One of the things we focus on here in Honduras is sustainable development. In other words, the projects we start are supposed to outlive our time here in the big H. Usually, I do my best to train and explain rather than fix, but there is one problem with this: computers. First of all, computers require an entirely different Spanish. I don't know of anything else you update besides a computer and no other activity requires the use of the word "download". My attempt to explain that the internet uses cookies sounded like a mix between a "cookie monster" scene and a very confused 6-year-old. So, I can't depend on my usual ability to refrence other uses of a word when I am talking about a computer. When I gave a computer class some months ago I learned the basic basics like mouse and keyboard, but I have alot to learn. The good news is most things that pertain to a computer are in Spanglish, so router is still router, but it doesn't apply in all cases. I still get looked at funny when I say server-o or domain-o. Second, about 9 times out of 10 a computer stops working, there is no reasonable explanation that I know, and the only reason I an fix it is because I grew up with them. Computers reward abstract thinking coupled with experience, and that is not something I can teach.
For the most part, I avoid advanced computer topics by just fixing whatever the problem is and saying it shouldn't come back. Recently, I've started doing web programming and for the most part, I don't explain anything to anyone and life is easy. When someone asks a question I work my way through it with "I don't know how to explain this, but it works, do we have any coffee?" Hondurans and I both love coffee.
Today, one of the people Alice works with brought his laptop to the office ( I don't think this was preplanned, but if it was: I owe him) and said his anti-virus doesn't work.
"Why not?" I reply with a smile.
"The license is expired" He explains.
"Was this a free when you bought it?"
"For 90 days"
"It costs money now, okay? do you want to put free one or live without?"
"It is better to have one right?"
"Better? No, more safe? Yes. Sometimes the free ones are not good, but we can put one until you decide if you want to buy. I'll look to see how much money."
He reluctantly gave me his computer, and looking back on things I should have told him he just had to pay for one. When I turned on the computer I see he has 2 antiviruses already installed, one that costs $40 a year, and the other doesn't look like the publisher still supports it. I tell him he can pay $40 and he looks at me like, "are you an idiot? you said I could have one for free." So I am stuck. I have to help this guy. He doesn't work at our office, but he has to visit a few communities and he'll be back within an hour or so.
I get online and start to install antivir, the program my counterpart swears by. The best part: its in spanish, so once it is there, I don't have to provide constant support. I download it, which takes a short eternity, but I get it on there. I go to update the virus definitions and it gives me an error that the license is expired. How can the license be expired? I still haven't figured this out since the program is free, but I search online for a fix for and finally find one an hour later. It doesn't work either. Frustrated I uninstall and reinstall, apply the fix and try again. Turns out the fix (provided by the publisher) doesn't work, they are replacing the file with the exact same file, and niether one works. So I keep looking. and find the right file. and get it installed, and start the update of the virus definitions.
For a few moments I think I've won, and I am so happy I could dance. Then I notice the download has finished and I hit another error. One I don't understand, so I can figure out how to fix it. Something about an engine. I'm feeling pretty stupid cause I thought these stupid things ran on electricity.
So I uninstall it again, and restart, since restarting fixes everthing. What I hadn't noticed while I was doing everything else is the windows update was running, and had installed 45 updates.
At the very moment I am curseing at the fact it is installing 45 updates the man returns for his computer.
"When connected this computer to internet last time?"
"(something that sounds like 1 week)"
"1 week, very odd, many updates, needs lots of of time"
"no, not 1 week, never. It has never been connected to the internet."
"huh" (this isn't a word in Spanish, but I still use it)
"I can come back again, I have another visit"
"well, unless you want to wait 30 minutes, you should do that."
So he said he'd be back.
Another short eternity passes and I get to see the computer restart. Finally. And I do everything exactly like I did before, thinking that af I do it again, something will be magically different. Nothing turns out to be different I have to try another solution. So I look online and find someone as annoyed as me with the whole process with antivir and says he just gave up and put AVG. I think thats a fine idea as well, so I unstall the other virus scanner that never managed to download a single virus definition and start looking for AVG. Besides that fact it is twice as large, and thus takes four times as long to download, AVG works exactly as it says it would. Sadly, I am in the middle of installing it when he comes back again.
"is it ready?"
"no, the first one no work, had to find another, still waiting"
"why didn't it work?"
"well, I fixed one problem, and found another problem I didn't understand, so I don't know, but it didn't"
"you don't know?"
"no"
"I need to go back to teguc soon, how much longer?"
