The excitement in October didn't stop just because my b-day had passed, by no means!
Perhaps the most exciting thing to happen to me in my whole PC experience thus far. My amazing friend Stephenie came and paid me a visit! Arriving on a Friday morning, I threw her right into the authentic Honduran experience as we headed into Comayaguela (the bad part of Tegucigalpa, where all the bus terminals happen to be located) and boarded a bus to Santa Rosa de Copan. There we stayed in pretty much the nicest hotel I've seen in Honduras. Until a few hours before arriving it was unbeknownst to me that some of my Peace Corps colleagues where there for a workshop. Hence how we ended up in the nice hotel. Peace Corps splurges when they host work shops. (Your tax dollars hard at work!) From the first night Steph got to meet everyone and see a little bit how the Peace Corps life is!
The following morning those of us how were headed on to Copan Ruinas (Mayan ruins) boarded a bus and headed to La Entrada. At La Entrada we were immediately herded onto a mini bus by the guys seeing $$$ as a small herd of gringos came at them. On a mini bus that was already full, they somehow managed to shove in six of us and haphazardly tie all of our bags on top. (Oh, how I would have loved to take a picture of this spectacle.) Before we took off Stephenie pointed out that there was 20 people in the mini bus, in which by normal standards would seat about 12. Sometimes Hondurans get kudos for the complete lack of compassion for people and the personal greed of just making more money. (And here I thought the US was supposed to be full of greedy capitalists!)
After surviving this "only in Honduras" ride we arrived to the beautiful town of Copan Ruinas. Amazingly touristic and clean. It seems the only time a city is well taken care of here is when it's a tourist attraction, otherwise no one cares. The town essentially becomes Peace Corps HQ during the weekend of Halloween every year. There is a Belgium (I think...) ex-pat, who has capitalized on the number of PCVs in this country (nearly 200) and every year turns his restaurant into Halloween HQ. It's a great costume party and great reunion with everyone. The costumes this year were amazing. I went as the host of a Spanish language dating game show, Penelope of 12 Corazones. It's the greatest show ever! My friend Lauren who works as a Health volunteer and teaches a lot of HIV/AIDS-reproductive health stuff went as Sex Ed Miss Frizzle (of the Magic School Bus). Other great costumes were the girls who were dead on Lady GaGas. One guy dressed in all black and carried a candle as "Se Fue La Luz" - an ode to the frequency of power outages here in Honduras. Overall a great turnout and great creativity on behalf of everyone!
We spent the rest of our short trip to Copan Ruinas enjoying Mexican style burritos, a great pizza joint where we caught a World Series game, Americanized Italian style coffees and just hanging out in our very impressive hostel (seriously, it could compete with some of the best hostels I've seen in Europe). We did some souvenir shopping and less than 48 hours after arriving, we were on the next bus Tegucigalpa bound. I had been teasing Steph the whole time that she hadn't seen the real Honduras and she would be shocked on the next leg of our trip.
Once we finally got to Teguz we taxied and chicken bused our way to Valle de Angeles (where I had lived for my first three weeks in country). We made our way to my host family's home and stayed with them a night before heading to another hotel where I had a workshop (aka, waste of time). My host family's home is very authentic to the real Honduras. Fogon (wood burning stove), bucket baths, and an outdoor toilet. Steph dealt with it all very well - from bathing out of the bucket and also flushing the toilet by pouring water down it! I was so proud.
We spent a few more days in Valle de Angeles while I was in my workshop and Steph got to spend her time in another touristy town for being on her own. After the workshop we came back to my site, Guaimaca, and Steph finally got to see how I live and work on a day to day basis. From my small and humble room I rent to the Alcaldia where I work and even meeting my best Honduran friend. Steph got the total experience!
That about wraps up this time around. You're basically caught up on my life at this point. With all the history behind us I hope to get some more interesting blogs done about the particulars of Honduran living and not just mere recaps of what I do. Here's hoping!
Hasta la proxima vez...
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