Happy Halloween!

I admit, I really am not very good at this whole blog thing. I realize that it's been more than six months since my last entry, but at least I'm making the effort now. And that's the important thing.
So about my life-I've actually been really busy lately. I have several things going on which makes the time go by quicker. My biggest project is still hydropower-right now we're working on writing the grant. We're also trying to take a field trip to another community to see hydropower plant in action-exciting!! We also have to do a survey of the whole community-basically counting all the houses and collecting all the identification numbers of the people. There are officially 601 people in San Marcos, counting myself (that number has actually probably gone up since it seems the women here are always pregnant). So below is a picture of us women making the trip around town counting people.



That's my mountain in the backdrop. It's been super rainy lately and I haven't seen the top of the mountain in ages. Actually, Honduras has been hit pretty badly recently by some tropical storms. Fortunately, the worst thing in my town was the overwhelming amount of mud, but in other places, there were landslides, deaths, and the loss of crops. People are still recovering.
This is a nice shot of the rainbow after the rain over my neighbor's tin roof.



So back to work...I also helped the school build some EcoFogones (wood burning stoves that are made more ecological by putting in tiles so they heat up better and thus require less wood). I actually did this with some trainees that came to visit me. It was nice-having something to do while I was there so I didn't seem like a total slacker. So here's the finished product.



And I've been working with my women's group, Mujeres de Valor, to produce crafts that they can then sell either in Guaimaca, or in Tegucigalpa. So far we've learned how to crochet hats and bags, and weave hammocks. And I've been planning an Artisan fair at the embassy where Peace Corps volunteers will take their women's group to sell their product. We're inviting all the owners of local souvenir shops so hopefully the women will be able to find a permanent place to sell their wears.

And I've been experiencing the cultural wonders of Honduras, and more specifically San Marcos. At the beginning of September we had our feria (Feria Infantil-Creciendo Feliz), which was about five days of celebrating the children of the town. We had games every day and yummy food. Good Times!





There was also a costume competition for the town's pets and being the good citizen that I am, I dressed Lola up (I guess she was dressed up as me, since she wore my clothing). She won third place!!



People also dressed in traditional clothing and put on performances. The dancers are from Guaimaca and were actually quite good.



These lovely ladies are the contestants in the beauty competition and they had to dressup like indias! It was pretty cute.



And I've been doing some traveling! Went to Guatemala with my brother and it was lots of fun. We went to Tikal (the Mayan ruins) and they were amazing!





I've been pretty healthy too. Just another round of Dengue when I got back from Guatemala (at least I think it was dengue, it's hard to diagnose, but I had something that made me feel pretty horrible). I got stung by a scorpion-it was on a blanket I gathered up (I later found it and smashed it, pictured below).



And here are some pictures of my dog, Lovely/Loca Lola. The first she's with her boyfriend, a local dog she loves to play with. And the second is her in the house-she sleeps in a really weird position!





And these are of my favorite little kid, Rasel. He's gotten to the age when he loves to pose for photographs-it's pretty cute!.





So that's my life. I actually just got back from Halloween in Copan Ruinas and have some awesome pictures of that, but without my cord to connect my camera I'll have to wait for another day. I really will try this time!
Hope all is well-take care!

Happy Semana Santa

Hello all-
Here are some pics from the last chapter of my life. Spent some time in my site-had a trainee come visit me which was cool since I got to show off my site-and then headed north for a week of relaxation at the beach during semana santa. ENJOY



This is a picture of the school with the newly installed solar panel! And the computers are supposed to be arriving sometime in the next couple of weeks. And then we will have a functioning computer lab. There is bouganvilla like that all over my town-it´s great!



Picture of me with my host siblings on top of the water tank. The trainee I had is from the Water and Sanitation project, so I showed her everything to do with water in my site.



And this is a picture taken from my host families house of the center of town. It was really sunny, but you can still make out everything. I live now in the center of town, but you can imagine the hike I had to do everyday while living with the family.



And this is a picture with the trainee, my host dad, and siblings at the water source. We had to walk about two miles up into the reserve but the water up there is amazingly clean. I drank right from the stream and haven´t gotten sick yet.



Another picture at the ¨Fuente de Agua¨ of the siblings and my host dad. It´s really pretty there. Like we were in the middle of the rain forest. And they say that was what all of San Marcos used to look like before the deforestation began.



A pìc of my host family. On the right is my host dad´s father and in the middle is his grandmother. She´s 84 and has great great grandchildren. Before honduras, I had never even met people with great grandchildren. It´s crazy!



My host dad and his sister at my host cousins Quinciniera! It was a fun party. My host dad is the only boy in a family with 5 women and they have all taken me into their families. This is the youngest-Bea- and she lives in San Marcos too. She just had a baby.