"if it works: 30 minutes, if it doesn't work: 3 or 4 days"
"I can work at the coffee shop for 30 minutes, if it doesn't work, don't do anything else."
"okay"
He leaves for a third time, and I can only assume he thinks I am messing with him. I am kinda wondering if my day would have been more fun if I had been messing with him. AVG works fine, first try, so I figure with my remaining time I should see if there are any more updates. The computer says there is one, but only one, so I install it and let the computer restart. The computer is now crawling from the update when he comes back. I tell him the antivirus is working and I think Windows is updated, but honestly i am almost certain that there are more updates. I tell him he needs to connect it to the internet every 2 weeks to install updates when tells me it isn't his computer. His friend lent it to him, but his friends is living in Taiwan, so it is his for now. I contemplate the fact I spent 5 hours fixing someone's friend's computer and decide I should ask more questions in the future.
May 1 is my birthday, and we are planning to grill up some food on the 3rd. SHould be a good time. Pictures coming soon!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Soup
Now, I wouldn't ordinarily dedicate an entire post to a food, but I am making an exception, since I have recently had an interesting experience.
Soup is not something I would eat in the states. Ever. When asked about "soup or salad" the choice for me was really closer to "house or cesar" but here in the big H, people seem to love soup. When I first got to Valle de Angeles my counter-part took me all the way to the capitial to his brother's restaurant called "spoons" so we could have soup for lunch. That day, I was the only one who had soup. It was a veggie soup with a pleasant aroma, but the odd thing about it was: they served me nearly a half gallon of it. Now, I'll admit, my primary issue with soup is that it realy doesn't "eat like a meal" rather it just makes me wish I had ordered something else. For the first time in my life, I was forced to actually stop eating a soup from being so full.
Well, as it would turn out, that was not going to be my last odd experience with soup. Every Sunday, Valle de Angeles comes alive with "rica sopa de mondongo" which translates into rich cow stomach soup. Now it is not tripe, since tripe only has the thinnest sliver of lining and no muscle, but her in Honduras, we eat the whole thing, muscle and all. In my experience their are 2 types of mondongo soup"good" and "I would rather die than eat another bite of this" and there is no difference that can be seen. One must try (and pay for) the soup to know. After eating about 4 varieties, I now know where to go, and I thought my soup adventures were over, since while I eat more soup than I ever have in the past, nothing could be as absurd as mondongo.
Until I found out a friend of mine lived near a comedor that had "garobo" soup every Tuesday. Garobo used to be one of Honduras' most treasured animals: the black iguana. That is of course, until they started eating it. Now it is very close to extinction. Hondurans had a problem. They loved the sweet lizard meat, but couldn't continue eating it without destroying the remaining population. The conflict was solved by the introduction of another animal to the menu: the green iguana, which they found tasted exactly the same, and was plenitful. So the name stuck, but the animal changed. As soon as I found this out, I was doomed to eat it. I love new things and lizard was something I had never eaten. Yesterday, I made the 4 hour trip out to the dirty,dirty and I rode in the back of a truck for almost a full hour to make it in time for lunch, where I enjoyed the delicacy of girobo soup. The texture of the meat was like rubbery chicken and the taste sweet with a tang to it. I got 2 pieces of girobo in my soup, a leg and a large potion of tail. The soup also came with green bananas, potato, rice, potaste and some soft tortillas. Mine was gone in a minute despite the fact it was at least 90 degrees and I was eating hot soup in a room without air conditioning. The soup was refreshing and I will have it again. The only thing I want to know is if what I ate was green or black, since I have major issue eating endanged animals, but no problem at all eating iguanas. When I used to work at the pet store iguanas would always come in agressive and mean and many managed to hit me with thier little club tail or bite me. So this is a big old: I WIN to the animal kingdom.
I still haven't pulled all the pictures off my camera,
Until then.
Soup is not something I would eat in the states. Ever. When asked about "soup or salad" the choice for me was really closer to "house or cesar" but here in the big H, people seem to love soup. When I first got to Valle de Angeles my counter-part took me all the way to the capitial to his brother's restaurant called "spoons" so we could have soup for lunch. That day, I was the only one who had soup. It was a veggie soup with a pleasant aroma, but the odd thing about it was: they served me nearly a half gallon of it. Now, I'll admit, my primary issue with soup is that it realy doesn't "eat like a meal" rather it just makes me wish I had ordered something else. For the first time in my life, I was forced to actually stop eating a soup from being so full.
