Many of you will have already heard us speak about Luz, our kitten, who is quickly becoming a cat – if not in size then at least in attitude. We’ve already had her for nearly nine months and she’ll soon be completing her first year as of some time in April. Admittedly, this blog is not intended for telling stories about our cat (although, of course, we are fond of her) but rather to our overall experience as Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras. However, in the nature of sharing with you a bit about our lives here, let us share with you an anecdote about none other than Luz.
In most parts of the United States it’s commonplace to have a pet spayed as a young animal. Because we hope to bring Luz back to the States with us, and also as a general measure toward her long-term health, we decided to have her spayed here in Honduras while she’s still young. We’re fortunate enough to have a competent veterinary here in our town that does the surgery for 3,500 Lempira, which translates to about $175 USD. That’s not a tremendously high price to pay, but considering that our daily wages apiece are 170 Lempira (following that same 20 to 1 approximate conversion, that’s about $8 USD) it does take a bit of deliberate saving to afford such an operation. Largely because of that relatively high price, it is not at all common to spay or neuter an animal here – it’s a custom mostly reserved to the wealthier strata of society who see their animals principally as pets (i.e. nice animals to be nurtured) as opposed to mice chasers in the case of cats, human chasers as is the case for dogs, etc. It’s a done deal, though. For about two-thirds of one of our monthly salaries, Luz was spayed and is now well on her way to being a happy, healthy, kitten-less kitty.
A nice cat´s eye view
In the context of spending money on our cat, and in the broader context of comparing our lifestyles as volunteers with those of our Honduran peers, a few important details surface. One of our old neighbors (we’ve since moved to a slightly nicer, albeit still humble home) earned about 5,000 Lempira ($250 USD) monthly as a mason, which was slightly supplemented by his wife who worked as a cleaning woman. That 5,000 Lempira wasn’t too poor a salary in comparison with many others in the area, and on that salary not only he and his wife, but also their two children were dependent for all necessities.
As mentioned explicitly in a previous blog, and interspersed subtly throughout many others, as Peace Corps volunteers we live a simple life and strive to live as close to local norms as possible. Just to share a few examples, we travel by foot nearly any time we’re traveling within a 5 mile radius of our home, do a large portion of our shopping at the standard open air market in town, dress in humble clothing, and typically eat at home. Most of this we do with great pleasure (for those of you who know us, you already know how much we appreciate exercise, a humble presentation of ourselves, and eating simply), but for those things that we do with great relish along with those which we do grudgingly, our primary focus is that we maintain a sustainable standard of living according to local norms.
It is, however, only fair that we acknowledge the great differences in vulnerability and privilege between the humble lives we lead and those of our Honduran peers. When we get sick, are injured, etc. we’re entitled to the best medical care available (including, if necessary, being sent to specialists in Panama or Washington D.C.). To look at a broader trajectory of our lives, when we’ve completed our 27-month commitment with the Peace Corps, most of us have promising professional opportunities to explore, a more secure society to return to (for instance, remember that coups about 9 months ago?), and in general a more privileged lifestyle according to most indicators social scientists might employ to make such a determination. All of this is to say, try as we might to be humble and to walk in the shoes of the average Honduran, we are still foreign volunteers and do ultimately live a more privileged lifestyle, as does our cat as compared to her cat peers.
On to Lucero. In the past several months we’ve befriended a local horse, who we fondly named Claudia. At least once a week, we feed her carrots purchased from our local market, pet her a bit, and brush the flies away from her eyes. Claudia is a brown and white painted horse and is certainly one of the highlights of our walk into town. By speaking with a young boy who tends her along with about a dozen cattle, we’ve recently learned that she’s about 4 years old. When asking the boy about her age, we also had the surprise of learning that she has a name, and that it’s different than what we’d named her. Have we ever mentioned that here, as foreign volunteers, we sometimes find ourselves being thrust back into our childhood, if not toddler years? What we mean to say is that there are experiences one has as a volunteer abroad that force her to try to interpret her surroundings and come to conclusions without all of the relevant information that would otherwise be available in her home environment. So, yes, we assumed that Claudia didn’t have a name (she’s a horse, after all, and let’s remember that animals are typically first and foremost animals here) and provided her with a name that we thought was fitting, if not a bit presumptuous for a horse.
Enjoying a mid-afternoon snack
Well, as it turns out, her real name, Lucero, is quite fitting for her. She’s a beautiful horse, is quite affectionate, and her name means brilliant star. We now call her Lucero Claudia. That makes her name seem a bit more authentic, anyhow. In the Spanish tradition, many people have two first names and it’s customary that everyone have two last names, the first of which represents the father’s side of the family and the second of which represents the mother’s. If in the spirit of providing a simple illustration you’ll take a leap with us for a moment and consider that Lucero were a person, and take another even greater leap and consider that she were our child (we provide this example with the all important caveat that we are NOT at all yet interested in having children, nor a horse for that matter), her name would be Lucero Claudia Keller Casey.
Lucero has always been a bit healthier looking than most of her peers. She has a large pasture in which to graze and is obviously well groomed by her owner. She always seemed a bit too healthy, though, and as a result we’d often said (largely in jest) that perhaps she was pregnant. However, not having known her for more than 6 months, and not knowing how long the gestation period is for horses (we’re now pretty sure it's about 9 months) we really had no idea whether her large girth was normal or a sign of pregnancy. The birth of her filly five days ago, however, was the ultimate proof (unfortunately, we were not there for the birth). We’re not yet sure what to name her, but we’re certainly accepting suggestions. It's probably true that she already has a name, but that won’t deter us – she’ll just have one more. As a final side note, in case you like horses and want a few more details on the birth (we certainly hope you can at least tolerate horses, otherwise this must be an insufferable story for you), the filly has been running, if not sprinting, since day one, probably weighs near 80-100 lbs. and, per the local custom, has a red ribbon tied round her neck (yes, she’s everything that we think of when using the word “adorable”).
As for the busyness, well, we’ve been pretty busy of late. Since the start of the school year about a month ago, we’ve been teaching English with a night school program, have made solid plans with a local school to open a library and have a young student or two trained to function as part-time librarian (thanks once more to those of you who so generously donated books for this project!), have begun to make plans for co-teaching a civics class with a local teacher, and have contributed to a preliminary plan for a series of community facilities to be built in a local neighborhood.
We imagine that our next blog will be filled with more details on these various projects as they come to fruition. In the meantime, thank you, as always, for taking an interest in our goings on. Don’t hesitate to email us (eckeller1@gmail.com, danielkeller1@gmail.com) or post comments to the blog if you have any questions, curiosities, name suggestions for the filly, etc. Otherwise, take care and here’s to wishing you all the best from Honduras!
