First Week in Honduras!!!

Bienvenidos a Honduras and congratulations to me!!! I’ve made it through my first week of Peace Corps training here in Santa Lucia, Honduras!!!!

I arrived in Tegucigalpa last Wednesday, beginning my three months of being a Peace Corps Trainee (called an aspirante). The landing at the airport here is crazy-because the city is surrounded by mountains, the runway here is extremely short (rumored to be the shortest in the world) and thus the landing was extremely rough-I think we bounced off the tarmac at least three times. But nevertheless, we made it safely and took our first steps in Honduras. Passing through customs, I got hit on for what I assume will be the first of many times by the custom official (he liked my eyes and apparent “sexy” smile). After collecting all my luggage (I admit, I overpacked) I was greeted by Peace Corps staff, a luggage truck, and a much welcomed snack. Once we were all accounted for (there are 47 of us trainees), we boarded a big yellow school bus (the standard bus here for all transportation) and headed towards Santa Lucia.

Santa Lucia is a small mountain town about 15k from Tegucigalpa (Teguc for short) and has hosted Peace Corps Honduras training for many years. When the trainees come, its kind of like tourist season for the pueblo as we are all anxious to spend our money at the internet café and the restaurants. So while here, we live with host families and attend 8 hours of training during the week days. I am living with the Rodriguez-Nunez family, which includes Olga and Miguel (the parents) and a lot of kids. Luis is the oldest (24) and doesn’t live at home; Pamela (14) is next and helps Olga to take care of all the others; Melissa is 9, Ondina is 7 and Gustavo is 5. Those are the kids who actually live here, but Miguel’s sister is here everyday and has two kids: Javier 8 and Cynthia 3. And there have been a couple other kids around here over the past week, but I haven’t figured out yet to whom they belong. So it’s pretty noisy around here during the day, but at least I have lots of willing playmates.
I have my own room here and my own bathroom, which is a luxury. I feel as though the family gave up a third of its sleeping quarters for me, but they are used to it, as they have hosted at least a dozen other trainees. I eat with the family for breakfast and dinner, and they bring me a hot lunch to the training center everyday (I’m definitely being spoiled-it will be a big shock when I have to go to my site and actually cook for myself). The food is really good-a lot of rice and beans, some meat, cheese, and amazing fruit. The other day I had a breakfast of fruit-Pineapple, watermelon, papaya and mango. I’ve also eaten quite a bit of plantain and even got to try yucca the other day. The only bad thing about the food is that the Hondurans like to fry just about everything-not so good for my intestines or my waistline. I even had fried bologna the other day (definitely not my favorite). But oh well things could be a lot worse-at least I have a hot shower in the mornings. Many of the volunteers have to take cold showers or even bucket showers. So I count myself lucky with my electroducha (affectionately called the “widow maker” by some- something about electricity and water mixing…).

Training is pretty interesting-we spend half the day in language classes and the other half in lectures (about development, Honduras, safety, etc.) We also break up into our project areas some-I’m in Protected Areas Management (PAM) and there is also Youth development and Municipal development. I’m still not exactly sure what I’ll be doing with PAM, but I’ll let you know when I find out. Anyway, we are learning quite a bit and in between classes I’m getting to know the other volunteers better. They are all really cool people from all different backgrounds. There are five married couples in the group (which dramatically reduces the eligible bachelors as there are only 14 guys), a guy named Larry who is at least 65, a lady named Cynthia who has lived in 7 different countries and decided to do the Peace Corps once her kids were grown, and a whole lot of others. Gradually I will introduce the others, but 46 is a lot. Unfortunately, I think one of my friends has decided that she isn’t cut out for these tough two years, and will probably go home. But I’m still trying to convince her not to.

Que mas…the other day a bunch of us trainees went down to the soccer field for a game of pickup soccer, which was a lot of fun. I admit, I didn’t do a whole lot more than run up and down the field, but I got a couple of good kicks in and at least it helped reduce the effect of all that fried food. The futbol field is in the most beautiful place: you have to walk to the bottom of one of the hills (not so pleasant to walk up after playing an hour of soccer as it’s about 20 minutes of steep uphill) where the field is in kind of a bowl of mountains. I’ll take my camera next time as I really don’t think my words can do it justice. I also went to the Catholic mass on Sunday with my sisters which was interesting.

Other than these few events, my days basically consist of waking up around 6:15, showering, cleaning my room, eating breakfast and leaving for “school”. Afterwards, I sometimes go to the internet café, or just come home and play with my siblings. The family watches a lot of TV so I’m up-to-date on most Spanish pop music (thanks to Pamela), Sponge Bon Square Pants, algunas telenovelas, and the news. After a dinner with the family and more TV, I go to bed and am usually asleep by 10 o’clock. Definitely a different lifestyle than college, but I guess that means I’m growing up.

That’s a pretty good summary for now. My computer battery is running out (I’ll send this tomorrow at the internet place) and it’s almost 9:30 (bedtime), so I’m going to sign off.
Here is my address if anyone is interested in sending some snail mail-it would be very much appreciated!!!

Alice Douglas
Cuerpo de Paz
Apdo. 3158
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Central America

Ok-until next time-besos para todos!!!
Xoxo-Alicia