Well, as it would turn out, that was not going to be my last odd experience with soup. Every Sunday, Valle de Angeles comes alive with "rica sopa de mondongo" which translates into rich cow stomach soup. Now it is not tripe, since tripe only has the thinnest sliver of lining and no muscle, but her in Honduras, we eat the whole thing, muscle and all. In my experience their are 2 types of mondongo soup"good" and "I would rather die than eat another bite of this" and there is no difference that can be seen. One must try (and pay for) the soup to know. After eating about 4 varieties, I now know where to go, and I thought my soup adventures were over, since while I eat more soup than I ever have in the past, nothing could be as absurd as mondongo.
Until I found out a friend of mine lived near a comedor that had "garobo" soup every Tuesday. Garobo used to be one of Honduras' most treasured animals: the black iguana. That is of course, until they started eating it. Now it is very close to extinction. Hondurans had a problem. They loved the sweet lizard meat, but couldn't continue eating it without destroying the remaining population. The conflict was solved by the introduction of another animal to the menu: the green iguana, which they found tasted exactly the same, and was plenitful. So the name stuck, but the animal changed. As soon as I found this out, I was doomed to eat it. I love new things and lizard was something I had never eaten. Yesterday, I made the 4 hour trip out to the dirty,dirty and I rode in the back of a truck for almost a full hour to make it in time for lunch, where I enjoyed the delicacy of girobo soup. The texture of the meat was like rubbery chicken and the taste sweet with a tang to it. I got 2 pieces of girobo in my soup, a leg and a large potion of tail. The soup also came with green bananas, potato, rice, potaste and some soft tortillas. Mine was gone in a minute despite the fact it was at least 90 degrees and I was eating hot soup in a room without air conditioning. The soup was refreshing and I will have it again. The only thing I want to know is if what I ate was green or black, since I have major issue eating endanged animals, but no problem at all eating iguanas. When I used to work at the pet store iguanas would always come in agressive and mean and many managed to hit me with thier little club tail or bite me. So this is a big old: I WIN to the animal kingdom.
I still haven't pulled all the pictures off my camera,
Until then.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Yet another long post, with very little content.
So it has only been 2 weeks since my last post, which means that I am getting better about this. Sadly, it makes me realize I need to start writing things down, because I so many stories are being lost due to a bad memory.
This one isn't as creepy, since the background distracts your eyes from the above mention oddities, but you can see one of the smaller structure that is attached to a ball court (mayans were some of the first to play "ball" games, but the rules are vague and vary alot, so no one really explains it.) The tarp on the right is covering the longest mayan hieroglyph known that describes the rules of 4 different kings. I am standing on the top of the tallest pyramid at this site. This particular set of ruins has a lot of different structures. They actually seem to have built copan on top of an older city that is slowly being excavated.
So a few days later we went back to la tigre and this time we made it to the waterfall. The guidebook described the waterfall in a way I was kinda nervous to go, since it said that it "often dries up during the dry season" which we were in the middle of, but luckily, the guidebook didn't take into account the four inches of rain the national park had the night before. I will post pictures of that and more copan pictures when they are off my camera.
Until then
So when I last left you hungry-for-more I was sick and contemplating going to a doctor, which I never did. Luckily I started to feel a lot better really fast, though it took nearly a week after I finished all the medication the doctor gave me, which makes me think the doctor probably had no clue what was wrong. Actually, I have had really bad luck with the doctors here, since most seem to be on the guess and check method of diagnosis, and I have yet to have an ailment correctly identified on the first shot. I suppose I will give the people here a few more trys, since I don't really have any other options.
So I started feeling better and my boss mentioned he wanted some web design done for various locations, but didn't elaborate, which was a problem, since the last time I did web design, I was 12 and I figured things had changed alot. Actually, things haven't changed all that much and thanks to a couple well organized open source programmers, I am getting pretty good at html and css. My first page I am leaving enough of the original code that I will leave his contact info and some credits in the code, but from here on I plan to code my own stuff. After I finish the page from the group I work with most of the time, I already have 5 others I'd like to do/ people want me to do, so I should get really good.
My organizaion recently decided to have an auditor help me with my caja rural stuff, but so far we have made no progress. Sadly, I think this is because no one wants to be audited, but hopefully we can come up with a plan. Our biggest problem is that there are very few people responsible for book keeping and managing the groups, and zero accountability.
