Saturday, October 1, 2011

Blast from the past

It seems people reminisce about the past and think of how much better things were. I sure feel that way about the 90's, and I'm sure that everyone else at one point or another hear from their parents or anyone else from older generations talking fondly of days of yesteryear. But people always tend to remember the positives and not the negatives of the time. I feel that way at times - that society is going to hell. I wasn't around for it but there was a time when men acted like gentlemen, women acted like ladies and chivalry still existed. The flip side of that coin however was this was before civil rights and the sexual revolution - when people were judged by the color of their skin and women were expected to take a backseat to men. However, I find that etiquette is timeless and something that should something everyone strives to maintain. I ran across this while browsing the web - it is unfortunate the most of these rules are disregarded nowadays by everyone (not just Hondurans). Obviously, I am not talking about you but here is just a little refresher just in case.

The Laws of Etiquette

  • Never exagerate.
  • Never point at another. (I would like to include the Honduran lip point to this)
  • Never betray a confidence.
  • Never leave home with unkind words.
  • Never neglect to call upon your friends.
  • Never laugh at the misfortunes of others.
  • Never give a promise that you do not fulfill.
  • Never send a present, hoping for one in return.
  • Never speak much of your own performances.
  • Never fail to be punctual at the time appointed. (if only meetings would start on time here)
  • Never make yourself the hero of your own story.
  • Never pick the teeth or clean the nails in company.
  • Never fail to give a polite answer to a civil question.
  • Never question a child about family matters.
  • Never present a gift saying that it is of no use to yourself.
  • Never read letters which you may find addressed to others.
  • Never fail, if a gentleman, of being civil and polite to ladies.
  • Never call attention to the features or form of anyone present.
  • Never refer to a gift you have made, or favor you have rendered.
  • Never associate with bad company. Have good company, or none.
  • Never look over the shoulder of another who is reading or writing.
  • Never appear to notice a scar, deformity, or defect of anyone present.
  • Never arrest the attention of an acquaintance by touch. Speak to him.
  • Never punish your child for a fault to which you are addicted yourself.
  • Never answer questions in general company that have been put to others.
  • Never, when traveling abroad, be over boastful in praise of your own country.
  • Never call a new acquaintance by their first name unless requested.
  • Never lend an article you have borrowed, unless you have permission to do so.
  • Never attempt to draw the attention of the company constantly upon yourself.
  • Never exhibit anger, impatience or excitement, when an accident happens.
  • Never pass between two persons who are talking together, without an apology.
  • Never enter a room noisily; never fail to close the door after you, and never slam it.
  • Never forget that, if you are faithful in a few things, you may be ruler over many.
  • Never exhibit too great familiarity with the new acquaintance, you may give offense.
  • Never will a gentleman allude to conquests which he may have made with ladies.
  • Never be guilty of the contemptible meanness of opening a private letter addressed to another.
  • Never fail to offer the easiest and best seat in the room to an invalid, an elderly person, or a lady.
  • Never neglect to perform the commission which the friend entrusted to you. You must not forget.
  • Never send your guest, who is accustomed to a warm room, off into a cold, damp, spare bed, to sleep.
  • Never enter a room filled with people, without a slight bow to the general company when first entering.
  • Never fail to answer an invitation, either personally or by letter, within a week after the invitation is received.
  • Never accept of favors and hospitality without rendering an exchange of civilities when opportunity offers.
  • Never cross the leg and put one foot in the street-car, or places where it will trouble others when passing by.
  • Never fail to tell the truth. If truthful, you get your reward. You will get your punishment if you deceive.
  • Never borrow money and neglect to pay. If you do, you will soon be known as a person of no business integrity.
  • Never write to another asking for information, or a favor of any kind, without enclosing a postage stamp for the reply.
  • Never fail to say kind and encouraging words to those whom you meet in distress. Your kindness may lift them out of their despair.
  • Never refuse to receive an apology. You may not receive friendship, but courtesy will require, when a apology is offered, that you accept it.
  • Never examine the cards in the card-basket. While they may be exposed in the drawing room, you are not expected to turn them over unless invited to do so.
  • Never, when walking arm in arm with a lady, be continually changing and going to the other side, because of change of corners. It shows too much attention to form.
  • Never insult another with harsh words when applied to for a favor. Kind words do not cost much, and yet they may carry untold happiness to the one to whom they are spoken.
  • Never fail to speak kindly. If a merchant, and you address your clerk; if an overseer, and you address your workman; if in any position where you exercise authority, you show yourself to be a gentleman by your pleasant mode of address.
  • Never attempt to convey the impression that you are a genius, by imitating the faults of distinguished men. Because certain great men were poor penmen, wore long hair, or had other peculiarities, it does not follow that you will be great by imitating their eccentricities.
  • Never give all your pleasant words and smile to strangers. The kindest words and the sweetest smiles should be reserved for home. Home should be our heaven.
Let's keep etiquette alive!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

