An Introduction
July 29, 2001
Hola y Buenas Tardes!
From Jennifer’s perspective:
This is our first attempt at email from abroad. Hope this works!
We found an internet café and are excited to have internet
access in the small town of Valle de Angeles, Honduras. I am
amazed that this technology has reached the most remote parts of
the world. If you want to visit, you will discover first hand the
differences from North American life. Let me explain a few:
Cold showers – Shawn has tried to convince me that the
showers are warm. I have yet to agree. There is a switch in the
bathroom to supposedly “turn on” the warm water. When I
use the switch, the light in the bathroom goes dim and the ice
cold water changes to what I describe as still uncomfortable cool
water. I have not made the adjustment in my mind yet to call this
“warm”. Therefore, Shawn is way ahead of me in the
sense of adjusting to Honduran mornings.
Beans, Rice and Tortillas- We have been here 5 days and it has
not taken me long to discover that this will be our staple.
Luckily, I love this food (hopefully, I will still be saying that
next month). We are living with a host family during our 3 months
of training and my host “mom” has taught me how to make
tortillas from scratch and homemade “frijoles” or
beans. We eat these three items at every meal (yes, every meal!
breakfast, lunch and dinner) in different combinations. I find it
comical how my host “mom” will say while we are
cooking, “let’s add some spices”. And there is
only ONE Spice! It is a red chili spice. It’s very tasty,
but this is the ONLY spice you will find in a Honduran kitchen.
It just sounds funny, when she says “spices” plural, as
if we have some options.
Host Family – Shawn and I are blessed with a wonderful host
“mom”, Erika. She is very interested in us and in
helping us, not only learn the language, but the customs of the
country as well. We have not met her husband, Jorge, who is
studying in Japan for a year through an exchange program with his
work. They have three children: Allison (8years), Jorgito (6
years), and Gerardo (2 years). They are a lot of fun. The one
adjustment with the household is the noise. Hondurans are
accustomed to a lot of noise: barking dogs in the street (this I
will describe later under the category of pets), the T.V. is on
ALL THE TIME – during meals, during conversation –from
dusk to dark and it is set at the highest volume possible, loud
music is also popular, and finally loud people- they use higher
volume in their voices when they speak. The baby has a common
habit to “gritar” (in English this translates as - to
scream!) It is quite interesting. Even when the baby is happy, he
screams. I think we are both adjusting to this trait!
Heat/Rain – We have come during the rainy season. This means
that it will be quite hot and then suddenly, with little or no
warning start to rain hard for 5-10 minutes and then stop while
the sun comes out again. I am really starting to love my
raincoat. We do not know exactly which town we will be placed in
permanently for our 2 year project, but it is most likely in the
southern region. The south is known as the “home of the
devil” simply because of the intensity of the heat. So,
again, if you would like to visit – be prepared to get a
tan!
Salary – we are very well taken care of. I have been
extremely impressed with the Peace Corps and their organization.
We have received excellent medical care and have a team of 5-7
people on the medical staff to help us if we have any medical
issues or concerns. They are paying close attention to our
well-being and this makes us both feel very secure. All living
expenses are provided. We have received “walk around”
money to pay for incidentals, so Shawn and I joke that this is
our “pay”. It amounts to about $2.75 each per day.
Surprisingly, this is quite sufficient to purchase what we need:
a small treat, a bottle of Pepsi and stamps! (Yes, we hope you
will write some snail mail and we will write back.) Snail mail is
an appropriate term here. Letters take 3-4+ weeks to arrive.
Small packages take 2-3 months. We are so fortunate in the
states! We have so many systems that work! Well, I guess they
work here, as well, just at a different pace.
Transportation – We were told that when we are assigned to
our towns we will be given an allowance to buy a bike or a horse!
Horses, donkeys and mules are common modes of transportation. We
will let you know if we actually get a horse :) Maybe Nicole
(Shawn’s sister) could help us come take care of it, she
likes horses! Shawn on the other hand is allergic to them. So, we
may be opting for the bikes.
Malaria – we take malaria pills once a week. They taste like
bug repellant (this was Shawn’s description –
unfortunately he is right! They are pretty nasty.) We are
receiving various other vaccines: Rabbis, Hepatitis, Polio,
etc…(I’ll explain more about the Rabbis in the
“Pet” section). One of the side effects of taking
malaria pills is that you have wild dreams. I have noticed this
is true. I have no idea why, but at night I have been having very
intense dreams. It almost makes you feel exhausted when you wake
up. Last night I dreamt that the new HR Director (who replaced my
position at DoubleTree Hotel) never started. I woke up in a
panic. I will have to email my boss to make sure this was just a
bad dream. I am sure the Hotel is doing great!
Chickens – start to “cock-a-doodle-doo” in Spanish
around 3 am each morning. This is our built in alarm clock.
And finally…the long awaited topic: PETS!
I am not sure if “pets” is the correct term for the
mangy animals that roam the streets. No one has a dog inside the
house. All the dogs congregate outside. Many are not even sure of
who owns who. It is common to walk down the street and have 2 or
3 dogs walking along side you. One will have 3 legs, the other
will have a missing ear or at least the fur missing and the third
will have some type of eye infection. It is pretty disgusting.
Last night all the dogs decided to hang out at our house! From 6
pm until 6 am this morning we heard dog fights all night long. I
guess it is just one more Honduran noise to become accustomed to!
This is why we get rabbis shots. The animals here do not get any
shots or treatments. If a family “owns” a pet, it is
highly unlikely that there is any paperwork on the dog or cat.
This is very different from the US culture of vaccines, bathing
animals and the concept of leases! Today on our way to church we
saw 6-7 dogs moving along the street attacking another dog and
making noises that would frighten most anyone in the US. Soon
many other dogs came running until the pack was up to 15+ dogs,
it was like being in high school when a fight broke out they all
just knew to come running. Shawn is certain that any gang
activity in Valle de Angeles is being done by the dogs, as the
people all seem very nice.
So, there is our life for the last week. Wow! All that in one
week….I can only anticipate what next week will have in
store for us.
We hope above all else you are healthy, happy and keeping your
sense of humor. Enjoy your week. You are missed!
Shawn and Jennifer