We recently had another visitor, a friend of Alice that has been around forever and we went to the copan ruins and to do a rural tourism activity near by the ruins. Sadly I had to leave a day early to be back in time for a meeting that was cancelled 2 hours after it was supposed to start, so I travelled home a day early for nothing. Life eh?
To say that copan ruins are worth the trip is to point out the terribly obvious. Sadly, no picture can demonstrate how awesome it is, but I will put up a couple rather creepy pictures of me.
Now, you're probably thinking that isn't a creepy picture, but you're wrong. You'll notice the begginings of my double chin are gone, a fairly large section of my gut, and pretty much all of my hair. If that isn't creepy, I don't know what is.
This one isn't as creepy, since the background distracts your eyes from the above mention oddities, but you can see one of the smaller structure that is attached to a ball court (mayans were some of the first to play "ball" games, but the rules are vague and vary alot, so no one really explains it.) The tarp on the right is covering the longest mayan hieroglyph known that describes the rules of 4 different kings. I am standing on the top of the tallest pyramid at this site. This particular set of ruins has a lot of different structures. They actually seem to have built copan on top of an older city that is slowly being excavated.
So a few days later we went back to la tigre and this time we made it to the waterfall. The guidebook described the waterfall in a way I was kinda nervous to go, since it said that it "often dries up during the dry season" which we were in the middle of, but luckily, the guidebook didn't take into account the four inches of rain the national park had the night before. I will post pictures of that and more copan pictures when they are off my camera.
Until then
Friday, April 4, 2008
The March Update
So, a few people reponded to my outcry for blog support, and the majority pretty much said to do whatever I want, so I suppose that is what i will do.
Valle de Angeles was, until recently, one of the few places in Honduras where we could rent DVDs instead of buying pirated DVDs, which means I have to wait for the official release and I only get to see movies that offer a Spanish Language audio track (about 1 in 3), but it also means I get to watch special features that can turn one movie into 5 hours of entertainment. Sadly, this store recently closed since it was cheaper to buy pirated disks than to rent real ones, and so I was pretty much every third customer.
I am telling you this story so I can tell you another story. The video store is about a 10 minute walk from our house, and Alice doesn't like to walk around at night since there aren't any street lights, so when we decided we were going to watch a movie, usually I would have to walk
there and back, which was boring and sucked. So I decided that everytime I had to walk all the way there by myself I would stop at a local comedor and have a snack.
So the people who owned the comedor started to get to know me, and the other regulars recognized me as the wierd guy who bought something small, ate quickly and left. About a month ago I wandered in and asked for a drink and a couple pupusas (like really thick tortillas stuffed with cheese) and I hear someone ask me in English where I was from. Now, this is a hard question, since "where are you from" is pretty open to interpretation. I am from Oklahoma, but to answer this way implies I am a standard tourist, which, I am not, so usually I answer I'm from here. Most people dislike this answer, since I speak with a heavy American English accent and my skin color makes people know this is not where I am "from" but rather where I live. Doing so makes me feel better, since it sounds like I have a more vested interest in the country. I especially hate being asked this question by tourists, since they almost seem confrontational when I tell them I am from here. It is like they have some desire to connect to you based on where you live. Before I even had a chance to look around and notice who said it, the person had already repeated thier query and I was forced to answer not knowing if I was talking to tourist or local.
"I live here" I stated, hoping the topic would be dead.
"No, but where are you from?" I hear as I discover I am talking to a local.
"I'm from Oklahoma" I am forced to reply. A Honduran would never let the topic go if I don't answer something.
"Oh, um, cool, I went to school in California" He responded.
Appearantly, he was hoping I was from somewhere more interesting. Sadly, Oklahoma is the best I got without lieing. So we went on to talk for a while and a few hours later I found out that I had met someone who just finished thier Doctorate in commercial law in Europe. He had also done his grad studies in California, and his pre-law here in Honduras. He speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian, and he has since become one of my best Honduras friends. The best part? His name is Fidel. Sadly he is not a very old Cuban dictator, but his name is still Fidel.
A few weeks later we had another volunteer visiting us, and we called Fidel to come hang out, and he said he would, but he got caught up with something else and never made it. The next day he felt bad and invited us to a BBQ, and I finally discovered a Honduran social network of young professionals. We met 6 Hondurans, all college educated, working in various capacities in the capital. We also met a young lady who is visiting for 8 from San Fransisco, but hails from Barcelona, and doesn't speak English. I wanted to ask her where she was from to see if she said SF or Spain, but she was a quiet person, and I didn't want to be annoying. One of the most interesting people I met was a young lady from the states, who works with an alternative education program for people who cannot attend normal school. This is a great contact, and she is helping us bring that program to one of our poor ag communities that doesn't get much educational support.