It ain't a good party if no one ends up in a Honduran jail

It all started out great. I arrived on Saturday, July 30th to Santa Rosa for the H-15ers Despedida (going away party for people in the U.S. – they completed their service and were returning home). We went paintballing in the morning. It was a good time despite the fact that the paintballs would not explode on contact which was either due to really old paintballs or the tanks not being pressured enough. Essentially it was a painful imaginary gun fight with shouts of “I shot you! I shot you! You’re out!” It was a fun event that only a handful of us experienced and would unfortunately be likely forgotten and overshadowed by the events later at night.

Upon returning to Santa Rosa everyone did their own thing until the evening. With a big group of volunteers it was easier for everyone to figure out what they would do for dinner (rather than try to organize one place for everyone) and then meet up back at the hotel for drinks. We would then go out to the bars and nightclubs to top off the night.

As everyone began to head out for the Santa Rosa nightlife, about eight of us continued to stay and converse. I actually preferred to stay and play drinking games at the hotel but the group consensus was to head out to where the other volunteers were so I followed along. We went to a new bar where we encountered several volunteers – it was a very nice outdoor bar. After chatting with them for a little bit we headed out to another bar we heard the other volunteers were. Arriving there we found out it was a private party so we headed out to a nightclub to see if they were there. A street vendor was selling delicious smelling food so we stopped for a late night snack. Several other volunteers ended up there as well so we all sat happily eating our food. One of the volunteers wanted to head back to the hotel but did not know how to get there so I walked him back. We passed a big group of rowdy volunteers that were walking back to the hotel as well.

At the hotel while talking with the volunteer, everyone else came in. I noticed that the volunteers that I was with previously did not come with them so I headed back out to find them to make sure they were getting back ok. I ran into them at the Central Park – Amanda was walking in Danny’s sneakers while Danny was walking barefoot holding Amanda’s broken sandals. Lisa and Emina were walking arm in arm. I wasn’t sure how this came about but it was a nice image so I sat on the park steps and took it in. As they passed by I called out to them and we headed back to the hotel together.

To understand the layout of Santa Rosa (the part relevant to the story), the Police Station is across the street on the north side of the park. That street heads straight down west to the hotel we were staying at and the night life was on the south side of the park. The police commander’s office was on the northwest corner of the park across the street. We walked through Central park northwest to head to the hotel which passed by close to the Police Station. This was the same route I took to walk the other volunteer home and the same route the big group of volunteers took.

We passed the northwest corner and were about two blocks from the hotel when I noticed headlights from behind. I told everyone to get out of the road to let it pass – Amanda, Lisa and Danny were straggling behind a bit. However, it was a police truck and they pulled over right besides them. I went back for them to try to explain to the cops that we were close to the hotel when they started pushing me and telling me to get into the back. I told them to hold on, that I wanted to make sure everyone else was ok first but they got very aggressive and started shoving me with the point of their batons. It looked like everyone was staying calm about the matter so I got on first and helped everyone else on. I knew it was not to end well.

Once at booking I tried to find out why we were being arrested. I found it to be ridiculous so tried to make light of the whole situation. I was glad to find that Emina was doing the same. We called the Peace Corps Duty Officer (it was about 2 am) to let them know of the situation. When it turned out that we were going to the jail cells I called the Duty Officer again to let him know and that they were confiscating our cell phones, personal belongings and interestingly enough our belts (the guys only). They ripped the phone out of my hand (it took two of them to do it as I was resisting) mid conversation and put it away. With nothing else to do we were led to the holding cells. I was hoping that they would place us all together but they sent the girls to one cell and the guys to another. About ten feet from the cells I smelled the urine permeating from the guys’ cell and I knew it wouldn’t be a pleasant night.

