Watching TV in English, enjoying free Wi-Fi, a night at the movies and Pizza Hut.
Welcome to Tegucigalpa! Capital city of Honduras, where you have the whole spectrum of rich to poor and a, slightly smaller than usual for-a-big-city, international population that is mainly made up of volunteers serving here. Being here is often a culture shock. As you drive through the poor barrios filled with trash, skeletal stray dogs and dilapidated houses you realize just how poor the country is. A short cab ride across town lies mini-America. A mall the size of multiple football fields, all the finest in American cuisine (TGI Fridays, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts and Applebee's; just to name a few) and $200 a night hotels (extremely pricey for Honduras). These two extreme contrasts create quite a culture shock every time I come into Tegucigalpa. Yet, I enjoy it nonetheless.
I'm currently here in Teguz with two of my fellow PCVs staying the night before we head back to our respective sites tomorrow. We just spent most of the week at a workshop they call Reconnect. (More on that later.) The hotel they put us up in had no Wi-Fi, so we spent the afternoon taking advantage of that before heading over to mini-America. A dinner at Pizza Hut, a first run movie in English (Inception) and an iced coffee. Oh, and tomorrow a shower with hot water. Life is good in Teguz, but I enjoy getting back to my site with my people.
Reconnect was this four day workshop in which every PCV from the Business Project gets together and shares ideas, creates various task force groups and learns a few new things as well. Not to mention it's like a huge reunion for all of us because it's the first time we've seen many of these people in a long time. I won't bore you with all the details. I think what surprised me the most about La Esperanza, where the workshop was held, was how cold it was! They say La Esperanza is fresco, which normally by Honduran standards, I would say they consider temperatures in the 70's fresco. However, it was just straight up cold there, I'm saying it hit the 60's and maybe even upper 50's over night. I had taken a hoodie I have, which is the warmest clothing I brought down, and it was not cuttin' it against that cold.
Tomorrow when I get back to site my primary goal will be to track down my new site mate. She is from the H17 training class which just swore in yesterday. I hope she's fun and we will have the opportunity to work on some projects together in the future since she is a Youth Development volunteer. Anyway, off to further enjoy this free Wi-Fi and TV in English.
Hasta la proxima vez...