Sadly, the following day I got a call early in the morning asking me to help make sense of a mess in one of my cajas. I showed up and started reading thier books, and I realized, they had done all my trainings, but had never been motivated to actually apply what they learned, and the books were in awful condition. The most obvious problem was that most of the needed information wasn't there and what was didn't pass as legible. While I thought things were getting better, I learned that day that people were just telling me they were getting better, but not really changing much in some of the groups, so since then I have started working with my counter-part to ensure accountability. This was a hard lesson, but I was glad to learn this now instead of later.
People say that life in the Peace Corps can occasionally feel like a roller coaster, and the next day proved they were probably right. After having a great day, and then a bad day, the rollor coaster theory says I was due for a good day, so when I got another call early in the morning I was afraid the previous day was only the beggining of the down turn. Actually, it was Fidel who wanted to celebrate the second day of Easter week with a trip to the beach. Being in the central part of the country, it is really hard to visit the beach, since it requires 2 different bus rides, 3 if I want to go to a pretty beach, so a day trip is impossible. Luckily Fidel had a car, so we could go directly. The beach was a private beach, and probably the nicest beach in the south. We had a seafood soup for lunch and we made it home before dark. It was a great day.
A few days later, Karen came to visit. For details on her trip, read her descrition below. I think the most shocking thing during said trip was: That so much was shocking. Everything here seems pretty normal now, so all the dogs, chickens, horses, mules, donkeys, and cattle in the street seem like a walk to work. Appearantly this isn't true in the US. I suppose I forgot that. I also forgot that horses aren't a normal mode of transport to work, and that most people use trucks, not donkeys, to haul firewood. I also saw a toucan. That was cool, but said toucan did not gift me with fruit loops as I expected, rather he just looked at me and made a noise that sounds like a frog. It was wierd.
Sadly, instead of being able to go to Copan with Alice and Karen, I got sick, and I still seem to be holding onto said sickness. Hopefully, I'll be better in a few days, but if I'm not, I'll be going to the doctor again.
I am planning to take an online class this fall on web design, since I cannot do what I want with the knowledge i have, so if anyone has ever taken such a class somewhere and liked it, let me know.
Valle de Angeles was, until recently, one of the few places in Honduras where we could rent DVDs instead of buying pirated DVDs, which means I have to wait for the official release and I only get to see movies that offer a Spanish Language audio track (about 1 in 3), but it also means I get to watch special features that can turn one movie into 5 hours of entertainment. Sadly, this store recently closed since it was cheaper to buy pirated disks than to rent real ones, and so I was pretty much every third customer.
I am telling you this story so I can tell you another story. The video store is about a 10 minute walk from our house, and Alice doesn't like to walk around at night since there aren't any street lights, so when we decided we were going to watch a movie, usually I would have to walk
there and back, which was boring and sucked. So I decided that everytime I had to walk all the way there by myself I would stop at a local comedor and have a snack.
So the people who owned the comedor started to get to know me, and the other regulars recognized me as the wierd guy who bought something small, ate quickly and left. About a month ago I wandered in and asked for a drink and a couple pupusas (like really thick tortillas stuffed with cheese) and I hear someone ask me in English where I was from. Now, this is a hard question, since "where are you from" is pretty open to interpretation. I am from Oklahoma, but to answer this way implies I am a standard tourist, which, I am not, so usually I answer I'm from here. Most people dislike this answer, since I speak with a heavy American English accent and my skin color makes people know this is not where I am "from" but rather where I live. Doing so makes me feel better, since it sounds like I have a more vested interest in the country. I especially hate being asked this question by tourists, since they almost seem confrontational when I tell them I am from here. It is like they have some desire to connect to you based on where you live. Before I even had a chance to look around and notice who said it, the person had already repeated thier query and I was forced to answer not knowing if I was talking to tourist or local.
"I live here" I stated, hoping the topic would be dead.
"No, but where are you from?" I hear as I discover I am talking to a local.
"I'm from Oklahoma" I am forced to reply. A Honduran would never let the topic go if I don't answer something.
"Oh, um, cool, I went to school in California" He responded.
Appearantly, he was hoping I was from somewhere more interesting. Sadly, Oklahoma is the best I got without lieing. So we went on to talk for a while and a few hours later I found out that I had met someone who just finished thier Doctorate in commercial law in Europe. He had also done his grad studies in California, and his pre-law here in Honduras. He speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian, and he has since become one of my best Honduras friends. The best part? His name is Fidel. Sadly he is not a very old Cuban dictator, but his name is still Fidel.
