Cha-cha-cha-cha Changes
November
12, 2001
Greetings Family and Friends,
On October 31st (happy Halloween) we spent our first full day in our new town,
Concepción de Maria. The townspeople call it a “pueblo” which translates to
“village”. I tried referring to our village as a town/city to some of the
locals and they laughed…”we are not in the city, Jennifer.”
We have been thinking of you often this week. The task of moving to our remote
town has proven to be yet our most challenging test and the thoughts of family
and friends not only served to be comforting, but also brought some tears to the
eyes.
As I write this letter, Shawn is sitting at the table next to me making fresh
squeezed orange-juice. We got a good deal at the market today (for those who
know me well, you know I love a good deal!) We bought 10 oranges for $.30 ~ a
great bargain!
We have been in our new town for a total of 4 days! Only 726 days to go! Trust
me, I have been counting. The first 48 hours I spent crying. I am serious! Some
of you are probably chuckling, and our moms are probably getting choked up as
they read this…but it is all true. Shawn can verify that the weeping just
wouldn’t stop. Luckily for me, Shawn was much more stable. But, there were
moments when both looked at each other and asked if we really would be able to
do this. I have a strange feeling that I am not through asking that question.
We committed to this project as a mission to serve others. We came to Honduras for a simpler life. We wanted to experience an adventure together. Three out of three should be viewed as a good thing, right?
We are definitely going to have the opportunity to help the people of our village. Yet, there are moments that I am not sure I am strong enough for the filth, the disease, the constant begging, the hopelessness. Never in my life have I known what it means to go without in the truest sense of the phrase. I may not have had every want in my life fulfilled, but surely my basic needs were provided. It is absolutely heart wrenching to witness children begging for money to buy medicine. Is it a ploy to earn an income for the day? Probably. But, how much sadder is it that the meager amount of money they do manage to collect is for basic food and that the medicine they may really need is an unknown luxury.
A simpler life? No problem! We are in the land of simplicity. Our home consists of two rooms; the bedroom and the kitchen/living area. We rent the 2 rooms from a family with 5 kids (4 here and 1 on the way!). There is a patio that separates our living area from theirs, but we are pretty much part of the “family”.
There is no running water inside the “apartment” nor a stove/oven. We invested in a toaster oven and one small electric burner to heat our food. My most treasured item is the fridge we bought with the “housing allowance” Peace Corps provided us upon moving to our site. This allowance paid for a bed and a fridge. It was hard to decide what to purchase with the money. As usual, there are many “wants”…but I believe we chose the two items for which we are most thankful. The bed is very comfortable and is a blessing compared to the thin, foam mattresses that most people use here for sleeping. We decided a real mattress would be worth the cost for two years of use. Our backs thank us! The fridge is wonderful. For a town that averages 100 degrees a day in temperature, cold water is a treat! The fridge also guarantees clean food. Shawn’s second job here is now “pesticide man!” He has killed swarms of ants and many “gusanos” (aka: worms!) Each night we kill about 30-40 worms that crawl under the front door attracted to the light. I usually stomp on them and Shawn sweeps the dead bodies out the door. It really is quite a fun game.
Outside our “apartment” ,or two rooms, we have a latrine with a “pila”. I am not sure how to translate this Spanish word. A pila is a large cement tub that holds about 100 gallons of water. It is used for bucket baths, washing clothes, washing dishes and it is where we get the water we boil for drinking. (I have come a long way for a girl who would NEVER drink bathroom water in our old apartment in Coon Rapids. Shawn would try to convince me it was the same water that came out of the faucet in the kitchen. But, try as he may, I could not be convinced and would not drink it.) Now, water is water. In fact, water is a benefit not a standard. The water in our town does not run all day. Everyday in the late afternoon the water is shut off and we use whatever we have saved in the tub…hoping the supply will last.
INSERT FROM SHAWN: A bit more of a description of the “pila”. Imagine an outhouse…now imagine another outhouse next to that one -both are constructed of cement and about 5 feet apart. In one of them is a regular toilet connected to running water and in the other is just a little room same size as the outhouse but used for a shower. The shower spigot is at the 5’5” mark (I know because I hit my head on it every time I wash). In between these two edifices is a large cement holding area for water about 3 feet off the ground and it protrudes under the wall into the “shower” area. Hence, the bucket baths when the spigot isn’t working or the water has been shut off. Today I killed a 6 inch scorpion in the shower. My pocket knife is coming in quite handy. Above the water is a cement slab with a drain and a cement washboard built in for washing your cloths. I am working on putting a picture of a “pila” on our website. Jennifer has decided they are actually pretty useful and may want me to construct one when we get back to Minnesota (minus the toilet part, of course. She is already looking forward to indoor plumbing again someday!)
BACK TO JENNIFER: As for the adventure, we are definitely on one.
We have some good friends (Jami & Scott and Cindy & Jeremy) who are
addicted to the show “Survivor”. Shawn and I caught a few episodes and were
easily enticed to follow the adventure. But, today I decided I have my own mini
Survivor show going on here in Honduras, and that keeps me just as interested as
any television program! Can you believe my newest adventure involves grocery
shopping? Read on to see how we survived!
On Saturday, we decided to go to the capital of our department (similar to what
we refer to as a “state”). Choluteca is the largest city closest to our
town, where we can do our grocery shopping for items other than rice, beans,
corn, and a few other starch selections. We were told to leave at 6am to catch
the “fast” bus. Three hours later we arrived in the city. We spent most of
the morning walking around and picking out the items we would want for the
month. Whatever we bought we would have to carry back to our site between the
two of us on the bus. (think about your grocery trips…we could not take bags
and bags with us). This meant we needed to be extremely selective about our
meals and could only buy the essentials. There was no room to carry up snacks.
We both were drooling over the cookie aisle, but when you really need spaghetti
sauce, meat, cheese and fresh vegetables…
When all of our purchases had been carefully decided, we were ready to head home hoping we would get there before the frozen chicken breasts thawed. Choluteca is at the bottom of the mountain from our town and hotter than any place I have ever been to in my life! We were anxious to get back to our apartment…take a bucket bath and sit in a hammock in front of our fan. We left at 2:30 pm for the journey back. The return trip had many additional stops, including one on the border with Nicaragua, where a young guy with a rickshaw type bicycle offered to take Shawn and I up the mountain with our groceries in his basket. Needless to say, we politely declined the offer and arrived home 4 hours later by bus!
We have spent 7 hours today traveling to get groceries! I am exhausted. We arrived home tired from the long, dusty bus ride. There was one part of the route home that we literally crossed through a shallow river with the bus because there was no bridge! Along the side of the dirt road we saw small dirt shacks and children clothed only by underwear, if even that. The wind from the bus was whipping in my face and I felt as though I was breathing in poverty. However, in the midst of the scarcity, I was amazed at the richness of the land. The view was a welcoming site for the long ride. And for four hours today I could day dream in the mountains.
Shawn has now fallen asleep in the hammock that hangs in our kitchen room. People here don’t really have furniture other than plastic patio chairs and hammocks. I really miss sitting on a couch! I miss the feeling of comfort! And I can’t wait until the next time I get to see you. I will look forward to sitting on your couch and sharing stories and eating some type of snack – preferably Fudge Dipped OREOS or whatever else looks good from the cookie aisle!
Keep us in your prayers,
Jennifer and Shawn