Day 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123
Day 96 – Friday, February 01, 2002
With a new month comes new challenges. We met again with the librarians and INDEHSP which is the organization that is run by my community partner Eloy. We met at 4 PM much like the day before with the only change being that my counter part was now present. After a 15-20 minute speech on how important this project was for the community and more importantly (to him anyway) how important it was to INDEHSP. We moved on to our meeting, which for the first two hours consisted of pretty much the same thing we did the day before in our meeting. The rehashing could have been taken care of in 20 minutes, but it took 2 hours. My the time we got to the meat and potatoes of the meeting, I was too board and aggravated to pay attention (remember this is all in Spanish and takes some degree of concentration for me to follow).
The committees returned their answers to the questions put before them the day before of what are going to do for: decorations, security, logistics of the program, greeting people, cleaning up, and food. Basically everyone just reported that they had done the same thing as yesterday and they needed more time. During the meeting my counter part got side tracked and repeated in 5 minute statements how important the project was and what it was. I think most of the people at the meeting have probably heard his schpeal more times than me, and I've heard it at least 6 times in the last 3 months.
Day 97 - Saturday, February 02, 2002
We arranged to meet with the librarians at 10 am to get started on our display for the inauguration, and also start on the program and anything else we could get done as Jennifer and I are planning on leaving for the capitol with in the next two days for dentist and doctors appointment as well as to pick Jen's mom up from the airport. We did email in the morning and when we walked back into town I told her she could go to the library and I was going to go home and take a shower. We were already running late and she didn't get to the library until 10:15 am. I showed up at around 11 am to find her writing a letter to one of her friends in the states. She told me the showed up at about 10:30 and didn't have any of the stuff she told them to have prepared ready. She had told them to get a copy of the vision and mission statement, write down some ideas for the bulletin board so she could type them into the computer, get paper for the card catalog cards that have yet to be finished, and be there at 10 am North American time, not Honduran time. I guess all changes come little by little. When I showed up at 11 am they were still looking for paper for us to print stuff on and the mission statement and vision statements (which had already been written and they just had to bring from their house). One of the librarians seems to be doing all the work while the other only seem to be concerned about playing his CD's on the computer and getting me to print photos that he has taken with the digital camera. I got a draft copy of the program for the inauguration done and it looks really nice and professional, and Jennifer managed to get enough stuff together for them to put together a very nice looking bulletin board while we are gone.
We then met at 4 pm again, on this time the representative from the library project was present. After another 15 minute diatribe from my counter part about the importance of the library they spent the next hour or so trying to make a committee composed mostly of people who were not present. No one in the group wanted to take on a leadership role such as Vice president or secretary so they spend a good 45 minutes trying to convince them how important it was and how someone needed to volunteer for these positions. Matt, the guy we replaced and the representative for the library foundation that is paying for all this, suggested several times that if they can't find anyone and they people who are on the committee are not present they should move on and set up another meeting when the others who were missing could attend.
We got done took a break and had yet another meeting with Matt and another group of people which luckily was being led by Matt so it was only about a half hour long, and involved eating cold pizza he had brought with him from Tegucigalpa (the capitol).
Day 98 - Sunday, February 03, 2002
We started a week long trip to Teguz today. After checking in with the librarians to see where they were in the project and explaining what needed to be done, we left with Matt (the volunteer that used to be in our site) and went to the capitol.
Today was also Super Bowl Sunday and after arriving in Teguz, we went to a local hotel and hung out with a bunch of other Peace Corps volunteers who had rented a room to watch the game. After the half-time show we went to Tony Romas to have some ribs and watch the rest of the game. Even in Honduras a good football game is exciting to watch.
While at the hotel I tried to withdraw some money from a cash machine, but forgot my pin number. I started trying all the different pin numbers in my head and on about the 6th try the machine ate my card. Nice to know there is such good security, but now I'm out my cash card.
Day 99 - Monday, February 04, 2002
We had breakfast at a little beagle shop and enjoyed beagles and coffee.