A few weeks later we had another volunteer visiting us, and we called Fidel to come hang out, and he said he would, but he got caught up with something else and never made it. The next day he felt bad and invited us to a BBQ, and I finally discovered a Honduran social network of young professionals. We met 6 Hondurans, all college educated, working in various capacities in the capital. We also met a young lady who is visiting for 8 from San Fransisco, but hails from Barcelona, and doesn't speak English. I wanted to ask her where she was from to see if she said SF or Spain, but she was a quiet person, and I didn't want to be annoying. One of the most interesting people I met was a young lady from the states, who works with an alternative education program for people who cannot attend normal school. This is a great contact, and she is helping us bring that program to one of our poor ag communities that doesn't get much educational support.
Sadly, the following day I got a call early in the morning asking me to help make sense of a mess in one of my cajas. I showed up and started reading thier books, and I realized, they had done all my trainings, but had never been motivated to actually apply what they learned, and the books were in awful condition. The most obvious problem was that most of the needed information wasn't there and what was didn't pass as legible. While I thought things were getting better, I learned that day that people were just telling me they were getting better, but not really changing much in some of the groups, so since then I have started working with my counter-part to ensure accountability. This was a hard lesson, but I was glad to learn this now instead of later.
People say that life in the Peace Corps can occasionally feel like a roller coaster, and the next day proved they were probably right. After having a great day, and then a bad day, the rollor coaster theory says I was due for a good day, so when I got another call early in the morning I was afraid the previous day was only the beggining of the down turn. Actually, it was Fidel who wanted to celebrate the second day of Easter week with a trip to the beach. Being in the central part of the country, it is really hard to visit the beach, since it requires 2 different bus rides, 3 if I want to go to a pretty beach, so a day trip is impossible. Luckily Fidel had a car, so we could go directly. The beach was a private beach, and probably the nicest beach in the south. We had a seafood soup for lunch and we made it home before dark. It was a great day.
A few days later, Karen came to visit. For details on her trip, read her descrition below. I think the most shocking thing during said trip was: That so much was shocking. Everything here seems pretty normal now, so all the dogs, chickens, horses, mules, donkeys, and cattle in the street seem like a walk to work. Appearantly this isn't true in the US. I suppose I forgot that. I also forgot that horses aren't a normal mode of transport to work, and that most people use trucks, not donkeys, to haul firewood. I also saw a toucan. That was cool, but said toucan did not gift me with fruit loops as I expected, rather he just looked at me and made a noise that sounds like a frog. It was wierd.
Sadly, instead of being able to go to Copan with Alice and Karen, I got sick, and I still seem to be holding onto said sickness. Hopefully, I'll be better in a few days, but if I'm not, I'll be going to the doctor again.
I am planning to take an online class this fall on web design, since I cannot do what I want with the knowledge i have, so if anyone has ever taken such a class somewhere and liked it, let me know.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Karen visits Honduras (pt1)
Dallas to Tegoosygoosy
Security coming into Honduras was gimme your passport, lemme take your picture, see you later. Didn’t have to strip down like coming to the US. Drew was right outside the security gate – well, the old drew less 40 pounds and nearly all his hair!
I’m in HONDURAS! So where is Alice? At the McDonald’s upstairs. Her counterpart and his lovely family – two adorable kids, here’s one
We ambled over to the local spaghetteria (yep, a Honduran Italian restaurant) for dinner, featuring a plato typico which translates into a traditional combo platter – rice, chorizo, beef and beans and a white cheese that was very much like feta but comes from a cow. It was delicioso. Just about the time the bill came, we were plunged into darkness when the electricity went out. It made the Good Friday procession passing by outside that much more beautiful with the candlelight. Here’s a couple of pics.
Security coming into Honduras was gimme your passport, lemme take your picture, see you later. Didn’t have to strip down like coming to the US. Drew was right outside the security gate – well, the old drew less 40 pounds and nearly all his hair!
I’m in HONDURAS! So where is Alice? At the McDonald’s upstairs. Her counterpart and his lovely family – two adorable kids, here’s one
My first fact on Honduras is that the children are soooo beautiful. I know children are beautiful everywhere but these little moon-faced kids are spectacular. You never want them to stop smiling.
