¡Bamanos Pues!

¡Bamanos Pues!

By a quirk of the Spanish language we’re able to bring you the aforementioned word play. For the non-Spanish speakers in the audience, the phrase “¡Vamanos pues!” usually translates to something like “Let’s go, then!” Alright, so here’s the quirk; B and V are very often indistinguishable in spoken Spanish, and depending on where you find yourself, they are often used interchangeably in written Spanish as well. So, please join us for an enthusiastic “¡Bamanos pues!” Why? Well, of course, for our new president. Not to digress too extensively from the purpose of this blog, which is a nearly unyielding focus on all things “us”, but we must say that as the ambassadors of sorts we are as PC volunteers, it is so very refreshing to have a president who both appreciates the art of diplomacy and promises to practice it, consistently and skillfully. The promise of Obama as a skilled statesman, albeit almost entirely untested as yet, has spread to the far reaches. Anecdotally, Obama is mentioned in the political conversations we hear here as often as Honduran and other Latin American politicians. Also, due to our relative similarity of stature and skin tone, one of my co-workers has fondly taken to calling me Obama and jokingly quizzing me about policies as one would the president. All word play, anecdotes and jest aside, we are decidedly happy to have this man in the office of president.

Alright, back to Honduras. We’re doing quite well, between settling into our new home and looking forward to new work opportunities. Regarding our home, as previously written, we’re completely moved in, new paint and all. Our remaining focus is on tearing apart a defunct earthen oven that was left in our back yard (it was approximately one cubic meter), continuing to grow our compost pile, and planting our garden.

Gardening has been entertaining in unexpected ways. It would seem that our back yard was previously employed as a makeshift dump. In addition to the half dozen hours we’ve devoted to picking up bits and pieces of trash, the process of preparing our 10 ft. X 10 ft. garden plot has been an amateur archaeologist’s dream. We’ve already uncovered in the ballpark of 20 fragments from a shattered plate, shards of glass, batteries (corroded beyond the influence of Coca-Cola), warped fragments of rusted metal, spent bottles of nail polish, and old clay roof tiles, amongst other items. Keeping with the theme of amateur archaeology, these “precious finds” have certainly kept us amused, and may for a while yet if we decide to reemploy the plate fragments as our newest puzzle set; we’ll see. Although the majority of our fun has come from digging, while preparing the topsoil of our garden Emily has also been nipped by one our neighbor’s chicks (yep, small, fuzzy, yellow, and equipped with a beak), who was visiting to feast on the earthworms we uncovered. Perhaps most surprising of all, today Emily mistook a young tarantula for a clump of dirt. Fortunately it began moving before she could move it!

With regard to work, after over three months of supporting Aldea Global in many capacities Emily will begin volunteering with another organization that works to support orphaned children. Another Peace Corps volunteer worked with this organization in the past and had a very meaningful experience there. Thus far we understand that Emily will likely be supporting the children in at least a few capacities, from teaching and hosting other educational initiatives for they and their adoptive families to helping collect information about how well the organization and its affiliates are supporting the children to ensure they’re given the best care possible. Emily has long had an interest in supporting orphaned children and her work with this new organization promises to be fulfilling and challenging.

I am currently beginning work alongside a fellow PC volunteer who’s an architect as well as my counterpart and a civil engineer to design and plan for the construction of a biological research station to be built this spring. My role, owing to my background in urban planning rather than construction know how or design savvy, is helping ensure the location and design of the research station (which will be located in a national park here in Honduras) are consistent with the park’s development goals. I am also still working to get started on a project to map and delineate several of the park’s watersheds. Along with a few other volunteers in the area, and likely with Emily’s editing skills coming in handy very shortly, I am also helping to compile an informative brochure to educate local community members about the need to and advantage of preserving the park.

We would be remiss not to mention our part time job of helping coach a little league team. Whether we’re instructing on the basics of executing a bunt or teaching how to properly field a fly ball, it’s safe to say that we’re having fun, getting a decent amount of exercise, and, let’s hope, serving as positive role models.

As a parting thought, we’ll leave you with a short poem, intended both to redeem myself (Dan) after my last endeavor and more importantly, to give a taste for some of the simple things we appreciate about our experience thus far. All the best and please stay in touch!