As Danny and I went in (he was still barefoot) I noticed that it was already occupied by four Hondurans (presumably drunks). The stench was awesomely horrendous – there was a small partitioned area in the back corner for the toilet but apparently the entire back of the cell was used as an open toilet. As we sat down I began to talk with the other Hondurans – I thought it better to win them over as friends. I wasn’t sure what there disposition towards foreigners would have been as some Hondurans are hostile towards Americans (especially those that lived in the States illegally and ended up in jail there). Things went well and after a few laughs it appeared that they weren’t going to bother us. I was getting tired (the night before I only managed a few hours of sleep) so I tried to sleep on the cement bench. Danny claims I snored but I think he lies.

As the night wore on, more and more Hondurans guys were led into the cell. It got to the point where I had to sit up to allow the other Hondurans to sit. I was dead tired by then – I was trying to get some rest and at the same time kept a wary eye on the other Hondurans. A fat Honduran came in and he seemed to claim the king of the cell status. He was the guy that the other Hondurans differed to. He was the one as well that started to lay the smack down on the other Hondurans. I wasn’t sure how it happened – perhaps Danny knows, but this one guy in a white shirt apparently got on the nerves of the fat Honduran. The fat Honduran shoved the white shirt guy away from him and into Danny. Danny tried to placate the guy by telling him to calm down and I was trying to tell Danny to not get involved. The fat Honduran was apologized to Danny – it appeared his wrath extended only to the Hondurans and he was pretty cool to us. The white shirt guy became the cell “bitch.” It was interesting to see the jail cell dynamics. The fat Honduran was the head honcho and this other small Honduran in a cheap baggy blazer was his sidekick. After the smackdown the small Honduran would start hitting the white shirt guy and yelling at him. It was pretty funny because I’m sure he only did it because the thought the fat guy had his back.

At one point in the night a shirtless, shoeless Honduran was led in. He was shaking (with rage, drugs, I don’t know) and was cursing at the police and trying to strike at them the whole time. Interesting is that in the movies you see police confidently manhandling prisoners when they act up but in reality they seemed just as scared. When striking the shirtless Honduran he would do it quickly and then jump back – it was kind of like a middle school playground fight where both people are more afraid of getting hit than wanting to win.

The shirtless Honduran walked around muttering things. Not sure exactly what but it got to a point where he was annoying all the other Hondurans. The fat guy pushed him into the urine soaked area of the cell several times and started hitting him. After a while the other Hondurans would do the same thing as well – rushing him, kicking him and punching him. He got beat several times that night to the point of bleeding.

What really frustrated me aside from the stench and filth of the cell was that we didn’t know how long we were to stay in the cells. Our cellmates told us it is usually until 5pm or 24 hours. I was worried because all of our stuff was still at the hotel (check out was 12) and no other volunteer knew where we were. As daylight broke a Honduran lawyer came by to talk with everyone. The guys all crowded by the cell door but one of them actually tried to get the lawyer’s attention on our behalf. I told him to call the Peace Corps Duty Officer to update him on our status. The lawyer handed me the phone and I told the Duty Officer our current situation and that we would need volunteers to help get our stuff at the hotel. Afterwards a Honduran police officer came by with the Peace Corps Safety and Security Officer on the phone (as a former police officer he has connections). The Security Officer proceeded to tell us the situation – the head police officer of the western region of Honduras was the one who ordered the cops to go out and arrest us and for that reason the Security Officer was not able to pull any strings to get us out. I told him that I still was not sure why we were being held – we weren’t drunk or causing any disturbances and that we were just walking back to the hotel. He told us that he was doing whatever he could to get us out, but in the meantime we would have to wait. He also said that he would get in touch with the other volunteers to check up on us and to make sure our stuff at the hotel was taken care of.

A bit after some volunteer came by. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the H15ers that were leaving that day through cell doors – I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. The two volunteers that lived in Santa Rosa (Slater and Elizabeth) stopped by as well to see if we needed anything while they tried to figure out what was going on and how to get us out. Brock and Leila (H15ers) came by and bought us water and food to share with the cellmates (to keep them amicable) and the Santa Rosa volunteers brought everyone pizza and water as well. What I was especially grateful for was the hand sanitizers – my jeans, sneakers and socks were soaked in urine (as well as my hands from trying to roll up my pants to keep them from getting drenched in the urine pools). That kept spirits up while we waited for the outcome.