Tegoose, as they call it, is pretty modern – the ride to Valle de Angeles took about 30 minutes. It was the first of several E-ticket rides here so far because of the Honduran drivers. Let’s just say rules of the rode are pretty much made up as you go along.
We arrive at Alice and Drew’s place and Jordan and his friend Summar were there. Jordan is another Peace Corps volunteer and he’s stationed in the south, Aramecina Valle where it’s really hot and dry and much more rustic than here. Alice and Drew really have it made in this place. It’s a tourist area and well developed.
We headed out to dinner at the center of the city, a lovely park area and joined a couple of friends for a couple of bottles of Chilean cabernet at a local bar. The park was decorated for Easter week including some sand paintings on the road. The buildings are typically concrete, brightly painted and the streets are cobbled with large stones and foot high curbs. It makes for an interesting walk home in the dark.
For appetizers we had anafre, a melted cheese and bean dip with homemade tortilla chips. Then, I got my first taste of pupusas! Anyone coming to my house for dinner from here on will be served pupusas. It’s a corn pancake stuffed with cheese, beans, or pork and served with pickled onions, cabbage and peppers. A little hot sauce on top and you’ve got yourself a mouthful of pure joy.
The weather is spectacular, low 80’s during the day and 60’s at night. The bar we were sitting in was open to the street and the view included a number of handsomely weathered cowboys on horseback and a few donkeys as well. The horses and donkeys have been a delight for me to see. They tie them up on the roadside to graze or the donkey is just loose and strolling around at his own leisure. On the topic of animals, another fast impression of the country is the vast number of street dogs – skinny hounds always on their way to somewhere, most certainly with food on their minds.
Tegoose, as they call it, is pretty modern – the ride to Valle de Angeles took about 30 minutes. It was the first of several E-ticket rides here so far because of the Honduran drivers. Let’s just say rules of the rode are pretty much made up as you go along.
We arrive at Alice and Drew’s place and Jordan and his friend Summar were there. Jordan is another Peace Corps volunteer and he’s stationed in the south, Aramecina Valle where it’s really hot and dry and much more rustic than here. Alice and Drew really have it made in this place. It’s a tourist area and well developed.
We headed out to dinner at the center of the city, a lovely park area and joined a couple of friends for a couple of bottles of Chilean cabernet at a local bar. The park was decorated for Easter week including some sand paintings on the road. The buildings are typically concrete, brightly painted and the streets are cobbled with large stones and foot high curbs. It makes for an interesting walk home in the dark.
For appetizers we had anafre, a melted cheese and bean dip with homemade tortilla chips. Then, I got my first taste of pupusas! Anyone coming to my house for dinner from here on will be served pupusas. It’s a corn pancake stuffed with cheese, beans, or pork and served with pickled onions, cabbage and peppers. A little hot sauce on top and you’ve got yourself a mouthful of pure joy.
The weather is spectacular, low 80’s during the day and 60’s at night. The bar we were sitting in was open to the street and the view included a number of handsomely weathered cowboys on horseback and a few donkeys as well. The horses and donkeys have been a delight for me to see. They tie them up on the roadside to graze or the donkey is just loose and strolling around at his own leisure. On the topic of animals, another fast impression of the country is the vast number of street dogs – skinny hounds always on their way to somewhere, most certainly with food on their minds.
We ambled over to the local spaghetteria (yep, a Honduran Italian restaurant) for dinner, featuring a plato typico which translates into a traditional combo platter – rice, chorizo, beef and beans and a white cheese that was very much like feta but comes from a cow. It was delicioso. Just about the time the bill came, we were plunged into darkness when the electricity went out. It made the Good Friday procession passing by outside that much more beautiful with the candlelight. Here’s a couple of pics.
The first is Jesus in a glass coffin. The angels are life-sized. We walked home after dinner, something I’d love to be able to do more often at home. It had rained earlier in the day but the night was crystal clear and the air was lovely and fresh..
The next day we headed off to La Tigra National Park. Alice and Drew haggled with a mototaxi driver to take us up the mountain and at some points, 1st gear wasn’t low enough so he had to zigzag up the road. A mototaxi is your basic 3 wheeled Yamaha motorcycle with a top and rear seating. At some points, going down the steep road, I was looking hard for the roll bar.
We stayed at Cabana Mirador El Rosario, a bed and breakfast in the park run by a German couple – Monica and Jorge (Yorg). They built a spectacular two story home right into the steep hillside and added a separate two bedroom cabin with a porch sporting a breathtaking view of the valley and the mountains. This is a must-visit place. Monica and Jorge ensured a wonderful visit. Every detail was simply perfect.
