest priority. Our staff in Washington will be working to provide all of you with the support you may need.

We ask in advance for your patience and understanding as we work through the many details that are associated with the changes we are implementing.”

It has been two weeks since one of our volunteers here was shot in an assault on a bus, and this is the first e-mail that we have receive that really says anything. After two weeks of all of us volunteers e-mailing, texting, and calling each other talking about how we thought Peace Corps Honduras handled the situation with the injured volunteer, and what we thought was going to come of it all, it is nice to see some action being taken.

I see this step as a good one. I certainly did not want them to close Honduras completely, sending us all packing, but Peace Corps needed to do something to show that they were accepting the reality of our situation here in Honduras. I am not aware of any of the specifics of El Salvador nor Guatemala, but I do know that Honduras is more dangerous than both of them, as it is currently the most dangerous country in the world that is not at war.

I was told during our three hours of waiting to read the e-mail, that the new training class that was supposed to arrive in Guatemala in two weeks was cancelled, and I had a feeling that would the same fate we were going to be facing. However, because Honduras is more dangerous, part of me was afraid that we might be facing a larger/worse fate - being sent home.

Who knows, though, they said in the e-mail that in the coming days they will be announcing additional actions. I’m curious to see what that means for us volunteers in Honduras. I also heard a rumor that volunteers from Guatemala and El Salvador were not going to be allowed to travel into Honduras - so does that mean that we are not going to be allowed to travel into those countries either? If that is the case, I will be extremely bummed as my mother will be here in a month and we were fully planning on going to both of those countries.

I’m sure that these “additional actions” are going to include a number of travel restrictions in and out of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, and travel out of your site. Every time those sort of policies get put in place most of us volunteers cringe - yes - we understand why the policies would be implemented, but it just makes us wonder - if we are going to be forced to stay in a little bubble due to the security issues, is it worth trying to keep Honduras open? I know that I am just speculating there, but it would follow the trend of Peace Corps’ normal reaction to situations, so I’m not going to be surprised if we are hit with a bunch of travel restrictions and policies throughout this week.

Like I have said. I do not want to see Honduras get shut down, but then at the same time all of us volunteers are worried about our own personal safety. I, personally, feel very safe in my site, and when I travel to the nearest city to do my grocery shopping, I never feel unsafe. But, traveling to and from San Pedro always puts me a little on edge. And now, after the shooting, I am not in any hurry to travel through La Esperanza, which is always so much easier when I need to go down toward Tegus.

A lot of volunteers have mentioned to me that they think Honduras is going to end up being shut down very soon - and they very well could be right. At this point ,though, I honestly have no idea. It could go either way. But, what ever happens, I don’t think they will be announcing it until after the holiday season. So everyone staying in Honduras - please be cautions when traveling for the holidays, and those of you going back to the States (luckies), I hope that you will all return even with our current circumstances here in Honduras. But, we will all understand if that is not the choice you decide to make.

Updates to come as I receive them.

"a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time"

Written December 6, 2011

I have been debating what I want to say in this blog, or whether I even want to post anything about it for the past week. But, I have so much on my mind that I figured writing about it might make me see things more clearly, and all of you deserve to know what has been going on here in Honduras.

Sunday night, I checked my e-mail before going to bed at about 10pm. I was surprised to see an e-mail about a security incident that had apparently taken place that afternoon. The only information that was shared with us volunteers at that time was:

“Today a PCV was injured in an attempted armed robbery on the Carolina bus between San Pedro and La Esperanza around 12:00pm today. Our volunteer is ok and receiving care in San Pedro. We have multiple staff with the PCV right now. We should have more information tomorrow. Please send your prayers/positive thoughts towards SPS. Thank you.”

The next message I received was actually from another PCV who had received a little more information about the injured volunteer. The PCV spread the word that the injured volunteer was out of surgery and seemed to be doing ok. So it wasn’t until that time, about 10am, that I learned the identity of the injured volunteer. Attached to that e-mail was also an article that ran in the newspaper, so I learned some of the details of the accident - but nothing actually from Peace Corps admin.

All morning and afternoon volunteers were calling and text messaging each other trying to get more information about the accident, as well as tying to decide how they felt about the situation.

