Adios, La Campa

Hello! So, my time in Honduras is coming to an end and I figured I would make a last post of reflections.  Took a week off to travel last week and started in Santa Rosa to watch the game and tour the Flor de Copan cigar factory.  It was really interesting to see all the different processes that a cigar endures from crop to product.  Afterwards I caught a shuttle to Copan Ruinas where I checked into my hostal and met Emily, a student at GWU studying international development as well.  We ended up going to Twisted Tonyas for a 3 course backpacker special meal and 2 for one cocktails...yesah!  Later, I booked a shuttle for Antigua and called it an early night.  Got up early and visit a nice little butterfly park on the outskirts of town.  It was a morning well spent with over 50 different types of butterflies, including the gigantic forest light (look it up!).  Around noon I caught my shuttle and headed for the border.  Luckily, my shuttle was not packed with 15 passengers like  some of the others headed the same direction.  Among my traveling companions was a guy who had just gotten through touring much of Europe and spent some time in South Africa for the world cup.  There was also a woman headed to Guatemala to study spanish before returning to teach at a refugee school in Cali.  Really interesting people, and the good conversation took my eyes and mind off the horrifying game of chicken being played by our driver.  Made it to Antigua around 7 and searched for 3 hours for a hostal.  I later found out this was because every Peace Corps Volunteer was banned from traveling because someone had launched a grenade at a chicken bus in Guatemala City the previous day.  Nice warm welcome into Guatemala, eh?  Finally, around 10 I got the last bed at El Caminante and ventured back out to explore the town a little and try to get aboard a trek to Pacaya (active, active volcano) the next morning.  Unfortunately, because of a huge storm on Monday, Pacaya was unclimable due to mud slides...so that ended up being a bust as well.  I had planned on traveling further into Guatemala and going to the lake and several lakeside indigenous communities, but with 6 pages of travel advisories for my area alone, the adventurer in me was thwarted and I instead decided to spend the next day at an organic coffee plantation just outside of Antigua.  I spent the day planting various trees to provide shade for the coffee plants and later roasted and ground my own beans for a cup of Caitlin Coffee...day well spent I must say.  I spent the rest of the day visiting the ruins of several churches brought down by multiple earthquakes.  I decided 3 days was enough in Antigua which is pretty but so tourist heavy, I really felt uncomfortable.  I know I must be lumped into the category of tourist as well, but after living in La Campa for nearly 3 months, I don´t feel like one.  I am way more comfortable with local campesinos than with tourists my own age and interest.  Eager to get back to Honduras, I booked a shuttle for 4:15 am the next day.  The shuttle ended up being an hour and a half late and I was the last person to fill a van of 16 people with the grim news we were going to Guatemala City first to drop off a passenger headed to the airport.  We finally, made it back to Copan around 1 and I spent the day in the central park listening to live music and talking with locals.  Made it back to La Campa the next day just in time for Dia De Lempira festivities to begin.  This started with Cultural Night in La Campa which included traditional Lenca music, dance and dress.  The next day, the whole family ventured up to Cruz Alta for the India Bonita election which was interesting to say the least.  The Election consisted of about 10 girls ranging from 6 to 13 all competing for the title of India Bonita.  One at a time the girls had to come out on a handcrafted stage first donning their school uniform, then athletic wear, then casual wear, and finally a hand sewed traditional Lenca dress.  With each outfit change and display, one of 4 90´s synth pop hits (Be my lover, barbie girl, rhythm is a dancer, and sweet dreams) were played.  It was definitely a flashback to Skate World birthday parties...

