long over-due.
oh, and thank you for continually checking in to see if i have written. not to sound like big brother too much, but i can check blog stats (how many visitors, clicks, etc.) and they have been spiking recently! wahoo!
so honduras. oh, honduras. i think that i am going to do a hybrid account via chronology and experience. i also apologize because i am going to literally put my fingers on the keyboard and just go. if i don’t have complete thoughts or it seems like the entry is a stream of consciousness, it is because it is. ok, here we go.
day 1 >> yoro, honduras
16 of us were on the trip. we boarded a 7am flight from boston to miami, where we then hopped over to san pedro sula, a major city in honduras. we waited outside for our little bus (read: the size of the small school buses in the US) with our driver DENIS (read: the MAN). no crap, my spanish was poor. i could barely communicate with anyone… one of the native hondurans was able to muster enough english, though, to ask me if i was like bruce lee and knew karate. i had to laugh. i mean, come on.
we made our way through the outskirts of san pedro, and were on our way to yoro. along the way, we stopped for lunch. i had some tortillas with mystery meat (honestly: no clue what it was), and a “link” grapefruit soda that actually tasted like grapefruit. jealous, i know.
onward to our destination, we encountered cows in the road, rolling hills, beautiful green grass, acres and acres of sugar cane, corn, and beans. we also saw where lands have been victims of slash/burn from loggers in the area, and the drastic differences across physical lands that have been touched, and untouched. we also saw lots of little houses with little gardens.
we arrived at this hotel that were staying in for the night, met SELVIN (read: the man) who oversees the work with the community of yoro on behalf of the local honduran organization working with SHI (FUCOHSO– which works with communities in honduras to help teach, promote, and practice sustainable farming not only for a means of food, but to hopefully reinvest in the local economy). we learned a bit more about the project that we would be splitting up and working on (more later), about why yoro (incredibly impoverished region of honduras), and what we could expect from the community (other than amazing hospitality and patience).
we went to sleep knowing we had some seriously awesome work ahead of us.
day 2 >> yoro, honduras
8 folks went into the the community to stay with families, and do smaller scale projects for the local families. i was with the half that was staying in the FUCOHSO main office in yoro to work on a NEW demo farm. a new strip of land was purchased by FUCOHSO to be used as a demonstration farm, so that families could come and see how to sustainable and organically farm to preserve the land and yield good results. it was uphill, shadeless, and big. they bought this on purpose to show that even difficult pieces of land can be farmed on successfully and fruitfully.
we only worked for about 4 hours that morning before lunch, and it was devilishly difficult. for those 4 hours, i literally just raked brush and dug holes.
i was really, really trying to be tough, not take as many breaks, and try to work through it all. most of the time, i put my head down, and just trucked through it. i did this for 3 reasons: 1) i was only hear to give 4 days of good work before leaving, 2) i wanted to be useful and abused if i was only here working for such a short period 3) i am stubborn beyond belief.
in the afternoon, i helped work on another on-going project: they just purchased another small piece of land where the NEW office will be, and in the future, dorms and bathrooms for volunteers to stay at when coming down with SHI.
i shoveled dirt/gravel into a wheel barrel, moved the wheel barrel into the new building, and dumped it. i repeated this for quite a long time before the rain delayed our work. it was just wilmur and myself, and with his little english and my little spanish, it was literally SILENT for the first 30 minutes. it was a comfortable silence, though… just working with a common goal (cheezy, i know). but when the rain smothered the mountain tops, drove the cattle away, and silenced the roads, i dove in with D- level spanish, and we had some great conversations. i learned about his family, life in yoro, and how he loves national geographic television programs. i think that i was snapped back to reality quickly when he asked how much it costs for cable in the US, and i said that cable can be anywhere from $20-150… per month. at that point, it was a big pill for him to swallow, and an even bigger one for me.
we finished work, and i headed back to the office to meet up with the others. we had dinner, the sun dropped, and i took a shower underneath the heavy down pour of rain, thunder, and lightening. it was the first time i have ever done that, and i hope to have many more.
day 3 >> yoro, honduras
sleeping was tough last night. with gecko poop and sharing a twin bed with my better half, it was pretty much assumed that it would be a full day of work without much sleep.
for 3.5 hours, i dug more holes today with a big-ass pick axe, but today the whole crew of 8 on the demo farm rocked out. with the help of our engineer, GREGARIO (a man of few words…), the place started to actually look like a farm that could grow and harvest fruits/veggies. so far, we had planted rows of valeriana, bananas, and something else i can’t remember (surprise surprise).
lunch, again, couldn’t have come sooner. at this point, even though every meal was starting to look the same (rice, beans, tortillas, and then a side of suprise: sometims an egg, or an avocado, or a piece of meat), the food was just what my body needed to keep going. at this point: still regular and loving it!
after lunch, we worked out little tooshies off again at the new office, and there was such a good sense of camaraderie in the group, and a deep sense of pride in the work we were doing.
every step along the way on the demo farm and at the new office, the local workers were patiently teaching us to mix and make cement, splatter it on the walls, and everything else. they were filled with smiles, good senses of humor, and delightfully strong work ethics.
all the neighbors came over tonight… kids and adults. it was like the night at the circus: come see the gringos at the FUCOHSO officina! it was quite hilarious and fun. soccer, frisbee, and conversations were had by many.
at this point, i was beginning to think more about what the problems really were. why isn’t there clean, running water? why is there no trash removal (everyone burns the little trash that they have in their yard)? where are the social welfare programs? why the limited health services? where was the social responsibility for equitable redistribution to ensure some healthy level of living, even if it was a bit skewed? where the hell was the infrastructure? sometimes it is easier to gut the house, than to try and fix it. this might be one of the cases in some parts of honduras that i was able to see.