It wasn’t until 1pm that afternoon that we had any updates from PC Honduras, which basically summarized the article that had been printed in the newspaper and told us that we should be there for each other and that we should feel free to call anyone in the office if we felt that we need to talk to someone about what happened - as well as the following:

“…at this point this appears to be a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

We finally got a message from our Country Director at 6:30pm, who was currently out of the country at a training-the-trainer workshop. In her message, our CD explained that she had been in communication with the staff in Honduras and that she was very pleased with how they were responding to the situation “It’s marvelous to see staff handle the emergency situation with such a high level of professionalism, competence and compassion.” I don’t want to copy and paste her entire e-mail, but the gist of it is that if any of us volunteers need support after this incident, than the staff is here for us because “supporting safe, healthy, and productive volunteer experiences for you is our number-one job!”

So what happened to the volunteer? She was riding a bus between San Pedro Sula and La Esperanza, and at about noon, half an hour after leaving San Pedro, three guys got up with guns and announced that they were robbing the bus. Another passenger on the bus had a gun and apparently did not want to be robbed, causing a gun fight to break out, with many people being injured in the process - the volunteer being one of them. She was shot in the leg, and transported to the hospital in San Pedro for surgery.

________

For a little refresher/backstory -
About two months ago, we had a lot of policy changes here in Honduras because of “security incidents” and the need to make volunteer safety a higher priority. We were advised about our behavior, which was apparently to “college” for admin - staying out too late, drinking, and walking around large cities at night, things along those lines. These are all things that Peace Corps had deemed high risk factors that us as volunteers could control. So, if we were assaulted because we were out at two in the morning, it was basically our fault because we could have prevented it if we would have just stayed in.

HOWEVR, now we have a security incident that in no way resembles that - a volunteer was on a bus in the middle of the day and got shot - BUT peace corps is calling it a “tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Where my problem comes in with all of this, in my opinion, is the fact that Peace Corps is treating this incident as if the volunteer had been in a car accident or something more along those lines - something that was completely out of Peace Corps or Honduras‘s control. But, no, she was on a bus… this is a matter of Honduras being the most dangerous country in the world (that is not currently in a war), but it is as if Peace Corps Honduras doesn’t want to own up to that. In one of the e-mials, admin said “If we learn anything that would result in a need to change policy or travel guidance we will communicate that straight away.” So, as a result of this accident, their response is that they might just need to make another policy change. It seems to me that this is their response to everything - make another rule or policy change that will help to avoid situations like this in the future, but for this particular incident, I don’t think there is really anything that can be done. People have to travel in and out of San Pedro Sula and/or La Esperanza. There is no way to avoid that - we already have been instructed to make sure and not travel at night, especially in and out of San Pedro or Tegus, and this volunteer was certainly not - it was noon on a Sunday.

To make this situation worse, it was brought to volunteers attention the following day that there had actually been two other assaults on the same bus company over that week - but Peace Corps had not informed any volunteers of these incidents.

My question is, what can be done at this point? We live in the most dangerous country in the world that is not currently in a war and the Peace Corps needs to realize that and take responsibility for what happens in this country. Since my training class arrived in out sites, we have heard rumors about Peace Corps Honduras getting shut down if there is “one more serious incident.” But what is “serious” in their eyes? Is it going to take someone dieing for them to realize the gravity of the security situation here in Honduras. I certainly do not want Honduras to get shut down because I am not ready to pack up and go home, but at this point I am just a little disappointed with their reaction to this serious event. We had a volunteer shot, and not a single e-mail had a hint of remorse, and Peace Corps is blaming it on being in “the wrong place at the wrong time.” What if that bullet had hit the volunteer two feet higher and got her in the heart or hit her femoral artery instead of the leg - what would Peace Crops be doing/saying then.

I love living in Honduras and at times forget how dangerous it really is here, but having a friend of mine get shot opened my eyes. And I think it is time for Peace Corps Honduras to open their eyes a little bit as well.

Dia Mundial del SIDA

Dia Mundial del SIDA - written December 2nd

Yesterday, as I hope all of you knew, was World AIDS Day. For the volunteers of the health project in Peace Corps, it is kind of a big day. Not all the health volunteers organize events, but in some way, we all try to inform and educate the people in our communities. I don’t know why, but I got very excited for World AIDS Day this year. I spent a long time planned a whole day of info and activities, got the municipality involved, the nurses from my health center wanted to help, a women from near by came to give her testimony of what it is like to live with HIV - the only thing that was missing in the end, were the townspeople.

One of the info displays I made for World AIDS Day.