Finally, India Bonita was decided and crowned and we all headed back down the mountain to prepare for La Campa´s parade the next day.  After 3 days of celebrating lempira, festivities concluded with the giant celebration in Gracias.  A fair-like setup was constructed (including shady rides and honduran-style fair food) and thousands of people flocked from all over Honduras.  Tuesday morning there was a giant parade led through Gracias, with Dona Mercedes taking the lead, making pottery on a cart at the head of the line.  With Dia De Lempira past, things have fallen back into the regular swing with pottery making most mornings and frequent school visits.  Unfortunately, Neftaly can´t take me to the airport on Friday so I will be taking a chicken bus to San Pedro on Thursday.  I can´t even believe my time here is almost done.  La Campa living was exactly what I needed this summer and I will miss my family so, so much.  I´m already scheming ways to get back which may include a (paid!) TA position with Dr. Kuzemic when he brings another group of students back in March.  Of the many things I have learned in La Campa...a few things stick out...Don´t guide your time by expectations.  Never trust a one-eyed guide.  Playing chicken in a chicken bus headed towards the Guatemalan border is utterly terrifying.  "Nabo" can mean either turnip or rape depending on the context, so use it correctly to avoid confused stares!   Annnnnnnnnnnd La Campa hospitality is of the greatest I have ever witnessed.  Adios, La Campa, you have certainly done right by me.   

Con Confianza

Well hello, all! Much has happened since my last post and I am eager to spill it, so here goes...
With the dia de limpira rapidly approaching, I have been helping Mercedes make lots of clay goods to sell to the community. While she tackles the more difficult subjects, like cups, pots, and comales, I work tirelessly on pieces for mobiles. Before Amy left we combines our skills to create a hand shaped mold...and it has taken off. Mercedes really liked the idea and so I have been making manitos for the past couple work sessions. Met a PhD student doing research on indigenous women and got to hang out with her for a morning while she interviewed Mercedes. All last week, I held down the fort at the alfareria while Mercedes attended a seminar geared around exploring new projects with clay. She came back each evening wtih tiny clay flowers, buttons, and various other types of small adornments. Meanwhile, I sold nearly 50 dollars worth of pottery in one afternoon, which I was pretty proud of. Unfortunately, after boasting of my lack of sickness whilst in Honduras, a mean fever, chills and other flu like symptoms came a-calling. The whole family came to my aid, brnging lemon juice for my stomach ache, medicine for my chills, and offered to pour a mixture of alcohol and water all over me to bring down my fever (this I politely declined). I thought it was just a little bug and would pass in a few days,but by the end of the week I was pretty sure it was a bigger bug than previously thought. Finally, I decided to go to the doctor and the whole family loaded into the car to accompany me. We got to Gracias around 2:30 and saw the doctor at 3. He ordered a a variety of tests and ultimately the results read Typhoid. This was a little frustrating because I had a typhoid shot before I came, but on the plus side, at least it wasn`t a more difficult bacteria that would have required more treatment. I got my medicine and we all treked back to La Campa. I could not have been paired with a better family. They take such good care of me and get really worried if I don`t seem like I`m acting "Catalina enough". Mercedes even made 2 giant, Alice in Wonderland style coffee cups for me and Sean and added little hearts along the brim (manly eh?). With sickness behind me I ventured to the school in La Campa the next Monday for some quality English time with the kids. I taught 3 different grades "Head, shoulders knees and toes" and now when they see me, they say "knees and toes!" consistently. We also worked on numbers, common phrases and some pronunciation. The next day I went on a 7 hour round trip hike with Heide and two men from Nueva Esperanza to help clean out the water system. Word to the wise....if it has been raining, and you are hiking to clean out the water system...avoid wearing chacos. At one point the much was so bad, it actually swallowed my shoe and I had to reach down into what looked like a primordial tar pit and search for it. Despite the mud and wrong footwear, we made it to the system and watched as the men drained and removed all debris from a cement structure that filters the water to the community. We cleaned a few more structures of the same type that were staggered throughout the mountain and made it home just in time to see Holand beat Uraguay (to my dismay). The next day, I took a bus into Gracias and visit the library which was a nice day trip! Yesterday, I met up with Heide and a group of women in Nueva Esperanza to help clear and plant a variety of vegetables in the school garden. It was a really fantastic experience and the turnout was really impressive. We planted radishes, cilantro, cucumbers, zuccinni, onions, and a native plant used in soups and refrescos. Today, I began my week of traveling, beginning with a trip into Santa Rosa de Copan where I watched the final game with Heide and her friend Diana (Viva España!) Tomorrow I am going to tour the Flor de Copan cigar factory and then catch a ride into Copan Ruinas. I plan on spending a few days there and visting a butterfly/organic orchard and possibly taking a short trip into Guatemala, although I`ll have to stay relatively close to the Honduran border to get back in time for festival preparations. It`s less than 3 weeks now until I come home, and although I miss everyone, I`m caught in kind of a limbo because as soon as I alleviate my homesickness for the U.S., it will be replaced with homesickness for my Honduran home...such is life I suppose. Until next time, friends!