tung: welcome to developing world, and those who can’t catch up because others are moving too fast.
day 4 >> renada, honduras
we dropped off the first group of 4 in rosario, which was about 45 minutes away from where we had been working. it was up, up, up in the mountains and what seemed even further removed from “stuff.” my destination was the second stop in renada… again, up, up, up in the mountains– another 45 minutes away from rosario. we worked all day helping build a garden for a school, and in the time the 4 of us were there, we went from nothing to full-fledged garden! it was pretty awesome, actually. the kids were helping the entire time, and under the guidance of DARBIN (suave to the max), we made something super useful for the school.
now, the school. 70 kids, 1 teacher, 1 room, a tadpole infested pila (water source for the school). when we brought our donations, part of me wanted to cry on the inside watching how carefully the teacher laid out the donations, and tried to equitably distribute the goods so that each child could bring something home that they needed and wanted. yes, so glad that we were able to donate all of these things, but, at the same time, always difficult to see that there is a need for it.
that night we just hung out with the family after a huge neighborhood game of soccer on a super well-kept field. and it was dark early, so we went to bed early.
it is amazing how our family literally shared what little they had, made us feel at home, consistently asked us if we needed anything, and was always willing to act politely when i muffed up my spanish words.
day 5 + 6 >> renada + yoro, honduras
oh crap… literally. this day is still a little bit of a blue because i got fairly sick this day and the next. at breakfast, i sat down to a plate full of refried beans, cheese, and eggs… pretty much the 3 things that i did not feel like having at the moment. after breakfast, i was out of the gates and RUNNING (if ya know what i’m sayin…). we did our last bit of work on helping restore a family garden, said our gracious thank yous and goodbyes to our host family, and then was picked up and heading back to yoro. that afternoon FUCOHSO members had a meeting with us to let us know how things went (exceptionally well!), what is next (super cool things!), and to say thank you. it was nice to have a sense of closer and accomplishment all at once.
our plans had changed because of hurricane dean. we were supposed to go to some more local communities and hang out, but our locals were near the water. instead, we were going to head to copan (home of some ancient ruins), which was about a 7 hours drive to the west. but before that, things were coming out every which way, i was getting a bad case of the chills, then sweating profusely, and not sleeping in the process. many hours later, the sun broke, it was daylight, and it was time to board our bus for 7 hours. i started on the anti-biotic CIPPRO, which fights bacterial infections in your body.
that was one hell of a bus ride. windy, uphill, hot, foul-smelling air (just around the city of san pedro sula), and icky. i didn’t toss any cookies or crap my pants on the bus, but man i was close… many, many, many times.
when we reached copan, i napped, started to feel better (thank you modern medicine), and began to eat solid food by the end of day 6.
good times.
it was a bit of culture shock going from rural yoro to the tid-bit toursity copan. it was a good change for lots of the kids on the bus, and to be honest, i welcomed it because of my current situation of ill-ing.
day 7 >> copan, honduras
everyone went horseback riding to a waterfall, hot springs, and a coffee farm. i was feeling much better, but still wasn’t up for that. instead, i gave myself a photo project, and went forth with it. i wanted to capture the colors of copan (“colores de copan” –> a nice ring to it, eh?), and with that, had an idea: what if i were able to sell some of these images from copan (and the rest of the trip, for that matter), but have 100% of the proceeds go directly to SHI?? what a brilliant idea!
(this is what i have been working on, and continually working on… but this whole “teaching” thing is sort of getting in the way of me finishing this in a timely manner)
everyone came back, happy, exhausted, and we finished the evening together with pizza and fruit smoothies (come on… how could we say no after rice and beans for a week straight!!)
day 8 >> san pedro sula
this was everyone else’s last night. the other 13 on the trip were going home tomorrow, and with that, we had a final dinner at cool restaurant in the city. we had it with the office folks from FUCOHSO, and was a great way to close it all.
we had a wonderful discussion that night that made me incredibly happy and proud. most of the people on our trip were in middle and high school. they all shared their thoughts about the experience, and all of the sincere words amounted to them learning something important about themselves and the world. what more could you ask out of any experience, domestic or abroad, work or play?
it was a special group, and it was going to be strange to not have all of them around (constantly) after this.
day 9 + 10 >> san pedro sula + cofradia, honduras
4:00am wake up call, to the airport, they leave, we get a ride to cofradia (home to BECA, visited with the new batch of volunteer teachers at the school, met some locals, and rested. we were fried, and the thought of no more belize (damn hurricane dean… this is what was waiting for us at the end of our trip) made us want to just rest even more.
day 11 >> tegucigalpa, honduras
we were staying in a nice hotel (the same one the taiwanese–i think?–head of state was staying at), and flying out first class the next day (only because there were no other flights out… and don’t worry, we had to pay for the upgrade). this stuff is boring because it doesn’t quite have the same theme and feel as the rest of the trip.
in short, i learned so much on this trip, and really cherished the experience. it was eye-opening to see this from the perspective of a developed-world-citizen hoping to stir some change where help is welcomed and needed. be sure to check out my flickR album on honduras. take a look around, see what you like, and if there are some that catch your eye, let me know… i will be sending out an email soon detailing the project of selling these images with 100% of the proceeds benefiting SHI.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tttphoto/sets/72157601687591357/
it helps showcase the story of what i saw, and what i felt while in honduras. what it doesn’t do, unfortunately, is really describe to you how amazing this country is. it has beautiful sights, and warm hearts. people welcomed us, as strangers, into their homes, shared what little they had, and always eager to teach and work with us.
it is a great model for all of us to learn from, and if we did, i am sure this world would be a much, much safer, better, eventful, fun, and meaningful place.
be well.