We went to the Peace Corps office in the morning to get our paper work for the dentist and doctor appointment we have on Tuesday (tomorrow). I have had a cold since we came to Teguz the last time (3 weeks ago) and think it is allergy related. I had talked to a former volunteer who told me that the medical office has Claritin, but that it is hard to come by and they don't give it out to many people. So I just went in and told the receptionist that I needed a refill on my Claritin and she gave it to me. I am feeling much better now.
We had lunch at a Greek restaurant and I got one of the best gyro sandwiches I've had.
For dinner we stopped by the grocery store to buy ingredient for spaghetti that we were going to make for ourselves and a few other people who were staying at Matt's house for the night. One of them made us some appetizers of Hummus and sardines in mustard sauce with toasted pita bread.
After dinner Jen and one of Matt's roommates (Molly) hung out and Matt, Julian, and I went to a bar to play some pool and meet up with a couple of other guys. While there we met a guy who is the president's daughter's boyfriend and took the opportunity to invite him, his girlfriend (the president's daughter) and the president to our inauguration of the library.
Day 100 - Tuesday, February 05, 2002
We got up early this morning to get our respective appointments. Jennifer went to see the doctor regarding her knee and a fall she took about 4 months ago in the street. She banged up her knee pretty good and it has been giving her trouble. In the mean time I went to the bank to try to get my bank card back. I arrived at the bank at about 7:30 AM and found that the bank didn't open till 9 AM. So I sat in front of the bank and waited, and waited, and waited. While I was waiting I was approached by two men carrying machine guns. Luckily they were the local police. One of them asked me in English "what are you doing here?" I could tell by his thick accent and hesitance in speaking, as well as the smile on his face, that the question wasn't as harsh as it sounded. I told him I was waiting for the bank to open. We then had about a 1/2 hour conversation about several different subjects. One of which was how could I help him get a visa to the US. He told me that he had visited once, but entered illegally and stayed for about 6 months before leaving. I told him Peace Corps prohibits us from assisting with visas, and there was nothing I could really do for him. I then went into the bank and was told that they didn't have my card as no one had been to that machine yet. So I got into a cab and went to my dental appointment.
At the dental appointment I had some tooth shaved away and another mold taken of my mouth. I then left and went to the Peace Corps office where I met Jennifer, who didn't look too good and was complaining of even more pain in her knee. While taking care of some business in the business office at Peace Corps I got a phone call from one of the nurses informing me that they were transporting Jennifer to the hospital and if I wanted to go with I had to come down now. It turns out that the procedure that Jennifer had (and which I was assured my the medical director would be with out problem and would have no harmful side effects) had caused some kind of problem in her knee. She had some liquid behind her knee cap which was removed and replaced with some cortisone. So off to the hospital we went where we spent the night. The nurses came in occasionally and put ice on her knee and massaged it.
We had ice cream and fried chicken for dinner from a local gas station. I got to sleep on a cot and Jen in her comfy hospital bed.
Day 101 - Wednesday, February 06, 2002
We woke up and sat around the hospital room for a while. Jen had another icy knee massage, and we shared the hospital breakfast of tortillas, beans, eggs, and cheese. Later the doctor came in and told Jen she could go, but didn't have a real good explanation why her knee was having so much pain.
We left the hospital and went to the Peace Corps office via a Peace Corps driver, and Jennifer managed to convince the medical director (who now felt kind of guilty that the procedure didn't go as planned) that we needed to stay in a nice place for the night. So we stayed at Leslie's Place which is a nice bed and breakfast we stayed in when I had mono.
We picked Jen's mom up from the airport at 12:30 and went back to the Peace Corps office. We then checked into the nice bed and breakfast and found that Jen's mom would only have to pay a small amount for her to stay with us. Which was nice since we planned on staying there and would have had to pay the full amount with out Jen's medical problem.
We had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant (yes they have Mexican food in Honduras) and spent the rest of the evening chatting.
Day 102 - Thursday, February 07, 2002
After having a very nice breakfast we met with Matt (the previous volunteer from our site who now works in Honduras for a foundation building libraries) who picked up one of the two huge suitcases Kathy brought with her that were filled mostly with stuff for us. He was going to bring it down in his Toyota Land cruiser, since it weighted a ton and would be difficult to travel with.