Paz! Por Usted y Usted y Usted....

Hello from Gracias! All right since last posting, I´ve started working with Heide on the school gardens. We went to Cruz Alta last friday and sat in on some English classes and then handed out seeds for the students to plant in their pretty impressive school garden. Sunday, my hermano Henry and I trekked up to the La Campa Stadium to watch La Campa play Santa Rosa, which unfortunately ended in a loss but it was nice to visit the stadium which has pretty much been carved into the mountain side. In more depressing soccer news...Honduras v. Spain...not good. Honduras v. Switzerland...could have been better. On the plus side...Hooray for USA! Today, I´m meeting Heide in Gracias to watch the game and I hope all goes well! I´ve been helping Mercedes a lot with her pottery. There is a big celebration in July for Lempira and Mercedes has been working like crazy to make multiple mobiles to sell during the fiesta. She has three types of pottery a deep red, a light cream colored, and black. Unfortunately, she has not been able to fire pieces to be painted red or white because that must be done out in the open and with all the rain, has not been an option in several weeks. She did however build a fire in her outdoor stove the other day and was able to create several black pieces of pottery including masks, beads, and pieces for mobiles. No luck farming in Cruz Alta this week because of the rain, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I´ll be able to help several different farmers with their corn. Last night was Guillermo, Mercedes´son´s birthday and we had a big fiesta of which the main entertainment was watching me attempt me to dancetraditional latin american dances including bachata, punta, salsa, and merengue over and over, oy. It was a good time though, and we hiked back down to the house around 11 where I helped Yarixa with her English homework (writing the pronunciation for the Barney song "I love you, you love me"....) And went to bed. Glad to have the whole fam back because it gets a little lonely during the week when everyone except me and Mercedes is either in Gracias or Mataras for school and work. On Wednesday I got to meet a couple of Heide´s freinds who are also former Peace corps volunteers and it was really interesting to speak with them. One worked in Costa Rica in educational technology projects and the other, in Zambia on a variety of health projects. I´ve been thinking more and more about the Peace Corps and I really want to explore it as a serious option when I get back. I think it just serves as one of the best ways to really get integrated into a community and ask them what they beleive they need the most and try to work in conjunction with them to fulfill these needs. Anywho, with at least a year of Grad School I guess I have some time to think about it. There´s also a lot of really interesting internships I want to apply for including The People´s Grocery (look it up!) in Oakland. When I get back, I think Sean and I are going to try and make it out to the Ranch which is wonderful because I never feel quite right unless I make it out there once a year. I have reached the half way mark of my time here and I think the next half will go by much more quickly...which is both a good and bad thing. I´m anxious to work as much as possible, but I will miss La Campa tremendously! Anywho, I suppose until next time, I bid you adios.

