Week 4: San Nicolas, Santa Barbara
Last week I had the opportunity to travel around Honduras and see what life here is really like on my “Volunteer Visit”…A day in the life of a municipal development volunteer! Thursday morning I boarded the bus with a number of other trainees and set out for Tegucigalpa, where every journey begins… From there I branched off with two other trainees, Erin and Shannon, in a taxi to the bus station for Santa Barbara. The bus system does not have a central depot, but is organized so that you have to know which bus company travels to the part of the country you want to go. One bus company in Tegus travels twice daily to and from Santa Barbara. The taxi drivers seem to know where they are going, so we hopped in. We took a 4 hour bus ride through the countryside, passing through Comayagua and Siguatapeque, in case any of you are looking at Honduran maps as you read this! We arrived in Santa Barbara in the middle of the afternoon and were quite surprised...It was HOT! We have been spoiled by rather cool weather in Santa Lucia due to the rainy season, so it was a shock to us…but then again, this is Central America…and I am trying to work on my tan!
Santa Barbara is beautiful. It was one of the original colonial Spanish towns, organized around a central park, where the Catholic Church is also located. Today, it has many artisan shops, ropa Americana (clothing stores), and the most fantastic comedor (eatery) called Betty´s which serves Baleadas…a combination of refried beans, eggs, chismol (salsa), avocado, and mantequilla (Honduran version of butter/sour cream) wrapped in thick warm flour tortillas! My newest favorite! Another attraction in Santa Barbara are the hammocks that prison inmates make and sell in a local shop. We were only in Santa Barbara for a few minutes, but returned on Saturday night to meet up with some other volunteers living in the region. We had dinner and went to a karaoke bar. We spent Sunday shopping and eating before returning to Santa Lucia.
Thursday afternoon Erin and I took another smaller bus 30 minutes from Santa Barbara to San Nicolas where we stayed with two volunteers, Parrish and Robin, for the volunteer shadowing. Parrish is in Municipal Development and Robin is in Water and Sanitation. We truly did get to see what life is like for the volunteers, but first thing Friday morning we went to the market to buy vegetables, rice, masa, and pork for making tamales. We spent the rest of the day with a woman in town who taught us the process of making tamales…chopping vegetables, preparing the masa, and steaming the banana leaves. We made about 70 tamales and then spent the afternoon serving them to the staff at the municipio and the host family of one of the volunteers. The tamales were wonderful, and fresh, but more than anything it was great to be cooking and learning something new! I wish I could explain the process better, but there is much to say. I hope to post some photos of the day. San Nicolas is also well known for its coffee farming, so we spent a lot of the time talking and drinking fresh coffee.
Saturday morning we did do some work. A community meeting had been arranged in the aldea of Cruz de Pacaya, so we gathered at about 8 am to take the municipal truck out to the aldea. Two of us jumped in the back - it was quite a ride. We drove about an hour and a half up the mountain to a tiny village, literally at the end of a dirt road. Soon after we got there members of the community started to arrive and the meeting began. They brought us coffee and bread and bananas, because no community meeting is complete without a snack here. We discussed the 11 aspects of life that this municipality is using to analyze quality of life for people in the aldeas. The themes ranged from access to water, health and family planning, infrastructure, housing, the environment, and civic participation. It was a neat experience and a very collaborative meeting. Almost all who attended were actively participating, especially the women in the aldea. The process for calling the meeting was fascinating to me in contrast with my experience in community meetings. The day before a note had been sent up to the Patronato of the aldea by a messenger in a pick-up truck. The Patronato has the responsibility of informing the other members of the community about the meeting, and on Saturday morning we arrived. The information from this meeting will be used to analyze the concerns of the community so that appropriate projects may be planned. I was very impressed with the volunteers, their interaction with the community, their level of Spanish fluency, and the way in which everyone worked together. It was a good experience to have as I prepare for volunteer life.