I found the drink situation to be interesting in the jail cell. In the morning before the other volunteers showed up, a Honduran came to see who wanted to buy drinks. Some people pooled together money to buy drinks and they even offered to share with us. The shirtless Honduran asked if I wanted to pool with him to get a bag of water (I said no) and when the guy said they didn’t have bags of water, he started ripping his money. I’m still trying to understand that. Overall I found them to be very generous to us and with each other and I felt good when the volunteers brought us food and drinks to share with them. But I still found it funny that they always differed to the fat Honduran first since he was “alpha dog.”

Eventually someone pulled strings to get us out of the cell on the grounds that we were not feeling well (around 10 am). This was done without the head guy’s knowledge but the police officer that said to do it took the risk (the Safety Officer’s friend). We were told that we would be able to get out but the head officer wanted to talk/chastise us first. At first it was supposed to be at 11 and then it was after lunch. We had to wait in the station but it just felt great to be out of the cell. It was around 3 when he finally got to talk to us and we found out why we were held in jail. It appears that the big group of volunteers that I passed when walking back with the other volunteer were very loud and creating a ruckus to the point where the head of police heard it from his office. There were also people calling in to complain of the noise. He decided to send out a police car to arrest the people responsible. Coincidently those people got to the hotel before they were caught. I’m assuming that the police truck circled around the block and that was when they saw the five of us walking back to the hotel. Even though we weren’t the ones disturbing the peace, we were all part of the same gringo volunteer group and he had to make an example of us. Unjust? Yes. But at that point all I was looking forward to was to burn my socks and shoes (I would have done the same with my jeans if I weren’t so attached) and take a nice shower. I fortunately had the pants I used for paintballing to wear. I did not want to walk around in those nasty shoes so I bought a new pair and threw away the other pair. And I slept like a baby that night at Slater’s place – the only bus to my site had left and Slater was kind to let me and Danny crash at his house.

Looking back I think the five of us handled the situation very well. No one despaired and everyone kept their cool. Several times at night I heard Emina singing from the women’s cell. Danny kept calm during the whole ordeal as well – if I had to share a cell with anyone I’m glad it was Danny.

I have to thank to Brock and Leila for stopping by and getting us food and drinks, as well as Slater and Elizabeth. Dimitri, Kenyon, Justin and Eric for stopping by to see how we were doing. And we can’t thank Slater enough for being our intermediary between the police and the Peace Corps, keeping us updated on what was going on and trying to work behind the scenes to get us out. And a big thanks to our security officer for working hard on our behalf as well.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

It all started Friday night when when I ambitiously made vegetable soup and added jalapenos as well as chili paste. My stomach must not have found that too agreeable (although my palate did enjoy it) as Saturday I had to wake up early to go to Santa Barbara to meet with an NGO in regards to Eco-Fogones (fuel efficient wood burning stoves). After a very tense 5 hour bus ride (3 buses, 2 transfers) we had a meeting with the organization and it was very successful. The are proyecto mirador (http://www.proyectomirador.org/) and they agreed to come to the west to work with the peace corps volunteers and their communities. What I found to be interesting is that they receive their funding from the carbon credits they would sell from the eco-fogones. This was an idea I came across independently - if a business could be created to use carbon credits to fund development projects. It seems that one already exists and this would be an awesome way to get Hondurans to be more ecologically responsible (and if not, it means less work for them to find firewood). They told us that they would start planning the projects on Monday to see where to start - who woulda thunk it was that easy? Kudos to Dimitri and Brock for finding this NGO.