We purchased a really nice hammock from a guy on the street for 150 lempira less than one of the Honduran secretaries at the Peace Corps office got her's for.
We then took a bus to Valle de Angeles where we stayed a night with our host mom from training.
Day 103 - Friday, February 08, 2002
We had a nice breakfast and lunch at Erica's house then took a bus to Santa Lucia where we stayed the night at a small hotel with a beautiful view of the valley that Tegucigalpa lies in.
We had a dinner of salami and cheese sandwiches we had made at Erica's house out of some hard salami that Jen's dad had sent down and some cheese we had purchased in Teguz, and spent the night relaxing and talking.
Day 104 - Saturday, February 09, 2002
We left Santa Lucia early so we could get to Teguz and make the afternoon bus to Choluteca. We took the luxury bus to Choluteca from Teguz and then stayed the night in Choluteca at a cheap little hotel. We also were able to go to mass, go grocery shopping and get a pizza at our favorite pizza parlor in Choluteca.
After chasing out the little chameleons in our room we settled in for a nights rest. We had originally asked for a $10.00 room, which came with 3 beds and a ceiling fan. But, after stepping into the room and realizing that the temperature (now at about 84 degrees) had gone up by 10 degrees by walking into the room, Kathy decided we could splurge and get the $20.00 room that had two bed (a double and a single) and air conditioning.
Day 105 - Sunday, February 10, 2002
We left at about 8 AM to catch the 10 AM bus from Choluteca to Concepción de Maria. The bus ride was long, hot and thankfully only kind of dusty. It rained the day before and the dust was not nearly as bad as it could have been. It was our first rainfall since Christmas.
We arrived in Concepción around 12:30 and were greeted by many smiling faces who were very excited to meet Mrs. Vander Poel (Jen's mom).
We spent the afternoon recovering from our travels and I checked in with the librarians to see how things were going on the library. They told me they would be ready to print card catalog cards on Monday, and everything was coming along smoothly.
Day 106 - Monday, February 11, 2002
We went to the library to help them get the cards sorted out and found that they once again didn't have enough paper to make the cards with and the 3 or 4 hour project we had planned on taking care of was done after about 45 minutes.
We had beans and rice and chismol for dinner and talked some more.
Day 107 - Tuesday, February 12, 2002
As the final touches were being put on the library I realized that the final touches weren't getting done. I went to the library to see how things were going and found that not a whole lot was being done. I played on the computers for a while and waited for some progress to be made, but none was. At about 4 PM I explained to the librarian that we had an inauguration the next day and there was still some things that needed to be done. I got a lot of excuses as to why nothing could be done.
I then explained some of the problems in front of the director of the organization that is managing the project and they miraculously got done the next day.
Michelle (one of Jennifer's friends from her economic development group) came up for the inauguration the next day. We made chips and salsa, had wonderful hamburgers for our month-a-versary, and I found some beautiful red flowers off a neighbors tree for Jennifer.
After dinner we played a game of 500 and then had a slumber party on the floor of our kitchen/living room/dining room.
Day 108 - Wednesday, February 13, 2002
The inauguration was to start at 9 AM at around 10:30 AM we got started. The ceremony was very nice and the library will be open for service on Monday. There are still a lot of things that need to be done in order to make the computers user friendly and teenager safe. With out some restricting software on them as soon as we connect to the internet the machines will be destroyed with downloads and other little problems.
We had a nice lunch with the other VIP guests and then went home to hang out at the house with one of our fellow volunteers who was visiting from a neighboring community.
At 3 PM we went to church for Ash Wednesday Mass and Jennifer had a 5 minutes birthday song sung to her from the congregation. We then spent the evening planning out the last week of Mom VP's visit.
Day 109 - Thursday, February 14, 2002
Valentine's Day, Dia de Amor, and Jennifer's Birthday. We got up this morning and went for a walk after doing some laundry and dishes from the night before. We walked up the mountain on the other side of the river to El Guido. A community that was created by Father Guido after Hurricane Mitch destroyed numerous houses in the area. The community is made up of 17 families and houses that were relocated after the Hurricane. After our walk we showered and had a nice breakfast of yogurt, granola, toast and hard boiled eggs.