I know that I should not have gotten my hopes up for a big turn out, but I really hoped that people would come and show their support - not only support for people living with HIV, but their support for me. I have been living in this town for six months and everyone knew that I was organizing this event, so I had hoped people would come because I was organizing it if for no other reason. I realize know that that was a foolish thing to hope for. As much as people smile and say hi and act excited when I talk to them, it doesn’t change who they are and how they are going to act. And when it comes to things related to HIV, people do not want to be associated with it - people think that if they go to an event about HIV, people with assume they have HIV.

But, this is exactly what World AIDS day is all about - and this year especially. The theme for this year was Llegar a cero - arrive at zero - zero discrimination, zero new infections of HIV, and zero deaths related to AIDS. I was trying to focus on zero discrimination. I had a women living with HIV come to give her testimony, and I was hoping people would come and listen and realize that people living with HIV are just like everyone else. People here in Honduras often think that if someone has HIV you can tell by looking at them, but no, someone with HIV looks just like the rest of it - you could have HIV and not know for a really long time.

So, yesterday, we started late of course - Honduran time. We were going to start at 9am, but we ended up starting around 9:30am. The plan was for a parade through town with signs and the band playing drawing attention to us. About seven members of the band showed up, and there were three drums, which was plenty to make a good amount of noise and get people’s attention. Everyone else that came to the parade were very little kids. I love that they wanted to help, but where were all the adults? There were three walking with Amanda and I - Hector who was helping me, one of his friends from his church, and then the teacher who had to be there because of the instruments the kids had. But, I didn’t let that get me down. We all took a sign and walked through the streets: “If I had HIV would you hug me?” “If your brother had HIV, would you stop loving him,” “stop the incline of HIV - in Honduras there are 39,000 people living with HIV,” “Support people living with HIV,” “Prevent HIV - Abstinence - use a condom,” “Educate yourself, Inform yourself, and Avoid it,,” “The whole world deserves their rights!” And many more. We marched down to the main street and talked to people waiting for buses, and waved our signs at buses driving by - we picked up a few more people and then marched through town. The whole way, I was passing out red ribbons so people could pin them on and show their support for people living with HIV, and we were telling people about the event in the center: information about HIV, a testimony, and free HIV tests.

Part of our parade through town.

After we made it back to the center, it was time for Sra. Sofia to giver her testimony. All the kids stayed to listen because they wanted some of the cake that I had made for the occasion - about four other adults wandered in to listen, too, but part of me thinks it was only because they heard about the cake. I know - what great feelings I have toward Hondurans, right? But, I’m just telling you how I feel.

The ribbon cake I made for Dia Mundial del SIDA.

I’m glad that the kids were there, it was information that they will hold with them their whole lives, I hope. A lot of the kids were in my Yo Merezco class, meaning I had already taught them about HIV, so this event was the perfect experience for them. Hopefully everything Sra. Sofia talked about reinforced everything that I had taught them, and put a face to HIV for them. I feel like, for them, meeting someone with HIV will be something they hold with them their whole lives. My hope is that their generation will not discriminate and hold such a stigma to those who are living with HIV! So, for that I am very glad that so many young people were at the event because it gives me hope for the next generation, but the lack of adult participation just proves all the work that still needs to be done with the current generation. This is exactly the problem. People don’t want to learn about HIV, people don’t want to meet people with HIV - instead when someone finds out that someone else is HIV positive, they fight them, or kill them - unfortunately that happens here in Honduras, and in many countries all over the world. Which, is exactly why I think this year’s theme was so important - Llegar a cero (arrive at zero) - CERO DISCRIMINATION. I just wish that I could have gotten more people in my town involved. I did everything I could. I advertised the event, I talked to people in town about it, I had Hector talk to people about it and we both passed out flyers; I called women in the women’s groups to come, I asked the people in charge of the youth groups to have them young people come. I did everything except walk around town with a microphone announcing it on a loud speaker - which maybe next year I will try to do. So, I need to not get down on myself. I did everything I could to get people involved and I am very grateful to the people that did participate, but it is hard not to get upset about the lack of participation.

After Sra. Sofia’s testimony we were in the center for a couple more hours with information and free HIV tests. Fifteen people ended up coming and getting tested, which after the lack of participation during the morning, I was actually surprised at the number. And, of those 15 people, none of them were positive for HIV - which is very good news!