Also, this past week, my women's group planned on showing a movie on Sunday - they would sell tickets as well as food to raise money for the bakery project. As the teacher is not coming until the 6th of July, we were planning on using this opportunity to raise money for the materials needed for classes (flour, sugar, eggs, etc.) . I was worried at first as all the participants were told to sell 10 tickets each (10 lemps, or about 50 cents) and anything not sold they would have to cover. A lot of them hemmed and hawed about being able to sell all those tickets - it made me worry because if they couldn't sell these tickets, how much harder would it be to sell bread on a regular basis? However, on the bus ride home today, I got a call from one of the women saying that they needed more tickets as they already sold out what they had! I was very excited - I thought I was going two for two this weekend. However, my bus arrived at 5 pm (the movie was scheduled to start at 7) so as soon as I got home I dropped off my bag (thanks to Michele for letting me crash at her place in S.B) and headed over to the salon (warehouse type building used to hold large meetings, parties, materials). The seats were all aranged but we needed the speakers and the projector. After retrieving those from the municipal building, when we started to put everything together we realized that we were missing one cable for one of the speakers as well as the cable to connect to the computer. By this time it was 6 so I had to run around to look for these parts - someone mentioned that the school borrowed them but upon arriving we only found the speaker cable. By then it was almost 7 so our makeshift solution was to put the microphone up against computer speakers. I ran to my house to pick up my speakers and then we started showing the movie at 7:30. No big deal, right? Heh... yeah right... and on that note why the ***k do these people not keep their equipment organized??? During my frantic calls to various people, trying to look for the missing parts, one person lamented how they used the church's cables because they couldn't find theirs. Are you friggin serious??? This is why wecan't have nice things. Because you aren't organized and keep losing stuff.

The movie I had picked out was Wall-E. Great movie and it would tie in with the trash management project I was trying to accomplish with one of the municipal workers. I worked hard to download the movie (dubbed in spanish) and was certain it would be enjoyed by both children and adults. Wrong!!!! People started to complain about the movie, saying it was boring and childish, so I ran back to my house to bring my external hard drive. They wanted something more adult oriented? Fine. I would show Pan's Labyrinth. Sure it may be a bit violent (some scenes) for the kids but it was a beautiful movie. My host mom in another site loved it. Strike 2. They got 10 minutes into it and wanted to watch something else. My frustration level was reaching its boiling point. My counterpart eventually brought a ranchero dvd saying that this was the type of movies they wanted to watch. Basically it was a cheesy action movie in Spanish - think of Steven Segal or Jean-Claude Van Damme, but with less martial arts and more cowboy action (but not Brokeback style). At that point just gave up and shrunk back to the food area where the women were hanging out. I just wanted the night to be over. But nope - someone forgot to tell me about the gratuitous nudity in the movie. I heard some catcalling and the women started to point at the screen - I turned and saw a man embracing a woman from behind and starting to undress her. In my mind I thought "No way. He's just gonna feel her up over her bra and then they'll cut to the next scene. This is Honduras, very conservative - they wouldn't show nudity. My female counterpart would not have given me a movie with nudity - she said there was singing and dancing." I was wrong. Horrified and stunned, I watched the man on screen took off her underwear piece by piece (there were lots of moms and children in the crowd). I ran to the computer and fast forwarded the scene (there ended up being several other). My reward for all this hard work? Laughter from my women's group. They thought it hilarious how my jaw started to drop more and more with each article the actress's clothing. So overall movie night was a disaster - during the movie switches some people wanted their money back. But from a financial standpoint it was pretty profitable. We're going to do it more often, but this time we will divide the movies into 2 categories - for children and for adults (and maybe one for these cheesy action movies for the teens). And we will screen the movies first. And we will improve the organization - especially the accounting. Running around everywhere trying to get things organized, I didn't have time to create a proper bookkeeping system for them. But all's well that ends well - the women got a valuable experience on organizing and running a project. And I'm just glad the weekend is over.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Finally a sense of accomplishment

Today I gave my first charla (presentation) on the benefits of starting a small business to the women's network in my site and with it came my first real sense of having done something here in Honduras. Despite heavy rain - generally things come to a stop on rainy days as people have to walk everywhere - 18 women showed up for the meeting and they decided to start a bakery (with training to come from the NGO Food for the Poor). It won't be easy, but the market is there as the pulperia owners (people who sell basic goods out of their houses) buy their bread from the big city Santa Rosa to sell here. By starting their own bakery they can ensure that money stays in San Agustin and provide jobs here. It will be an uphill battle as people fall into a trap of thinking that locally produced goods are inferior but we are determined to challenge that perception. The upside is that it will provide a source of income for people who need it and with that hey can then lift themselves and their families out of poverty. They will definitely have to create a superior product at reasonable prices and get the community involved (by getting them to support the local business). It won't be easy, but nothing worthwhile is. The work is pretty much cut out for them - all they need to do is work hard. Even that is not a guarantee of success but I am optimistic of what we can accomplish.