The birthday girl-Diana-with her look a like pinata!
And her getting frosting spread all over her face after we sang happy birthday!



So after all the fun at the quinciniera, I went to Trujillo to spend Semana Santa. This is the biggest holiday in Honduras and everyone leaves the inner parts of the country to go to the beaches to swim and relax. In addition, everyone eats fish the whole week-no meat is allowed. So I decided to go to Trujillo with some of my PC friends and experience the fun of the caribbean coast!




Some BEAUTIFUL sunsets from my hotel.



Friends at the beach enjoying the sunset and some cold beer!






More sunsets and a view of Trujillo (our hotel was 7 k outside of the town), which is set against the backdrop of a national park. It kinda reminds me of capetown.



My friends Kyler, Bryce and Wes, along with Elliot, a little british boy who made friends with our group.



The silly boys being silly. They don´t get to see eachother as often as they would like and get a little crazy when together.



A REALLY BIG shell I found at the beach! One day there was a crazy storm with huge waves and lots of rain (not great for the tan I was working on) but then afterwards, the beach was full of amazing shells! This one was as big as my head!



Some pictures of La Loca Lola (my perrita). The first she´s with my host families puppy-she likes staying at their house since they have three other dogs and there is always the cat to chase. She´s a trouble maker, but I love her. I don´t know what I´d do if she wasn´t there at night for me to talk to...I´d probably just talk to myself! She´s growing but i don´t think she´ll be that big.
In the second one she´s in my front yard with a baseball i gave her, hoping she would chew that instead of my shoes-no such luck!





Lastly, my host mom with my siblings! I just can´t resist taking pictures of the baby-he´s so cute!

Ok all done-need to do real work now. I´m trying to a hydropower project in my town (i´m really excited about it!) for the school and at least the central area. So I need to find some funding! Hope all is well in the states-I´m going to be there in less than two months for la boda de mi hermano and I can´t wait!
Cuidense y besos para todos!
besos

Wow it´s been a while...

So I´ve decided (a belated New Years Resolution) to do a better job with this whole blog thing. Especially for pictures since sending them via email doesn´t always work-sorry if I clogged up anyone´s inbox. So this is just alittle view into my life recently. I´m really going to try and do this more-maybe twice a month?




This is a picture of the banana bunch that was chopped down out of my yard. Despite my best efforts (eating them every five minutes, giving them away, etc.) I could finish the whole bunch before it went bad. There´s another one about to ripen in my year, which I´m excited about! I love all the fresh fruit and veggies here. The other day i bought 15 tomatos for 5 lempiras which is like 10 cents. It´s great. And the papayas are in season as well as the pineapple. And mango season is starting soon which I´m really excited about!
And if you look closely you can see the giant spider on the wall next to the bunch-that´s pretty average pic of my fellow inhabitants. Gross i know but i´m getting used to it. And the spiders are better than the scorpions.



So these are pine needle baskets that my host grandmother makes and for which Í´ve just found a market. So I´m going to be sending them to Copan to this great shop where they will be sold to willing gringos and other travelers bringing dolares.
If anyone would like one, I will be bringing some back in May for my brother´s wedding and would be happy to take an order.



My host cousins-Ronald, Norman y Dariana. They are pretty cute. And it´s impossible to take just one picture of kids here. I have five pictures of these three in different poses just from one day. The kids here are great!


A Sunset picture from my front yard.



And this is a picture of my rose! When my parents came, I convinced them to stop a nursery to by flowers for my yard. And the rose took off right away! I don´t have a green thumb but i didn´t kill it which is great (and also speaks to the great soil here in Honduras)!


PLAYER OF THE GAME!! Silly boys...at the annual meeting for all PAM volunteers here in Honduras, we got a little carried away with our after hours´games.


A beautiful view from a hike we took during this meeting! In it, you can see Lago Yajoa, the biggest lake here in Honduras. The picture at the top of the page is also from the same hike about fifteen minutes after this one was taken-the weather here is crazy but without it, there wouldn´t be the great green forests!



Another pretty view of the lake!




A picture of all the hikers/PAMers.

The treat at the end of the hike! This beautiful waterfall! One of the guys went swimming in the crystal clear pool at the bottom.


This is a silly picture of my friend Bryce, being stupid and hungover in the grocery store.



Something one would only see in Honduras-a VW bug hauling fire wood and gas on top of the car. I just had to take a picture. This was taken as I was sitting by the side of the road waiting for a bus to come-I spend a lot of time waiting for buses and on buses.


And lastly a pitcure of myself-my friend cut my hair and gave me bangs, which I like. It´s nice to have something new!

OK all done! Hope everyone is well and healthy (thankfully I´ve been really healthy lately-knock on wood!). Hopefully there will be lots more entries coming your way, so keep checking!
Besos para todos!