At 6pm, I had planned another parade with candles to commemorate the people who had AIDS and died because of a sickness they were not able to fight off due to their compromised immune systems. When it was time for me to go down and meet people for the parade, I had lost my ganas (my drive/my excitement) to go because I had a feeling nobody would be there. And, unfortunately, I was right. Nobody was there to meet Amanda and I. We waited about 20 minutes, and then I decided to just make the ribbon symbol out of candles like we had planned and have a moment of silence anyway! As I was setting out the candles a handful of people came and asked what we were doing and helped me light them, then we all had a moment of silence to commemorate the people who had died, and then we waited for the candles to start burning out before we called it a night.

Candle ribbon to commemorate those who have passed away.

I know that this blog might not be the most up beat. But, yesterday was difficult for me. I spent the week preparing for this event, getting so excited, and trying to get other people involved and excited. Then when it came down to it and almost nobody showed up, it hurt. It hurt because nobody could take it upon themselves to be involved in something having to do with HIV, and it hurt because even if people were worried about what other people might think, they still didn’t come to show their support for me. I know this day was not about me - it was about showing support for people living with HIV, informing people about the virus, and trying to reduce the stigma associated with it, but it still hurt that hardly anyone came.

As a Peace Corps volunteer, they tell us not to take these things to heart, that it is a slow process and that we can plan great events and that people won’t come, but that there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is plan events, inform the people that do come, and hope that they will share the information that they learn with other people. And we have to just realize that at least passed on the information to the few that did participate - but I’m learning that a hard thing to accept/

What keeps me smiling and going from day to day is that I know that the kids are learning all this information. If I can make some sort of mark on their lives while I am hear, I will have done enough - I will feel good about my years volunteering here! I’m looking forward to working with them for the next year and a half!

El Dia de Pavo

Turkey Day - written 26th of November

As most of you know, during my training in the Villa de San Antonio back in March, April, and May, a few up us health volunteers went and visited an orphanage in the nearby city. We went twice, and of course, as some of you may recall, we thought we may have ended up with lice the second time, but after a lice-shampooing, (see previous post from May 3rd “Karma”) we were all in the clear.

For a little bit of back story, this orphanage had had the honor of receiving help and attention from a previous volunteer in the community. He had made an effort to always go and visit the kids, he helped them with a garden, and before he broke his arm (?) and had to go back to the States to get it worked on, he was in the process of helping find funding to do some remodeling to parts of the orphanage that were unsafe and not usable. During his two years working in that community and with the orphanage, he also introduced them to the U.S. Thanksgiving. He brought volunteers from the area into town, cooked an amazing meal, and shared it with the kids at the orphanage and with other Hondurans in the community.

So this year, Glenn, the new volunteer in the community, decided to carry on the tradition, and I was of course one of the volunteers that went to help. We had a few weeks of e-mails back and forth between all the volunteers who decided to go, and we all shared what we would be making so we could be sure and cover all the basics. I took on the stuffing role, and also decided to make my family’s traditional jello salad. (Lime jello with whip cream, cream cheese, and pineapples.)

To make it easier on myself and everyone else who needed to use the one oven available at Glenn’s house, I made my bread crumbs before making the trip down to Glenn’s house. I also barrowed a giant pot from my next-door neighbor so I could make a huge pot of stuffing and not have to fight anyone for the few pots Glenn had.

I traveled to Glenn’s with Amanda, and in Comayagua, we met up with Damarise. We went to the grocery store to buy everything we needed to make our dishes for Thanksgiving Dinner, and then grabbed a bus to Glenn’s. We ended up on one of the “milk run” buses because we couldn’t be bothered to look around the terminal for too long. We had so much stuff with us that we just jumped on the first bus that said the name of the community on it, not paying attention to how many other towns it would be going to first. So an hour and a scenic tour of the department of Comayagua later, we got off the bus and walked the two blocks to Glenn’s house.

I had heard stories about Glenn’s house - how she lived in a “mansion,” but I always assumed people were exaggerating a little bit about Glenn’s living situation. But, upon arrival, the rumors were proved to be true - Glenn certainly does live in a mansion. Ok, not what you would picture a “mansion” in the US, but certainly a mansion in Peace Corps homes terms. There are three double beds and two twin beds, two kitchens, an outdoor patio/living room area, the actual living room, three bathrooms with hot water, a dining room with a table that seats 18, a swimming pool, and a grounds keeper. To be honest, the whole house is not hers. The owner of the house has the bigger half, but Glenn has one double bed, two twins, one bathroom, one kitchen, and the dining room with the 18-person table, as well as access to the swimming pool. In Peace Corps standards, she is living a very different lifestyle than most - my house would pretty much fit into her dining room!