On a side note, I definitely feel that women are the key to development. They provide the most stability in the household - especially in a machismo country such as Honduras. A lot of men in my site don't really think of the future, preferring to live in the moment and squandering their hard earned cash on frivolities such as drinking (even though my site is a dry site) and womanizing. This has a negative impact as you see lots of unwed mothers struggling to provide for their children. This is compounded by the fact that the women are usually more educated. As the boys reach a working age they usually forgo education to work in the fields. At my school the higher grades have a higher ratio of girls to boys. When they become pregnant, they usually have to put their education and possible futures on hold to raise the children. Some of them do have families they go back to to help with child rearing but unless they want to leave their children to look for other employment opportunities outside the town what more can they do? Also, with limited education the jobs they encounter are limited to working at restaurants or as maids in other houses. Its not like in the movie 'Boyz n tha Hood' where Tre's mom leaves him with his father to pursue a successful career. And to have a father figure like Furious, someone who teaches Tre what it is to be a man? Almost non-existent here from what I have seen. The problems that I see here in the developing countries is the same that Americans see in tha hood. People see the glamorous life people are living on the telenovelas and want to live that life. The problem is that television never shows the hard work it takes to reach that point - it doesn't make for entertaining T.V. They go for the quick fix - drug trafficking is a big problem in Honduras. My host dad has a brother-in-law in prison in Nicaragua for transporting drugs. My host mom's take on it? "He was very ambitious." The people with the ambition to work hard are the ones that go to work illegally in other countries. The men leave their families behind to work several years in America. Minnesota seems to be a big place for people in my town and the neighboring towns - my house that I'm renting was built with the money the owner saved up in the states to come back to when he returns. This again goes back to the problem of the mother of bearing the sole responsibility of running the house and the lack of strong father figures.

Hopefully that is why I'm here and why I think women are the key to development - to help show them step by step how to develop their own businesses. Will they see themselves living the glamorous life in the big city? Unlikely. But hopefully with a steady job they can provide the opportunities for their children. It seems appropriate that Mother's day just passed. Here is to all the women that struggle in a man's world to survive - as Tupac best said, keep ya head up.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Quick updates

1) finally caved in and got the internet. nice to be connected once again. less leisure money for 4kb/s connect speed. definitely worth it.

2) camera was stolen while at a Peace Corps get together. It costs about $40 now, was insured for $200 with $100 deductible. I think it worked out in the end.

3) I finally got a bed (2 actually - one is a day bed that I will use as a sofa). Finally living like a human being. Got a blender, crockpot (!) and nice linens. All thanks to a volunteer that is returning to the states in 2 weeks (Thanks KP!)

Monday, February 14, 2011

special double post!

2/8/11
Why I miss the states #2348

In the States we have somewhat reliable public transportation (at least in New York). City Buses and subway comes regularly so it is more or less easy to plan out transportation. In Honduras the buses the Peace Corps volunteer rely on is more akin to Greyhound buses as the Peace Corps strongly urge us to take taxis when traveling in the cities (buses are major targets for armed robberies). Greyhounds, at least in my experience, usually left on time. And even at that, if you missed one, you could usually catch the next one.

Here in Honduras the buses are notorious for never leaving on time. The bus drivers try to wait until the bus is packed before leaving. With no higher power/corporate office to report to, they pretty much control the situation. Many times have passengers yelled "Vamanos! Vamanos!" to the driver when he waits around too long (and this is considering that Hondurans have a defeatest mentality and will endure just about anything silently). The luxurious lines are a bit better with keeping time tables, but pales with anything compared to the states.

I, on the other hand, have been unfortunate enough to land with the one bus that does the opposite - it leaves EARLY at times! I'm not talking about 5/10/15 minutes, but 30/45 minutes early. This only occurs on the bus back to my site. What makes it frustrating is that it occurs once in a blue moon and there never is any notice. So what usually happens is that I'll come to the bus terminal around 40 minutes early to find that the bus has already left. With that in itself it would not be too bad - I should just wait for the next bus right? However, that is the only bus that goes back to my site! This definitely is not an optimal situation for me as I would have to find a place to stay one night, waste another day in Santa Rosa (the big city) until it is time for the next bus and then take that one home. Considering that I go to Santa Rosa once every week or two, I've been fortunate enough that this problem has affected me only 5 times. Once I stayed with a volunteer that lives in Santa Rosa, once I had to stay at a hotel (the volunteers that live in Santa Rosa were all away), and twice I have gone to another site where a friend lives to stay with him (last night as of this writing). One time I was able to take a bus to Dulce Nombre (a small town between my town and the big city) to catch a ride with my host dad as he was on his way back home.

