Bonus Blog!
Que suerte, verdad? Two updates in one week? Unheard of! But I had to do it, and it´ll be a short one, because I just wanted to describe how wonderful this day was. Let´s read on…
Today I played that game with the alarm clock where you just don´t want to get out of bed. It was cold, I was warm, it was 5:45am. Finally the alarm clock one, and I kicked the sueno from my eyes with a mighty cold shower. Off to Hermandad I went, for the journey to Belen Gualcho.
Belen Gualcho is part of the department of Ocotepeque, but to get to it, one has to leave Ocotepeque, drive through Copan (for those that know, through Lucerna until the city of Cucuyagua). Here you make the turn off towards Corquin and on towards Belen Gualcho. About 2 hours in total, I´d say. It´s an area very cut off from the rest of Honduras, no cell service, no paved road, and a strong influence from the indigenous Lenca indian population. But let me tell you, Buena gente!
In Belen, Carmen and I, a coworker from Hermandad, were to continue giving our workshop on Strategies for growing the capital of the rural banks we manage. The workshop also focuses on basic math, how to use a calculator, culminating in more complex formulas for calculating interest and managing the books.
Well the ride over was fun, Manuel, the boss of Project PRODERT drove us, as I´m not allowed to drive and we couldn´t take a car for two days anyways. He´s a great guy, you know the type- 50ish, greying hair, he lets his gray chest hair escape from his always unbuttoned polo shirt, straw hat on head, size 36 waist with the gut (we call it a panzón) hanging over the belt a bit, but not really overweight, likes to kid the new guy about girls, etc, etc. So we went along, picking up every Beleno (a person from Belen) who wanted a ride, as there are no buses in the morning going towards Belen, talking about the countryside and his own dealings with the area.
So we arrive, and I get shown my hotel, where everyone knows everyone and people are thinking ¨That is the whitest Honduran I have ever seen!¨about me. Distracted by the stares, I promptly ignore a 5´6¨metal doorway, and gash myself in the head. Thusly dripping blood, proving that gringos indeed can bleed, Carmen cleans me up, and we go on the the meeting hall, plus one throbbing headache.
So you´d think with an introduction like that it could only go downhill. How wrong you are! I was ON. This is my 5th workshop on the same subject, and I´ve got it down pat. I was informative, clear spoken, and, something I value very highly in spanish, WITTY. I´d say I got at least 4 or 5 really good laughs out of the group. Sure I play to the easy ones ¨Man, I can´t wait to find me a Honduran girlfriend,¨ but I also had some original ¨off-the-top-of-my-head¨ zingers. Good stuff. So we finished up, and there´s the obligatory time to thank everyone, and the participants say a few words, and I say a few words and we all smile and shake hands and such. Well, let me tell you, about 5 different men stood up from the group and gave us speeches about how much they appreciated it that ¨Pedrito¨ (as they took to calling me) had come from North America to talk to them, and how great we were. This culminated in one of the aging campesinos turned to me, in front of the group and said ¨Pedro, nos has caido muy bien,¨ literally meaning I´ve fallen very well to them, but figuratively meaning that I made a very good impression and that they really liked me. Another linguistic note on this is that he slipped into the personal tu form, denoting confianza (trust), then seemed a little embarrassed and switched back to the usted (formal) tense with me. I took this as a very sincere compliment, beamingly telling them that me han caido muy a mi tambien! It was a moment.
Afterwards we went up and explored a centuries old church (Belen is a colonial town, that appears to not have changed in the past two centuries), where they allowed us to climb the bell tower and grab some terrific fotos. Once back in San Marcos you can expect a link to them, but for now you´ll have to remain with just the words. No lo faltes!
Pics are Uploaded and Disclaimer
As promised, I’ve uploaded some pics, 4 albums, actually.
The albums are:
The fair in Mercedes
Visit to some gorgeous waterfalls
Giving the workshop in Mercedes, and
Visiting the organic farm in El Salvador
You can click here or use the link on the sidebar. Remember that the newest albums always appear at the bottom and are organized by date for your convenience.