All in all I had a great weekend. It was nice to meet some cool new people, make French toast, and see a really beautiful part of the country! And how could I forget – I had my first cold bucket shower in San Nicolas! The water only comes every other day, so buckets are filled when there is a water supply and then is used for washing on the alternating days. I must admit it was not as shocking as I had expected, and I could almost go so far as to say it was refreshing in the heat of San Nicolas!
Not that anyone is counting, but we hit our one month mark in country yesterday…1 month down, 26 to go…
Hope all is well! Until next time…Stephanie
Santa Barbara is beautiful. It was one of the original colonial Spanish towns, organized around a central park, where the Catholic Church is also located. Today, it has many artisan shops, ropa Americana (clothing stores), and the most fantastic comedor (eatery) called Betty´s which serves Baleadas…a combination of refried beans, eggs, chismol (salsa), avocado, and mantequilla (Honduran version of butter/sour cream) wrapped in thick warm flour tortillas! My newest favorite! Another attraction in Santa Barbara are the hammocks that prison inmates make and sell in a local shop. We were only in Santa Barbara for a few minutes, but returned on Saturday night to meet up with some other volunteers living in the region. We had dinner and went to a karaoke bar. We spent Sunday shopping and eating before returning to Santa Lucia.
Thursday afternoon Erin and I took another smaller bus 30 minutes from Santa Barbara to San Nicolas where we stayed with two volunteers, Parrish and Robin, for the volunteer shadowing. Parrish is in Municipal Development and Robin is in Water and Sanitation. We truly did get to see what life is like for the volunteers, but first thing Friday morning we went to the market to buy vegetables, rice, masa, and pork for making tamales. We spent the rest of the day with a woman in town who taught us the process of making tamales…chopping vegetables, preparing the masa, and steaming the banana leaves. We made about 70 tamales and then spent the afternoon serving them to the staff at the municipio and the host family of one of the volunteers. The tamales were wonderful, and fresh, but more than anything it was great to be cooking and learning something new! I wish I could explain the process better, but there is much to say. I hope to post some photos of the day. San Nicolas is also well known for its coffee farming, so we spent a lot of the time talking and drinking fresh coffee.
Saturday morning we did do some work. A community meeting had been arranged in the aldea of Cruz de Pacaya, so we gathered at about 8 am to take the municipal truck out to the aldea. Two of us jumped in the back - it was quite a ride. We drove about an hour and a half up the mountain to a tiny village, literally at the end of a dirt road. Soon after we got there members of the community started to arrive and the meeting began. They brought us coffee and bread and bananas, because no community meeting is complete without a snack here. We discussed the 11 aspects of life that this municipality is using to analyze quality of life for people in the aldeas. The themes ranged from access to water, health and family planning, infrastructure, housing, the environment, and civic participation. It was a neat experience and a very collaborative meeting. Almost all who attended were actively participating, especially the women in the aldea. The process for calling the meeting was fascinating to me in contrast with my experience in community meetings. The day before a note had been sent up to the Patronato of the aldea by a messenger in a pick-up truck. The Patronato has the responsibility of informing the other members of the community about the meeting, and on Saturday morning we arrived. The information from this meeting will be used to analyze the concerns of the community so that appropriate projects may be planned. I was very impressed with the volunteers, their interaction with the community, their level of Spanish fluency, and the way in which everyone worked together. It was a good experience to have as I prepare for volunteer life.
All in all I had a great weekend. It was nice to meet some cool new people, make French toast, and see a really beautiful part of the country! And how could I forget – I had my first cold bucket shower in San Nicolas! The water only comes every other day, so buckets are filled when there is a water supply and then is used for washing on the alternating days. I must admit it was not as shocking as I had expected, and I could almost go so far as to say it was refreshing in the heat of San Nicolas!
Not that anyone is counting, but we hit our one month mark in country yesterday…1 month down, 26 to go…
Hope all is well! Until next time…Stephanie
posted by Honduras Girl @ 1:22 PM
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