The only thing to do now is to handle taking the bus as I would on taking a plane in the states - to try and get there an hour and a half or two hours earlier to make sure I get on the bus. And 95% of the time I will be just wasting my sitting around on the bus and shortening my time in the city to run errands. And what makes it more maddening is that I usually try to get to the bus station around 50 minuts early, but all the times I haven't been able to get there that early the bus leaves before I get there (and I'm not talking about 15/20 minutes earlier). All the other times when I get there early? Bus always leaves at 3.

Journal 2/13/11 - Happy Valentines Day

It seems that no matter where you go, people are always reluctant to be the first ones on the dance floor. For Valentine's day (or the Saturday before) a dance was held by the municipality at the salon. Tickets were about 100 lempiras each (about five dollars).

**Side note - it appears that if you are a foreigner in Honduras, you are treated as VIP. When the President of Honduras was in the capital of Olancho (think of it as a state), security was very heavy: military, riot police, undercover cops - the whole works. Everyone was patted down to enter the building that President Pepe Lobo would enter except for us gringos. When we walked by, the security officers had a confused look on their faces, looked at each other, then just waved us through. I don't really think it was due to a lack of work ethic on their part. I like to think that they did not know if we were foreign dignetary and did not want to offend us by subjecting us to a 'pat down.' On the same note, on the night of the dance, I was told at the ticket booth by the muni workers that I did not need to pay. As I walked in, the ticket guy (not a muni worker) waved me through even before the muni worker got to him to let him know to wave me through. Everyone was also frisked by the cops but I was waved through as well. Good times.

A dj and crew were brought in with large stereo equipment to blast bacheta, punta, merengue, ranchera and reggaeton (look it up). Unfortunately it appeared that the dj only had a seven or eight songs - lots of them were on repeat. I arrived an hour after the party started to find that everyone was a wallflower, standing around on the sides. Everyone was looking forward to this dance, goading me that I would have to dance yet no one was dancing! I put my jacket down, grabbed a drink and then tried to enlist the vice-mayor to round up some people (or at least get a partner with me) so we could break the ice. He bashfully refused so I ended up grabbing a municipal coworker and we started dancing in the middle (reminds me of clubbing in college - when my friends and I would start the party in the dance floor... good times, but I'm getting kinda old for this). I was glad when soon after a handful of guys came up next to us and started dancing with their partners.... until I saw how they danced. I am not saying that I am 'Dancing with the Stars' material, but wow.... Imagine if a guy was holding/hugging (bear hugging?) a girl that didn't have the capability of standing on her own. Then imagine them stepping/swaying violenlty around in a big circle with no regard to the people around them. That was how the majority of them danced. I still do not know if the girls were enjoying it or not... but at least some of them were smiling...

Over all it was a good night. I believe the party went on until 2am. I ended up heading home around midnight after dancing with some of my municipal friends - 3 hours nonstop is pretty tiring. Overall it was a good night but there were about three guys to every one girl. The girls made out well, especially since there was no alcohol (I believe that would have loosened up the guys some more, but also may have prevented too much drama since no one was drunk).

Monday, February 7, 2011

Happy New Year, and congrats Green Bay

Hope everyone had a safe and memorable new year celebration - I was in Utila getting scuba certified. Scuba diving is awesome! I definitely would like to get my advanced certification soon as well. But we'll see when that happens...

Other than that it is currently coffee picking season so work has been very slow. School was out until today as well, but now that it is back on I hope to start English classes. It has been very slow work wise as there aren't too many people who are motivated to do anything. I'll try to write on this next time - right now I'm at a cafe using wifi so don't really have time to write everything out. Will need to start writing them before hand and copy/paste when I get here.

I am in the big city right now - yesterday there was a big get together to watch the superbowl. The game was good (that interception was killer!) but I do have to say that without the commercials, it just wasn't the same. At a bar we commandeered the top floor and had massive amounts of beer and food. Good times!!

I'll try to come back next week and post something on my thoughts on development in a third world country.