This Past Week

This past week was a good week. We focused on the environmental aspect of Water/Sanitation. We hiked up to a watershed and talked about ways to protect a water system/water source. We also built more efficient stoves, and then started a tree nursery with the organization that’s hosting us in Pespire (ADEPES).

On Tuesday, which was, what we thought at the time, the hottest day we’ve experienced yet in Pespire, we hiked up to a watershed to learn about how to protect our water sources. Now, obviously, water originates higher up in mountains, and we were taking GPS points to learn how to load them on our computers, so we weren’t taking the normal trail. We divided into two groups, each taking one side of the watershed, and walking up the ridges to meet in the middle. Now, in order to figure out where a watershed, if you were a raindrop and were going to find the closest stream, where would you go? Downhill? But we had to go around the watershed, so we were scrambling up sides of pretty steep hills, etc. Our path was reminiscent of scrambling up hills on my Volunteer Visit in Santa Barbara, only not as pretty. And it only took 1.5 hours. So, we met the other group in the dry river/stream bed, and then hiked back down. It’s amazing how goofy and ridiculous people can get when they’re hiking in 104 degree weather in jeans. We had a lot of fun.

A funny story: We eat TONS of tortillas. Little, saucer-sized corn tortillas. Do you already have a monton (mountain) of carbs/starches on your plate? Oh well! Eat a tortilla! They’re nice with some meals, but we’re kind of pushed to eat a lot of them because they’re so central to Honduran food. As a result, I don’t really have a huge appreciation for tortillas. Anyways, my friend Jill, who is hilarious in a very dry, sarcastic manner, is the lowest Spanish level in our group. Her teacher, who is also dry, but not in the fun way, asked Jill how far away her house was from her Spanish class. Jill, trying to lighten the mood, measured the distance in tortillas; “Well, I’d say it’s about 3,000 tortillas from here.” Apparently, her teacher didn’t much appreciate the joke, but we thought it was hilarious. Therefore, this entire hike we measured everything in tortillas.

“When was our last GPS point?”
“Oh, I’d say about 1,000 tortillas back.” Guess you had to be there.

Also, “that’s-what-she-said” jokes have been taken to a whole new level in Honduras. When you struggle to entertain yourself with the same 16 people in sweltering heat, the most retarded jokes become epic. For those of the older generations, that’s-what-she-said involves comments that could be twisted to be sexual. Example not included.

So, we’re sitting in our AC back at ADEPES, learning how to load GPS coordinates on our laptops, and we’re all just enjoying the cold air. Nick, the Volunteer who hiked with the other group, had turned his shirt an entirely different color with sweat. We were all so incredibly foul, that I couldn’t imagine what people would have thought had they walked into the room. We had kicked of our hiking boots, and were just sitting in chairs, trying not to move. We get so sweaty in our outdoor training, that I can literally catch a whiff of someone’s body odor and tell who it’s coming from! I could identify people by there BO in a blind smell-test. How gross!

So we’re sitting there, trying not to fall asleep during Nick’s boring presentation, when Carlos walks in and tells us to look at the window in the room that leads to the office of the boss of this non-governmental organization (NGO). Naturally, we all look, and the door opens behind us and in walks the BUSINESS TRAINEES!

Now I don’t know if you guys remember, but our training group is separated now into our three sectors. I haven’t seen anyone from business of health in over a month, and I’m getting pretty darn tired of these Wat/San people! Just kidding. But anyways, they were on their way back from a camping trip on an island (don’t get me started on that!), and they were driving through Pespire and were allowed to stop and say hello! They all walked in, and started trying to hug us before they realized that, even after having been in AC for over an hour, we were still drenched in sweat. After a while, they would just pat us on the back. They said, when they opened the door and first walked in, they had never smelled something so foul before in their lives than 16 Wat/San aspirantes after a hike.

So we got to catch up with them for a few minutes before they were all wisked off again. They were happy that we had to sit through boring power-point presentations too, but we were quick to say that this wasn’t the norm. Our activities outside are one of our biggest bragging points. So after everyone was so excited to see the business people, the door shuts behind them and we all settle back into our chairs and Nick (who wasn’t thrilled about having to do this in the first place) says, “So I’m going to save the text file…” and just heads his head in shame, and we all start laughing.