La Huerta Escolar

Hello! All right, well since the last post my dear Amy has departed and made it backly safely to the states. We headed up to Sand Pedro Sula on Wednesday and stayed in the Gucamaya Inn, a bed and breakfast located near the mall and movie theater. We ended up seeing the only movie available at the time, The Prince of Persia...which was absolutely horrible but it was nice to have a little break from off0the0grid living in La Campa. We got up early on Thursday and hopped into our taxi, parting ways at the bus terminal. I was pretty sad when I got back to La Campa by myself but Mercy greeted me with a giant hug at the bus stop so I felt much better! I have about a month and a half left here in La Campa and I am absolutely determined to do as much as I can in this short time. On Friday Heide and I walked up to Cruz Alta to sit in on some English classes as well as to observe their school garden and hand out seeds. I was really impressed by both the teachers progress in the schools and by the garden. We´ve gotten a lot of rain her so a lot of their radishes were a little water logged but it definitely looked like something that they maintain as a school which is what the goal of the school garden program is! When I get back I really want to work on promoting school gardens in the local schools in Stillwater, it just makes since to have an interactive classroom like this and I think the message of providing your own food or at least having the potential to, is a really freeing concept for kids and adults alike. I got an email back from Tanya who owns a bar and restaurant in Copan. I think I am going to go up next weekend and help promote her new bistro she is opening at McCaw Mountain. I will also be helping with cooking and waitressing so we´ll see how that goes. It should be a new and interesting experience for a week, but I know I´ll be ready to get back to my family in La Campa when it´s over. The more my spanish improves, the more I am able to speak freely with Mercedes and it´s wonderful because she is such an interesting woman! I still want to hike Celatque, the highest mountain in Honduras, before I go and it looks like I will get the perfect opportunity in July with Heide and another volunteer who is living in the nearby town of Catulaca. We will basically be surveying the area with a guide to get an idea of what type of reptiles and mammals exisit on the mountain. They already have a pretty extensive bird list so the next step is to find out what other creatures are in the area. The rest of my Fridays will be devoted to helping in the schools and with school gardens and I really want to make a trip to Tegus to visit my friend Britnee who is working on sustainable stove building. I have been consuming books like crazy and just started a book of essays Heide lent me, written by Wendall Berry. It is such a great read and I highly reccommend it for anyone interested in environmental endeavors. Today, I´m spending the day in Gracias, getting some internet time and hopefully visiting the library and central park. Next week I plan on helping Neftaly with his corn, which should be on the verge of sprouting very soon. I guess, that´s all for now, thanks for reading and until next time!
Caitlin

Tamales, Gracias, D & D...Dios Mios!

Hello all! Sorry it has been a hot second since my last update but we were lacking in the internet department for some time. Since my last post things have really picked up. We have started spending a lot more time with Heide, the peace corps volunteer which has been great because she is so friendly and has really helped us find a lot of work. We even filled in for one of her English classes that is offered to individuals who want to pursue a higher education. In Honduras, the education system only goes through 6th grade and after that you can either go to collegio for a carrera (an occupation) or go straight into farming. You can also pay a certain amount to receive higher education starting at the 7th grade level. It was really interesting to teach the English class for these participants because they range in age from 13 to 30 and up. The fact that 13-year old kids would actively earn the money to put themselves through school is awesome to me. We have also been observing the teachers in school while they teach their English courses to make sure they are using interactive approaches. This has been really interesting especially because after the morning classes, every Friday all the kids head out to the fields and work for about 3 hours preparing the land for planting corn. Some of the kids are as young as 4 and may not have shoes, but they all work in the heat of the day. However, none of the teachers explain to the kids why they are preparing the land, I mean the kids have no idea why it is important to remove old plant matter, or to compost or not use slash and burn every planting season. There are the things I am going to try and explain in a new project I will be helping with that works on getting gardens into the school. I start this Friday and I think I'm going to begin by having the kids bring in a different ingredient for a type of compost I have in mind. I think if I can make these gardens fun and interactive, it could really influence the way kids see agriculture. This past week, Amy and I helped Neftaly out in his field which was definitely difficult week. He needed to prepare the fields for planting corn and so we had to remove all the old plant matter, till the entire field, and then plant the corn in long thin rows alternating 2 and 3 seeds. It was hard work, but I loved every minute of it! When I get back I have three main projects I want to undertake...a worm composting project, a bee project, and I want to start selling some produce in the local farmer's market. Sadly, since my last post my buddy Amy has decided to go home. She's leaving next week and even though I'm really sad to see her go, I know this experience has been much more difficult for her not knowing spanish. I completely understand her decision but I will definitely miss her because she is such a fun person to be around and is great company! As a farewell, we ventured to Los Naranjos this weekend to visit D&D brewery, the first microbrewery in Honduras. It is a really cool place owned by Robert Dale, an Oregon native. After 9 hours on a bus, it was definitely a treat to enjoy some home brewed beer in a variety of flavors! He extended an offer that I could come back and work for a week or so, so I might do that later on in the summer. The next day we visit a nearby waterfall which was incredible! We toyed with the idea of hiking to the caves behind the waterfall, but apparently a few people have died in the process so we quickly reexamined our thrill seeking motives. After another night at the brewery we got up early and headed to Copan, it was an even longer trip but we finally made it in time to have some wine and cheese, get a drink special at our friend's Twisted Tonya's and finally get some pizza from Tulsa native, Jim at Pizza Copan. We spent the night in a hostel, of which we were the only residents and today we're just doing some shopping, internet time and exploring the town a little more. Tomorrow we will head back to La Campa for a few days and then trek back to San Pedro Sula to get Amy up in the air and back home. The other night was Jackie's birthday and we helped make tamales in celebration. It was an extremely interesting (and lengthy) process that left us with a pretty delicious meal and afterward a lot of dancing. After trying to learn the Merengue, Bachata (sp?) and Salsa, we showed the natives how people from the U.S. dance to such dance icons as Nelly, Snoop Dogg and Eminem....pictures to come. We are going to try and go horse back riding with Neftaly on Monday afternoon and on Friday at 5 am Honduras has their first World Cup game (route for them!). As a side note let me just say that it is good that it is so difficult to bring animals into the states from another country because otherwise...I would be bringing home some friends (you can rest easy mom and dad). Well, I am off, onto our next adventure!