I am a young experience in the happening and an eager memory in the making

I am the rooster’s crowing through day and night, I am the midnight dogfight whose bark foretells its bite

I am a full night sky with very small stars, whose brilliance teach that Earth is only one very small world; one very big very small world that can’t impress the universe and that can’t help but fascinate her stewards

I am the clever paradox of a pure, clean, dirty, dusty road

I am the wandering calf, colt, and chirping chick, constant reminders of and constantly reminded of the perennial necessity to venture forth and in so doing learn the meaning of exploration

I, too, am the please go away bludgeoning torrential rain and the please come again subtle morning mist

I am the constant sense of sensitivity in our tin roof, creaking under sun energy, crackling in the rain

I am a young experience in the happening and an eager memory in the making in one very big very small world, and I am t h a n k f u l for the complexities I’m learning to see in such a simple life

Feliz Año Nuevo

Since we last wrote, we have been preparing our house and have celebrated Christmas and New Years. When we moved into the house, all it had inside was a pile of duffel bags, a bed, and a bad interior paint job. Since that time, we have painted, gotten a table and chairs, hung a hammock inside, and started to make the house look like a home. The process of buying household necessities has been a long one – with many to-do lists and whole days devoted just to running errands – and has left us reminiscing fondly about one-stop-shopping at Target.

Dan painting on the lop-sided ladder

For Christmas, we headed to La Esperanza to celebrate with friends. Miguel, who traveled 7 hours from his site in the south, met us in Siguat and, after eating a lunch of baleadas (flour tortillas with refried beans and sour cream, which go for as little as 25 US cents apiece), we hopped on a bus for the hour-long trip to La Esperanza. Once there, we enjoyed relaxing at Mark and Lauren’s house on Christmas Eve. Miguel brought his guitar and my (Emily’s) grandmother sent a book of Christmas carols that she had found in a thrift shop, so we gathered around and sang together. On Christmas day, we did a bit of walking around the city, cooked dinner, and at different times someone would slip out to talk to family back home.

The Nativity scene in La Esperanza

(who knew there were cheetahs and giraffes in Bethlehem)

Christmas dinner consisted of a turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and sweet potato pie. Whenever cooking in Honduras, creativity is a must. My original plan was to make the sweet potato pie before we left Siguat and take it with us, already made. When I was reading the recipe, however, and the pie crust instructions stated “place dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes,” the plans changed, as we do not currently have a fridge. Fortunately, Mark and Lauren were kind enough to lend us theirs. The next step was to “place the dough between two sheets of Saran wrap and roll it out.” Since we didn’t have any Saran wrap, I put it inside a plastic grocery bag, which worked just fine. When we peeled the sweet potatoes, all of which looked the same on the outside, only one of the four was orange and the other three were tan. They all tasted the same, but the pie wasn’t nearly as pretty as usual. But, as the Irish Night Before Christmas ends, “´Tis ne´r a Christmas when everything’s right, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.”

After returning home for a few days, we headed up to the North Coast to celebrate the New Year with 10 other H13ers (11 of us are from Municipal Development and Lauren is a Youth Development volunteer who has Muni-D envy). We spent New Year’s Eve swimming in the Caribbean and eating fresh fish and tajadas (fried green plantains with salt that are the French fries of Honduras). When we rang in the New Year, the ball had already dropped in New York, so Dan held up a balloon and slowly lowered it as we counted down to midnight.

On New Year’s Day, we hiked in Parque Nacional Pico Bonito. We hiked for about an hour and a half to a waterfall, where we went swimming and ate PB&Js before heading back. The water was cold and refreshing and deep enough that we could jump off a 10 foot rock. Natán, who had formerly been a gymnast and diver, flipped off the rock, but the rest of us were satisfied with simply jumping. The vegetation was lush, verdant, and tropical, so while admiring the beauty of it all, it was hard to convince ourselves that it was the first of January. It certainly felt like a good way to start off the New Year, though.

Emilia saltando (Emily jumping)

A natural knot

Our final day of vacation was spent swimming and walking on the beach. For lunch, we decided to splurge and go to a beach-side restaurant to take advantage of more fresh seafood. We shared Camarones al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp) and Sopa de Caracol (Conch Soup). Both were excellent, but the conch soup, made with fresh coconut milk, was superb! The camarones came with arroz y frijoles (rice and beans) and tajadas. The conch soup also came with tajadas and rice that we mixed into the soup. With a cold beer, good company, and a view of the ocean, it was a perfect meal.

Dan, Emily, Natán, Ana, and our awesome food

After a bit of R & R, it´s time to get back to work! We will continue to work with Aldea Global and are also preparing to work with other NGOs and schools. We´ll keep you posted as that unfolds.

Whether you were buried in snow, worrying about getting sunburned or somewhere in between, we hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for the letters, emails and packages. We always love hearing from you!

Dan watching the sunset from our livingroom