Also, as a disclaimer, I am forced to remind you that everything written on this blog is to be considered personal opinion of one Peter Thomas Schlosser, or as it would be in Spanish Pedro Tomas Castillo. What a powerful name. These writings should not be considered policy of the Peace Corps, the United States government, nor official policy towards North Korean agression.
Another one down, 76 more to go
Another week in the books, so we’ll start off with some fun facts:
77 – Number of days until I will be on an airplane, headed for Los EEUU
249 – Days I have been in Honduras, as of this writing
561 – Days left in my service, unless I choose to extend or finish early
30.74 – Percentage complete
This week was a fun and productive week, Que bueno, verdad? Monday I arrived back from an enjoyable weekend trip to San Pedro Sula, where I indulged in College Football, free Internet access, grocery stores that sell SMOKED CHEDDAR and hummus, and generally had a very enjoyable, albeit expensive, time.
Tuesday was El dia del Soldado, an official Holiday in Honduras, so I cleaned the house and otherwise busied myself preparing for the workshop I was going to give on Wednesday.
Wednesday my coworker Carmen and I delivered a training workshop that we called “Mecanismos de Capitalizacion” (Pictures here). We’ve given it three other times as well, so it’s getting pretty easy to do, although also a little more boring each time. The idea of the training is to talk about ways that our rural banks can raise capital, which they will in turn loan to their members, Los Socios. This, of course, turns into discussion of glorified bake sales, and such, but it’s good to get them thinking along these lines. What I’ve developed is just a simple sheet for them, where they can write a description of the activity, fill in the timeframe (according to month), a fundraising goal, a coordinator, etc, and at the end of the year they can see how they did. What I’ve realized though, is that we need to spend more time talking about goal setting, because they don’t really seem to have a firm grasp on this.
We also spend a good chunk of time on basic math and how to use a calculator. This is painfully slow for me, but terribly necessary, as many don’t understand how to operate the calculator. We also struggle through interest rates and other financial calculations. We had a debate on Wednesday about whether 1.925 rounds up or down, and luckily I was able to convince them that it is indeed 1.93. It’s the little battles that are important, right? Along that line, I had a great conversation with what must have been a 70 year old woman in the market, and she warned me that it is ILLEGAL to possess maps in Honduras. Not having the heart to correct her, I told her I owned many maps, but perhaps some types of maps were indeed illegal, but I, not being a map expert, wouldn’t be qualified to say.
Thursday was perhaps the pinnacle of the week. The whole PRODERT (a project administered at Hermandad de Honduras, my NGO) went to El Salvador to observe an organic farm (Check out these great pics). First, it’s a good feeling to be “part of the team.” There was no question if I was going or not, it was just assumed. This made me feel good. I also got a nice compliment from my counterpart, who, while introducing me to a new coworker and explaining my various roles at Hermandad, remarked “Actually, Peter works in all the projects here!” “Si, jefe” le dije.
So the organic farm was great, we got to tour all the facilities, the highlight for me being the processing plant. It was very simple, but so effective. Presentation is something Hondurans have not learned, and these Salvadorans had it down. Everything was washed and put in nicely labeled plastic bags, driven in an air conditioned truck to the big supermarket chain. The owner was also very passionate about organic foods and environmental concerns, which was refreshing to hear. I carried off some Cebollín, (green onions) which we don’t have here in San Marcos.
Yesterday, Friday, I continued the lessons with Xiomara, the administrator at the Women’s Coop. This is going okay, although sometimes I feel like we’re not making much progress, but every little bit matters, and she’s definitely learning a lot more about Excel. Plus, I’ll be here for the next 19 months to keep giving her guidance, so she’s got that safety net. One thing I do like about this work is that it really fulfills, for me, what the point of Peace Corps is- delivering one-on-one assistance to small business owners, who otherwise wouldn’t get this kind of training and advice. I visit her twice a week, we talk about things at the Cooperative, talk about life in Honduras, life in the United States, and work together on making the Coop a better run place. Good stuff, no?
Pues, si, now it’s the weekend and I plan to relax, clean the house, and cook me some good food. The San Pedro trip devastated the October budget, so I’ll be eating my low cost favorite: Rice, squash, tomatoes, onions, eggs, cheese, and hot sauce. Tasty.