So, after arriving at Glenn’s, and getting the full tour (her landlord was out of town, and because so many volunteers were going to be visiting, she gave us full-use of the house,) we began cooking. Glenn had already been working on pumpkin pies all day, but there was plenty more to be done. Basically the more that could be done on Wednesday, the better, so we had plenty of time for last minute Turkey Day disasters.

I made my jello salad and chopped celery and onions while other people were prepping their own dishes - Lacy peeled and chopped vegetables for salad, Tricia made Snickerdoodles, Adam washed and snapped green beans for is casserole, Nancy made biscuits, Damarise made candies squash (ayote con miel), Jessica made three apple cakes, Glenn finished all the pies, Ali made sangria, and Sam made pasta and bread for dinner that night

Damarise making squash!!!

The plan for the morning was to have the birds in the oven by 10am - and we had four of them. One was getting an herb rub, one a spice rub, and the other two a miso rub. So, I started making stuffing at about 8:30am in order to have it done when the turkey’s were prepped, then we could stuff the herb-rubbed one and send the turkeys off around town to the ovens that were being loaned to us.

~*~

Robin’s Famous Thanksgiving Stuffing

2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped onion
4 Stove Top stuffing mixes (turkey or chicken)
2 Bullion cubs
2 cups water
Extra bread crumbs
Giblets from the turkey

*additional optional items: apples, pears, cranberries, raisins, pecans

Mince the heart and liver from the turkey and sauté it with the celery and onion in a pan with butter, follow the instructions on the Stove Top stuffing mixes for how much water and butter to bring to a boil, to that you add 2 more cups of water, two Bullion cubes, the sautéed celery, onion, and giblets, and whatever other optional foods you want to include. Remove it from the heat and add all the Stove Top crumbs, and then continue to add more bread crumbs until the excess liquid is soaked up. If you are stuffing a bird you want it a little dry, but if you are not you want it a little more soft and liquidy, because it will dry a little more when you bake it.

Stuff your bird, and put any extra in a backing dish and bake it for the last hour with the turkey.

~*~

That is my mom’s stuffing recipe that I had only done once before this year. So, I was nervous to make it this year and have so many volunteers and Hondurans judging it. But, I went for it. However, I more than doubled it, so I was extra nervous for how it would turn out.

I had 3 Stove Top stuffing mixes, and two Pepridge Farms (which are a lot bigger than Stove Top), as well as two and a half loves of bread that I had made into bread crumbs while still back in site. So I brought 14 cups of water to a boil with 5 Bullion cubes, and added about five cups of celery, three onions, all four turkey hearts, and two livers (they were big, and liver kind of grosses me out, so I didn’t want to chop any more after the first two). Then I added three chopped pears and a bag of mixed dried fruit (raisins, golden raisins, cranberries, and dried apples). Then it was time to remove it from the heat and add all the bread crumbs. This is what made me nervous - was I going to have more liquid than I had bread crumbs to soak up? I added the Stove Top packages, mixed it, then added the Pepridge Farms and mixed it. I added the half a bag of bread crumbs I had made, then one full one. It was still on the liquidy side, but was almost there. So, then I slowly started adding the last bag of bread crumbs I had. Little by little, the last bit of liquid was getting nice and soaked up, and right as I added the last of my crumbs, I decided the stuffing was right where it needed to be! I had judged the portions correctly and it turned out great. What a relief!

Me finishing the stuffing!

As people started getting up that morning and smelling the stuffing, they said that was when it actually felt like Thanksgiving to them!! I let a couple people try the stuffing, and they said it was great, and then at dinner, everyone loved it, which of course made me very happy!

So, after the stuffing was done, it should have been time to stuff the birds, but they were not prepped yet. So, Sam, and I washed them and put them in pans. Glenn brought us the spice rub right as we were finishing, so Tricia rolled up her sleeves and took on the task of rubbing down the bird! The two miso-rubbed turkeys were next, and then we were waiting on the herb rub. But, Damarise needed to go run some errands and wanted company, so I stuffed the last bird before the herb rub was put on, and then left with Damarise for about 45 minutes. I expected all the turkeys to be in the oven by the time I got back, but that was not the case. We got back to the house at about noon, and the herb-rubbed turkey, which was the only stuffed one, was not in the oven yet. This worried me because stuffed turkeys take longer to bake and we were planning to eat dinner at 3pm. The turkey finally made it into an oven at about 12:30pm, but I guess that oven was left on 450 degrees for an hour before being turned down instead of only the first 30 minutes, so it ended up cooking in pretty good time.