It’s so great that 15 minute visits from your friends can make your week so much better!

And then, after that training class we went to Carlos’ house to play soccer for a while. It was “whoever-scores-the-next-goal-wins” time, and Carlos had Nick jammed up against the wall, trying to get ball, and Nick falls. Now, Nick is probably about 6 foot 5 inches (he’s really tall) and he fell, but his left arm got dragged down the wall by the other 250 pounds of him. His dislocated his shoulder. This was right after, at the beginning of the game, not to tell the PCMOs (Peace Corps Medical Officers), that he had been hiking or that he was playing soccer, because he had already been injured and was forbidden to do more than walking. Whoops. He’s fine, although they had to drive him sweaty and dirty two hours to Teguz because there wasn’t anyone in Pespire who could fix his arm. Well, there’s a Cuban national who apparently does all the locals, but Peace Corps wouldn’t let him go there.

Stoves

The next two days we built stoves around Pespire for different poorer families. There will be a picture of the finished product with the pictures!

So, we basically mixed soil and cow crap to make the “mortar,” and then used bricks to construct the structure before we covered it in more “poop.” We were working in a really small space, so small that only two people could work on the stove at a time (we had four people in our group). Now, for all of you who have made fun of short people in your lifetime, you can take it back! I was the only person in my group able to stand-up straight in our workspace without smacking their head on one of the “roof beams!” Take that! Becky and Darren, who are both probably over 6 feet, kept smacking their heads on the roof, which was covered in soot from the previous stove that didn’t have a chimney. Kathryn and I would be outside mixing more poop, and hear :BANG: … “GOD DAMMITT!!!!”

Instead of coming up with a more professional name for our mixture, we just said “poop” or “shit”.

“How do you think this looks?”
“Oh, you’re going to need a lot more shit in that corner…”

Again, funny when it’s hot and you’ve hit your head several times.

We fixed the stove for an 89 year-old woman and her family, and she was pretty excited to see the stove finished. We paid for all the materials, and they got a stove with a chimney, and insulation so that it would burn less wood.

You know, over the course of college I forgot that I was the kind of girl who wouldn’t have a problem using crap to stucco the outside of a stove. I just dug right in. It’s cool to realize stuff like that again.

Charlas

Tuesday and Wednesday we also gave “talks” to fifth and sixth grade students in the escuela. We went to two different classes and talked to them about trash in the streets of Pespire and why it was bad. We had them draw posters to hang around town, asking people to throw their trash in trash cans. It was fun, despite the stress of speaking Spanish in front of 45 adolescents. They were cool though.

On Friday, we organized a trash clean-up morning with all the kid we gave charlas to. We met at 8 am and headed into the streets to pick up trash with them. Two aspirantes got about 30 kids, and went to a specific neighborhood. Now, imagine sending thirty sixth-graders, into the streets of a small town, with two twenty-something kids who don’t speak the same language. To pick up trash…without gloves. Naturally, it was a little chaotic, because kids just took off, but it was ok in the end. I was pretty upset about the lack of gloves, because that’s just irresponsible. But, the kids were enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy the fact that they were picking up trash in 90 degree weather.

Now, between the three classes I worked with, I can’t walk down the street without a kid calling my name. It’s pretty cool that they seemed to enjoy us that much.

That’s pretty much it for this week. Well, to add to a good week, I got a package in the mail! Mom sent me coloring books in the mail, which I knew were coming, but was oh so pleasantly surprised by the Mini Eggs in the box! Of course, I opened the box in front of the whole group, and clutched the Mini Eggs to my chest when I saw them. Well, at that point there’s no hiding the fact that I got candy in the mail. I was happy to share (some of them), because I’m pretty sure that single-handedly improved everyone’s day. We had been frustrated by the activities on Friday and it was just so perfect to get deliciousness like Mini Eggs in the mail. THANKS MOM!