Solo los manos

Ello, from Copan! Amy and I are here in an internet cafe enjoying a much needed break from La Campan isolation. It has been a rough couple of days. It feels a little more like Seattle here in La Campa as the rain continues to pour. 4 days in a row with no stop in sight will drive a chick crazy. The town basically shuts down when it rains, people don't work, meetings get cancelled, everyone crawls inside and hopes their power doesn't go out. We met with Manelio, a Peace Corps leader and our former guide from when we visit in March. He basically told us our travel plans were out of the question...San Pedro Sula --not safe, Tegucigalpa --not safe, La Ceiba -- high risk, and so on and so on. This was pretty devastating but we still have some travel options here on the west side of the country. We got to Copan this weekend after a grueling 7 hour bus experience and headed straight to a wine a cheese place where on an empty stomache (mistake number one) we toasted and sipped Chardonnay as the rain continued. We then headed to Twisted Tonyas for backpacker specials on cocktails. We still needed to find a cheap place to stay for 2 nights and asked the bartender if he knew of any good places. To our suprise he had an open room in his bar/hotel up for grabs and let us have it for the incredible price of 20 bucks a night for the both of us! It worked out wonderfully because it was a safe, nice room close to everything we would be walking to anyhow. The 6 cocktails (mistake number 2) hit me a little harder than Amy so I went back to the room and she trucked onward in search of Jim (a Tulsa native) who owns a pizza place in the center of the square. She found him, got a big veggie pizza and headed back to the room where we both slept in, well until 6:30 am. Today we've just bummed around a little. We got lunch, shopped a little and I think we're going to call it an early night for our 5:00 am bus that awaits us tomorrow. We asked around Copan for anyone in need of some free labor and got a few hopefuls. We asked a guy who works at the bird sanctuary we visited in March and he said he might be able to find something for us. Working with mccaws? I think it sounds wonderful! Tuesday we have a meeting with an organization that is working in a number of conservation efforts for the nearby Celatque national park in Gracias. If all works out, we will be helping with a reforestation project in the area. Other than that we're just trying to stay busy and not get down with all the rain. On Friday we helped Heide with a really neat program that basically teaches local teachers how to teach english. As of right now, the teachers basically just write words on the board and the kids are supposed to write them down and learn them. If they can't learn it on the first try, they're considered one of the kids that "just can't get english" and there's no real effort to keep them motivated. So, from 8-1 we had a workshop in which we played games, sang songs, passed out candy...the whole 9 yards as far as interactive learning goes. The teachers were all pretty responsive so the next step is to observe them in class to make sure they are using these interactive tools. Every Friday Amy and I will go to a different school and sit in on their English class and contribute some ideas of our own. Well, that's about it for now....send rays of sunshine our way, we need it!
Love
Caitlin