At 3pm, Sam and decided to make the gravy because almost all the turkeys had made it to the orphanage, we were not running too far behind. Gravy is pretty quick, we just browned the flour and butter, then added the broth, sage, rosemary, and thyme and let it simmer for a while. We made gravy from one of the miso-rubbed turkeys and from the herb-rubbed. I liked the herb-rubbed gravy more, but I’m a traditionalist.

We were eating by about 4pm, which isn’t too bad - only an hour off.

The kids liked the turkey, but were not fans of most of the other dishes - they were too far out of their normal comfort zones of beans, cheese, and tortillas, but they did love all the desserts. The pumpkin pie was of course a favorite, as were the pumpkin cheesecake bars that Leticia made - those may have been more of a favorite for us volunteers! But there was also pudding, cookies, cakes, jello salad - everyone had a lot to choose from.

We wrapped up at the orphanage, cleaning and leaving leftovers for the kids, but still taking some leftovers back to Glenn’s for us too. We were back at Glenn’s by about 8pm extremely exhausted. Playing horse and entertaining kids takes a lot out of you, and being in a turkey coma doesn’t help either.

Santa Cruz giving presents to the kids!

I actually felt sick for a good two hours after eating because it was so much rich/buttery food, and I don’t get to eat a lot of that in my site. My stomach wasn’t used to it, and I of course overindulged, but it was delicious and worth the upset stomach for a little while.

I got back to my site Friday afternoon after quite the trip. Amanda and I decided to travel with Damarise and Nina all the way up to San Pedro Sula and then take a bus over to Santa Rosa and back to my site, so it was going to be about an extra hour+. We went to the grocery store in San Pedro and were all in heaven. Damarise and Nina were getting stuff to make another thanksgiving dinner for people in their sites, and Amanda and I were just walking around looking at all the amazing food that we never get in our sites, picking out a few things that we just couldn’t live with out. Amanda got a Mexican rice mix, Cheese Itz, and skittles, while I got cat litter (can’t find it around my site), lightly-buttered microwave popcorn, snap pees, and the Laughing Cow garlic and herb cheese triangles!

After waiting for a bus for an hour after the guy who sold us our ticket said it would leave in 20 minutes, we were finally on our way. We had decided to get off in Santa Rosa and eat an actual meal because we hadn’t yet all day, but just our luck, right outside of La Entrada (40 minutes away from Santa Rosa), our bus broke down. We waited for about a half an hour with the hope that it could get fixed, but then decided that we should try to either catch a ride or flag another bus because it was going to be getting dark soon. Thankfully, a bus that goes from San Pedro Sula to Gracias passed us shortly after we made our decision, and the driver and ayudante (helper) recognized me because they see me running all the time. They stopped, helped Amanda and I transfer all our stuff to their bus, saved us two seats right next to each other, and charged us 15 lempira less than everyone else that got on their bus us - a little better luck! By the time we made it to my site, it was getting dark and we were really hungry. We stopped and ordered baleads from a women who sells them right next to the bus stop, and then got a moto taxi up to my house because we were both too tired and exhausted to walk up the stairs you can’t avoid when walking up to my house.

When we got home, I finally got to try some pumpkin pie. I hadn’t quite felt like thanksgiving yet because I hadn’t had any pie. At the orphanage I was too full and hurting to try any, and we left so early Friday morning that pie didn’t sound good. So it wasn’t until Friday night that I got to finally make my thanksgiving complete and indulge on a piece of Glenn’s AMAZING pumpkin pie. I need her recipe!

Thank you Glenn for hosting such an amazing gathering!! I can’t wait to do it again next year!

The Dirty South

Twenty-eight hours on buses, 150 mosquito bites, zero turtles, six good friends, three Sobe Adrenalins, and six delicious baleadas later, I just arrived back to my site completely exhausted - but that is what’s to be expected after a weekend down in the Dirty South!

What was supposed to be a weekend working with freshly hatched seat turtles, turned into a lazy day on the beach when the last nest hatched the night we arrived - leaving us with no baby turtles to help get safely to sea.

