So Bored

I’m completely unable to get anything done. I love working on topographic studies. It’s fun getting out into the mountains and changing up the scenery. You get to meet some pretty interesting characters up there.

For example … The last day of my most recent study the guy who was helping me with the equipment was so incredibly unusual in terms of Hondurans. He was so forward thinking compared to most people I have met. Don’t get me wrong, the guys that live in the aldeas are great, hard-working people. I generally enjoy their company more than the people here in Corquin. But, at the same time they tend to be incredibly uneducated and close minded. These interactions always lead to some interesting conversations, but this guy was really interesting. We talked about a range of subjects from religion to marriage and protecting the environment.

God a van blasting music just decided to park outside the office. REALLY? Here. In front of an office? Is that appropriate? Necessary? Hondurans are so NOT annoyed by annoying noises/high volume. Like when the generator the other day (that fed ONE computer) binged the entire time. We’re talking high pitched BIIIIINNNNG. Me and my sitemate had to leave because it was so obnoxious. Also, we wanted to watch the latest episodes of Weeds. Everyone thinks we’re really antisocial because we both work with headphones on, but really it’s just that I can’t take people screaming in the office. Like professionalism doesn’t exist here. At least if I’m going to be distracted it’s by Justin Bieber’s music and not Loud Mouth (her nickname because we talk in English but they still understand their names) screaming about wanting some coffee. And yes, the one Justin Bieber song is permanently stuck in my head!

Back to interesting campesino man … At one point in the conversation I just looked at him and said something to this effect, “This might be rude, but why are you this way?” He didn’t understand at first, but then he basically picked up on the fact that I was a little stunned by how different he was. Apparently, he’s been studying under a Catholic priest that has taught him everything. They work on conserving the forest in this area and educating people about the environment and the importance of protecting flora and fauna.

He also doesn’t eat any preservatives or processed food. He claimed because this was due to a mental imbalance, but this guy is even on the organic food movement! It was quite interesting talking with him and witness him trying to “educate” the other guy who was working back with us. The group of guys in front periodically called him out for holding us up when, after I finished a shot and we could move forward, he would be interrogating me on any given subject.

One very exciting development from that study is the fact that this community, Agua Caliente, is really interested in buying some property that is a part of their watershed. With the development world focusing a lot on water it has come to everyone’s attention that many communities are getting water, but because of problems with wasting water, many are needing new systems in 5 – 10 years (they are designed to last 20 years). With new efforts to increase the lifetime of these water systems there is a big push that communities buy land in their watersheds. With enough land they can delineate the watershed and have it declared a protected area. This protects the quantity and quality of the water simultaneously and helps the communities value their water system more.

So … Agua Caliente is really pushing to buy this land, which is above the stream that feeds five communities in the area. I have worked with all the communities and there is a new Volunteer in Agua Caliente. Between the five communities and two annoying gringas harassing these communities we’re hoping to get the each family to chip in about $55 each (yeah, sounds cheap but for most of the people in these communities it will be really hard to come up with that money).

So, needless to say I’m excited because it would be a really big step for these communities and they’re doing it on their own. My counter-part office just did a project similar to this with three communities, but it would be really impressive if they could get this stuff of the ground on their own. The whole idea of Peace Corps is sustainability and this would be one of my biggest achievements if we could actually get it working. I hope it works out!