Los Dos Amigas

Greetings all!  Made it back to the internet cafe in Gracias and a lot has happened since Friday so it´s a good thing.  After my last internet visit we ran into a girl from Jersey who was wandering around Gracias.  Apparently she is doing research about money lending processes in Honduras and was planning on coming to La Campa for a short stay!  Strange how small the world can feel sometimes.  We also ran into Heide a Peace Corps volunteer staying in a small pueblo near La Campa.  She had just gotten back from an agricultural conference in Tegucigalpa and had a lot of interesting information on worm composting, which just so happens to be one of my main points of interest.  Sunday was Mercy´s birthday...the big cinco, so we had a fiesta with a bunch of her friends and family.  We ran up to the nearest pulperia and got her an assortment of presents.  There was dancing, food, and a piñata, so good times were had.  Most people were a little weary of the two ¨gringas¨ hanging around, but warmed up to us after a while.  Monday was a little bit of a down day....we got up early and started the long hike up the mountain to Cruz Alta, we were hoping for a ride but to no avail.  I took about an hour and half to walk the crazy ups and downs of the trail to the panaderia and when we got there, we were dismayed to find that the workers who had the dough had not yet arrived at the panaderia and were not going to be there until much later in the day.  We continued onward, another hour hike to Papelin, where we made paper with yucca pulp and conversed (as best we could) with the ladies making paper.  Papelin is another place with an organization promoting women operated and run organizations.  This particular group is JICA and currently only includes Papelin.  Although there are more of these organizations supporting micro enterprise, not all are strictly devoted to women.  Along our way back, we met a family also working for a micro enterprise organization that focused on promoting artisan activity within the community.  This particular family makes their living by constructing baskets and mobiles out of pine needles (pino), an effort that takes about one day to produce a single product.  We sat for a while in their house, watching the husband (Juan) weave hundreds of pine needles together to form a single layer of a basket.  Afterwards we continued the long trek back to La Campa in the blistering afternoon sun.  Getting back around 3, we both collapsed into Doña Mercedes who promptly asked if we wanted anything to eat.  We spent the rest of the day recuperating from an approximately 10 mile hike.  This included a lot of water and reading.  I´m currently working on Ed Abbey´s Monkey Wrench Gang while Amy is reading On the Road.  Tuesday we got to sleep in a little, ate some breakfast and began helping Mercedes with pottery.  Today was a bead making day so we spent all morning constructing beads out of a variety of tools including combs, toothbrushes, matchsticks and a cheese grater.  Amy and I decided with things being a little slow in La Campa, it may be time for us to travel around a bit and try to help other people in different areas.  Our first trip will be to Copán where the Mayan ruins are.  

We´re going to spend the weekend there and then come back to La Campa for a few days, work and then head to San Pedro Sula for a night and then to Las Naranjas to spend a few days camping at the first Microbrewery in Honduras.  If all goes according to plan, we´re going to help start a few batches of beer and enjoy a few ourselves.  The rest of the time is kind of a blur of wants and musts.  There´s a festival in Yoro called the raining of the fish which we both really want to see (you should all look it up!).  Apparently, in the second week of June a storm of fish settles into the area, a real Ichthyological down pour.  We also want to spend some time in Tegucigalpa making wine at a farm we stopped at during our fist Honduran visit with Dr. Kuze.  But for now it´s off to enjoy the central park in Gracias, finish Monkey Wrench Gang and head back to La Campa to help with pottery or whatever else we can get ourselves into.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Catalina