As bummed as I was to wake up early Saturday morning to find out that we would not be able to spend our day playing with baby sea turtles, finally being down in the Dirty South, (as all the volunteers who live down there refer to it) I was ready for a day on the beach regardless! After gathering the troops - meaning the seven of us who had met to help with turtle-watch - and making our way to Cedeño - we walked along the beach to Cruz’s favorite hang-out spot. When we arrived in Cedeño and started walking to the beach, I was eagerly waiting to catch my first glimpse of the ocean. When that moment finally came, I was in heaven.

First glimpse of the Honduran Pacific Ocean!!!!

Having grown up on the water, being land-locked for so long has been a bit hard. But on Saturday, I was finally able to put my feet into the Honduran Pacific Ocean. I had heard the water down there was very warm and not refreshing when trying to cool off from the blistering-hot sun, but I was very lucky this weekend because 1- it was hot, but I could stand it and 2- the Pacific was actually refreshingly cool. This was because a few weeks ago the South was hit by practically hurricane-force winds and rain, and has yet to fully recover. I was happy I could gain some relief from the heat in the water, but that happiness was short-lived because after about three minutes in the water, I realized I was being stung all over by jelly fish.

Diving underwater to come up with blisters already forming around your wrist by a jelly fish you had accidentally broken in half with your crawl stroke, was not what I had in mind for an afternoon of swimming. But, it did flash me back to when I was in second grade on a family vacation to Florida. We arrived their right after a tropical storm and went to the beach with high hopes of lounging and swimming all day. The lounging could still be accomplished, but to mine, my mom’s, and my two sister’s surprise, we were not allowed to swim due to the jelly fish that the storm blew in. So, 17 years later, I was reduced to the same fate of sitting on the beach and staring longingly at the beautiful ocean.

Lounging on the beach with Nicaragua in the background!

I, however, did not let these jelly fish ruin my day at the beach. I soaked up some much-needed sun on my white legs, spent quality time with my friends, and lounged in hammocks. I was even able to let myself relax to the nostalgia of the boats cruising by with their 15 -25 horse Yamaha motors heading out to go fishing… it took me straight back to Port Alexander when my eyes were closed.

Hauling the outboard up the beach... not exactly the same, but the same general idea!

What truly amazed me about spending the day on the beach was that it was Cruz’s office. He is a business volunteer down there in the Dirty South, and he spends his “office hours” on that very beach. That boy ran into a bit of luck when you compare that to some of the volunteers who are sitting up at the top of mountains shivering their days away in clothes that just never seem to fully dry, in houses that are uninsulated.

The 14-hour bus ride to and from Choluteca is a bit daunting, but now that I know I can survive the heat to some extent, I know that I will be making more trips down there during the year and a half more I have here in Honduras. I will no longer let the temperature of a place discourage me from visiting somewhere- sorry Brian for missing your birthday party just because I was too frightened of the 90-100+ temperatures!

The mosquito bites...this lighting doesn't even do it justice.

Cultural Ups and Downs

The culture down here in Honduras really surprises me sometimes- people are so friendly and giving, but yet so rude at the same time.

Let me give some examples.

Yesterday, I went to an aldea about 30 minutes up the mountain from my site. The doctor, orthodontist, nurse, and I all went. The doc was doing consults for pregnant women as well as annual exams for women, the orthodontist was doing cleanings and pulling teeth, and the nurse and I were doing HIV and Syphilis tests for the pregnant women. I also gave a charla about infant nutrition because there were just as many babies and toddlers at the health center as there were women.

After Lexi and I finished all the HIV and Syphilis tests, I didn’t have anything to do, so I went with Janet (the administrative assistant) to go find oranges - everyone wanted to take a sack of oranges back home with them because, apparently, the aldea we were in is known for oranges! Janet has a lot of friends in this aldea, so she knew right were to go. We got there and we were immediately handed a cup of coffee - this is a custom here in Honduras; where ever you go, they will give you coffee or some sort of juice. I can usually speak up fast enough to skip the coffee, but this women must have seen us coming because I had no time to protest. Once the coffee was being offered to me, I couldn’t not take it. And as most of you know, I do not like coffee! So, I drank about half of it, and another custom here in Honduras is putting almost as much sugar as coffee in the coffee, so it wasn’t even that bad because it was so sweet. After visiting for a while, and hearing all about the volunteer that had lived in that aldea before, the women asked if we wanted oranges. We had actually gone to this particular house for something called a Lima, which is more of a sweet lemon than an orange, but we sure were not going to turn down the oranges. While this women’s niece went to pick the oranges, Janet and I picked Limas. After we had our bags full, the women went into her house and came out with a bag full of freshly dried black beans, then went back in and came out with two big bunches of bananas, then she ran off to a side building, and came back with a big sack of freshly dried coffee (still needed to be roasted). Then, as we were leaving, this women flagged down a guy hanging outside a nearby house and told him to help us carry our bounty up to the health center, which he didn’t even hesitate for a second to do!