We started our hike with the intention of reaching a waterfall about 3 hours away. I think, had Alice and Drew not been nice enough to let me set the pace, they would have made it before dark. It’s a fairly steep climb for the first hour or so. We did reach an overlook and here’s the view .
The next day we headed off to La Tigra National Park. Alice and Drew haggled with a mototaxi driver to take us up the mountain and at some points, 1st gear wasn’t low enough so he had to zigzag up the road. A mototaxi is your basic 3 wheeled Yamaha motorcycle with a top and rear seating. At some points, going down the steep road, I was looking hard for the roll bar.
We stayed at Cabana Mirador El Rosario, a bed and breakfast in the park run by a German couple – Monica and Jorge (Yorg). They built a spectacular two story home right into the steep hillside and added a separate two bedroom cabin with a porch sporting a breathtaking view of the valley and the mountains. This is a must-visit place. Monica and Jorge ensured a wonderful visit. Every detail was simply perfect.
We started our hike with the intention of reaching a waterfall about 3 hours away. I think, had Alice and Drew not been nice enough to let me set the pace, they would have made it before dark. It’s a fairly steep climb for the first hour or so. We did reach an overlook and here’s the view .
The next point of interest was a log bridge over a stream. We ventured further but at 1800 meters from the falls we figured we wouldn’t make it back before dark if we kept going. It was a wise decision since, when we arrived back at the B&B, every body part below the waist was aching from the climb. It was worth every step.
A couple of hammocks on the porch were perfect for watching the sun go down and sip white wine that Alice graciously brought along. Monica made a fabulous dinner, starting with a salad made of organic vegetables grown from Jorge’s garden and topped with a lovely yogurt and herb dressing. The entrée was rice served with green chili sauce and a vegetable enchilada finished over a wood fire oven in the dining room. We tried some of their homemade raspberry wine and it’s worth it.
Their dining room window looks out over the valley and the moon was red that evening. Here’s a crummy pic but you’ve got an imagination so use it and go ahhhhh, like we did.
A couple of hammocks on the porch were perfect for watching the sun go down and sip white wine that Alice graciously brought along. Monica made a fabulous dinner, starting with a salad made of organic vegetables grown from Jorge’s garden and topped with a lovely yogurt and herb dressing. The entrée was rice served with green chili sauce and a vegetable enchilada finished over a wood fire oven in the dining room. We tried some of their homemade raspberry wine and it’s worth it.
Their dining room window looks out over the valley and the moon was red that evening. Here’s a crummy pic but you’ve got an imagination so use it and go ahhhhh, like we did.
The meal ended with Jorge’s special lemon grass tea and some light sweet cakes.We slept like the dead that night.
The breakfast was amazing – homemade jams and bread, cheddar cheese, tomatoes and cream cheese and peanut butter with the most delicious cup of coffee I’ve had in near memory. Monica even pre-heated the cream for our coffee which was delightful.
After breakfast, Jorge gave us a thorough tour of the gardens he’s terraced into the hillside. When they bought the property 10 years ago, it was nothing but barren scrub. They’ve planted over 100 trees, some oak, a lot of pine and added yucca and palm as well. His gardens are impressive, raspberries, some coffee beans, a lot of onions and tons of lettuce. His ongoing war is for his carrot crop but the rodents seem to be winning right now. We saw a Toucan Verde sitting in a tree and making a surprising sound much like a bullfrog. Jorge took us back down the mountain on the road which could be an e-ticket ride at Disneyland. Along the way, a Lesser Roadrunner tore across the road and into the brush.
After coming into town, we did a little shopping. The carved wood and veneers here are very nice and the prices are reasonable so I stocked up. So much so that the shop owner thanked Alice for bringing me in!
Off to the pupusaria we went for lunch. One of Alice’s coworkers joined us, Don Louis, and I got to practice a little extra Spanish, more listening than speaking though. Alice and Drew are both excellent at simultaneously holding a conversation and translating back and forth from English and Spanish. It’s very impressive.
The entertainment for the evening was meeting Fidel, a friend of Drew’s, a multi-lingual commercial lawyer and rabid soccer fan. We joined him in the back of a restaurant to watch the Olympic final qualifying round between Honduras and the US. It was being played in, of all places, Nashville, Tennessee. Honduras won so that was quite a treat since 90% of the fans in the stadium were Hondurans.We heading to Copan tomorrow.
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