Independence, Puppies and Moscos

I realize that I owe you all a more entertaining, funny blog than I have been delivering recently. The events of the past couple of weeks have been anything but funny, but they can be spun into funny experiences for the entertainment of friends and family.

Having talked to a few of you I think people sensed a bit of depression in my last blog email, which was very perceptive and most certainly the case. I have since recovered and am doing fine, but had a couple of weeks where I was really anxious and struggling with well ... life.

Anyways, on a lighter note, Kathryn came to visit for a few days and we started my first study here in my area! Kathryn came down for Honduran Dia de Independencia, where we relaxed in my backyard with a few beers, catching up. We were supposed to go on a hike, but we didn't quite make it and decided to celebrate their independence day with our own traditions, because as Kathryn said, "They took ours from us!" She's referring to the fact that 4th of July was during the golpe de estado and we weren't allowed to leave our sites, which resulted in some bum parties.

Anyways, so the next morning we woke-up and hauled Carl (theodolite) and equipo del diablo (tripod named "Equipment of the Devil") up to Joconales. Joconales is the community I found when I randomly went out with an ODECO technician all that time back. We started at their water source and I've never seen so many mosquitoes in my life. I am now a master at killing then, because they seem to not mind insect repellent! Bugs in Honduras are on steroids! Massive mosquitoes, huge cockroaches and the flat spider in my bathroom is like nothing I've ever seen before. I'm suspicious and haven't killed him because I don't want his bigger family member to stalk me in my bed at night.

We had a much easier go of it this time with the equipment because we are finally familiar with Carl and figured out the trick of the WHITE TRIANGLE!

When I went to help Kathryn on her study we spent HOURS trying to find the estadia (measures distance) and the back shot (reference point) in all the coffee trees. It was so hard to figure out exactly which leaf was the one that was closest to our equipment! GAAH But this lovely white triangle, which I love so much because it has made my life easier and I want to get it tattooed on me (just kidding), is so helpful in finding people that now it takes mere seconds! The joy!

My study is a lot easier because we aren't going through coffee and there's a third of the houses, but alas there are MILLIONS of bugs! We are familiar with the equipment, but spent so much time fighting of blood-sucking buggers that we were still kind of slow!

First, there were the mosquitoes that ate us while we were in the jungle and the entire time the guys helping us were like, "Don't worry! Once we leave the trees there won't be anymore bugs..." But then!, once we got closer to the field we had to pass through, they started changing their tune! Suddenly, it became, "You think the mosquitoes are bad?? Wait for the moscos!"

Now, imagine gnats in all their abundance and annoying-ness, but also the ability to draw blood... Yes, these are moscos and APPARENTLY! Joconales has a "plague" of moscos at the moment!

Kathryn was practically in tears it was so painful when they bite and we got so many bites. She reacted particularly strongly and had to try really hard to keep it together. By the end of the study we were both in a foul mood and itching like you couldn't believe. Not to mention, Hondurans love to point out the obvious! When we finished for the day and got back to Don Manuel's house (he's been spearheading this with me) everyone felt the need to chide us on our arms and tell us that we really should have worn long sleeves. Like I hadn't noticed that I spent 7 hours getting eaten alive and my arms look like crap!?

As a result of the terrible bites, we went and made chocolate-chip waffles (I have a waffle-maker!) to make us feel better. By the evening our arms were swollen and really achy, which was kind of scary because apparently these bugs can give you a fever too. I feel like Peace Corps Honduras could make everyone a hypochondriac because you're constantly assuming the worse will come out of the weird encounters you have with nature here. Kathryn kept muttering, "It can't be good getting that many bites! I mean, they have to be carrying like a million diseases!"

The next day was really fun, because it was our first Dia de Campo. Dia de Campo is a series of events that are held on farms that are working with ODECO. They're encouraging farmers to plant more crops and raise more animals for subsistence farming; coffee is the cash crop, but they're now growing fruits and vegetables to feed their families. At each of these events there are stations about different themes like: chickens, planning your farm/family, sanitation (ME!) and soil conservation. Each event will have different themes for the community and the people attending.

It's actually a lot of fun, because you're interacting with the people and co-workers and there's a lot of REALLY GOOD FOOD! First, we start off with coffee and bread (my favorited) at like 10 am. Then! we had Sopa de Gallina at noon for lunch. Sopa de Gallina is a delicacy here, which is basically soup with roasted chicken, but it's oh so delicious! And then, of course, we have to close the day with more coffee and bread.

Anyways, so Kathryn and I did a sanitation charla to 5 groups of campesinos for 30 minutes each. It got really boring, but at least each group had different questions and we kind of branched into new topics with each new question. Each department (like districts in the States) has a health technician. The one for San Pedro de Copan came and "helped us," which was essentially him speaking 3/4 of the time and KatP and I the rest, but that's ok because it was his job and he covered a lot of stuff we hadn't even thought about.

All in all, a good day, even though I wanted to cry my arms were so swollen and achy. Again, people made sure I was aware that it looked like I had chicken pocks, but oh well...

Second day on the study was uneventful; we wore long sleeves so our arms were somewhat protected. They ended up attacking my hands, but I could deal with that. We still didn't finish, but we're close and I'm going to get the equipment when Kathryn is on vacation the last week in September.

Well, that wasn't as interesting/funny as I had thought. Damn. Well, at least you can imagine me and Kathryn swatting at all these little moscos as we try to level the damn tripod. That thing is the devil, I swear! You screw in one leg and move to another and the leg you thought you just secured suddenly moves, which throws your bubble all out of whack! Then you swear and then the campesinos kind of get quiet. At one point Kathryn yelled, "GET THE F**** AWAY FROM ME!" to the moscos. I got so embarrassed and said, "Kathryn, they might not understand exactly what you're saying, but your tone still makes it pretty obvious..." At least she laughed at that.


I will say that Bourbon is the new celebrity in town. On Saturday as we waited for the bus I had about 7 Honduran men surrounding me, asking about my dog. They're lecturing me on how to take care of him, which I kind of responded with, "I will take better care of my dog than you could possibly IMAGINE!" but I figured that was rude.

People have offered to buy my dog and even asked if I will "gift" him to them. This is part of Honduran culture: they have no shame asking you to "gift" them things, which I find hilarious! One of the guys I work with insists that the leave the puppy behind so he has a reminder of me! HAH in your dreams! This is a good little puppy and he's coming with me! If it's going to be so hard to train him, he's definitely going to accompany me to the States.

Other than that, there's not too much going on. Got work. Got a puppy. Pretty content now!

Take care all! Pictures to come!