Bag full of yummy oranges.

After we went back to the health center with that load, the rest of the group was jealous of our oranges, which meant it was time to go looking for more. From the health center, we could see a tree full of oranges, so we decided to make our way in that direction, and see if we could talk the owner out of a selling a couple sacks full.

When we got to the house where we saw the tree, the owners were sitting outside. When we told them we were looking for oranges, he took us out into his yard where he basically had an orchard! They let us fill up our sacks and would not accept any money. So, we filled our sacks and then went back and got the orthodontists sack and filled hers too. While we were picking, the owner - Don Avillio - was climbing trees to pick us good ones, peeling a few of each kind so we could try them, and telling us all about the different kinds. He had four different types of oranges as well as mandarins. I was very excited because one of the types of oranges he had was Navel - the way he said it, it took me a minute to realize that was what he was saying, but when I tried it, it was delicious - even better than Navel oranges in the states. Pretty sure in the States, I had only ever tried Navel; I had no idea how many different kinds of oranges their actually were.

Don Avillio picking us the best oranges.

So, besides just yesterday’s friendliness, on an everyday basis, if you go visit somebody, they will not let you leave their house with out giving you something - whether it is coffee, juice, mangos, oranges - what ever they have available. And, this is even when they don’t really have anything for themselves and their family - they will literally give you the last bit of food they have! I have found that if you try to say no thank you that you hurt their feelings, so it is better to just accept what ever they are offering you - even if it is a cup of coffee that you really don’t want to drink.

However, to now go the other direction and talk about how the Honduran culture is very far on the rude side.

For example: When you are introduced to someone here in Honduras, the person you meet has no problem picking out your most distinguishing feature and commenting on it. So, for me, when I meet people, everyone says “oh, que gordita” (translation: oh, how chubby you are). How is that in any way acceptable? In the U.S. if someone were to say that to a person they just met, that person would most likely never talk to them again. But here, it is just the cultural norm. In the aldea yesterday, I picked up a sack of oranges that the other women had no idea how they were going to transport, and just threw it over my shoulder and started walking. The response to that “Ella esta bien gorda, pero que fuerte!” (translation: she is fat, but very strong!) Having been in Honduras for about 8.5 months now, I can let these comments slide. It took me a while to be able to just let them go, and of course they still make me cringe a little bit - nobody wants to be constantly reminded about how chubby they are - but I’m starting to be able to let it go in one ear and out the other.

Bus passengers - that is where a very rude/pushy side comes out. When there are multiple people waiting for a bus, Hondurans will do what ever they can to squeeze and push their way to the front of the line to get on the bus first. And then, when walking through the isles, they will smack your head with their hands, elbows, purses, and/or backpacks without flinching or saying sorry. And being the gringa that I am, I always get stared at. Hondurans have not problems just straight up staring at people - especially white people. They will turn themselves all the way around in their seat and stare at you for an entire 40 minute bust ride (and this is not only men; the women do it too)! Didn’t their mother’s ever teach them that it was not polite to stare - NO! I mean, yes, I know my blond hair and blue eyes attracts a lot of unwanted attention, but the staring just goes a little too far.

Speaking of unwanted attention - that is where the rudeness comes in again. Honduran men are like the stereotypical construction workers in the U.S. - they yell, whistle, hiss, etc. to women walking by to get their attention. I feel like a dog a lot of the time, getting hissed and whistled at constantly. I’ve started to do it back, but it usually just makes the guys laugh - which is better than them yelling “I love you baby.”

So, for the most part, the generosity and friendliness outweighs the rude/pushiness of Hondurans, but somehow it is always so much easier to think and focus on the rude/pushy things. It is nice to take a moment and reflect on the nicer aspects of the Honduran culture, and I am going to try and make an effort to keep those in mind when I find myself getting frustrated with Honduras.

Our bounty after a day of collecting oranges :)