We typed some email, read, and I worked on present for Jennifer (a book of coupons for back rubs and relief from doing dishes and laundry put together in a paper and banana leaf booklet). At about 12:30 we went to the house of Yami (one of the librarians) for home made chicken soup. One of the things about Honduran invites for a meal is the cook almost never sits down and eats with you. They are usually in the kitchen eating. The soup was very good with yummy chicken on the bone in a broth with pataste (a green vegetable like a hard cucumber with out seeds), carrots, potatoes, and yucca (a green vegetable like a stingy cucumber with out seeds).
After lunch we visited with one of the families in town for a while, and then went back to the house.
I then went to the cooperative to check on a problem one of the administrators was having with his computer, and send some email we had from their phone line. The high school had their phone service disconnected for not paying the bill and we have been using other peoples phone lines to access the internet.
At 4 PM Jennifer's birthday party started complete with a piñata, Honduran cake, a relay race, and a birthday song. The birthday party was fun and most everyone that attended was under the age of 12 years. The piñata always amazes me as it turns these sweet well behaved children into little monsters who are frothing at the mouth to destroy the piñata. It is really something to see. If the piñata takes too long to break one or two of them will attack it and tear it down. They all pile on top of one another (usually on a cement surface) and try to get as much candy as possible.
After the birthday party we were all exhausted and went into the house. We were immediately summoned out to the gate where Rafael told us that his sister had a surprise for Jennifer at him mom's house. So we went to their house to find Ruth had made a huge cake for Jennifer. So we had some Pepsi, another large piece for cake and chatted for a while with the Mayorga family.
We then came home, opened presents, gave Gloria 4 outfits for Jennifer Maria, as we are the God parents to be, and read our email. It is 11:30 PM as I write and way past my bed time.
Day 110 - Friday February 15, 2002
Today was a pretty quiet day. Jen slept in today and took a nap in the after noon. She isn't feeling very good. I went to the high school in the morning and set up a computer that hasn't worked since we got here. I finally had all the software I needed to get it up and running. I also surfed the web a little looking for a new web host, as our website has disappeared off the internet. I think the server may have gone down, but I don't know. I am hoping to get a new provider. I also spent some time looking at the computers in the high school to see what they have and how we can use them in the future for classes.
In the after noon I watched a movie and Rafael Mayorga came over looking for help with his computer. I went over to his house, reconfigured his machine, upgraded his web browser and tested his telephone line to see if he would be able to access an internet account from the phone line in their house.
We had egg salad sandwiches for lunch that were really good, and in the evening we played scrabble and made popcorn.
Day 111 - Saturday February 16, 2002
I got up at about 5 AM and couldn't sleep so I took advantage of the situation and tweaked some of the settings on our laptop. I also did some reading on some of the new features of FrontPage XP, which we now have on our laptop to edit and make web pages.
Jen and her mom went for a walk up the river and then for another walk along the road for their daily exercise.
Day 112 - Sunday February 17, 2002
We got up at 2:30 AM this morning to catch the 3AM bus to Choluteca. We rode the bus for 3 1/2 hours and arrived in Choluteca at 6:30 AM. From there I caught a cab to a local resort hotel while Jen and Mom Vander Poel went with our neighbor Gloria to her brother's house.
Today we became God parents. Who would think becoming God Parents would be such work. Getting up at 2:30 AM. I would like to know how many God parents have to get up at 2:30 AM to go to the baptism of their God Children. Mass we were told was at 7 AM and we had to go if we wanted to get the baby baptized at 9 AM afterwards. Well Mass is really at 7:30 AM, and the priest eats breakfast after then does the baptisms. When I returned to the church, which I had never been to, and 7 AM grew nearer. I hadn't seen anything of the people I left behind who, from what I knew, were supposed to be waiting for me at the church. I waited patiently and at 7:15AM Jen showed up and at 7:35 the rest of the family found their way to the church. The Mass was nice, and afterward we checked out the zoo that is part of the church. The priest at this particular parish likes animals and has a collection of monkeys, raccoons, fox, toucan, parrot, hedge hog, and a few other animals I didn't recognize behind the church.
The baptism was quick and very nicely done. It was just us and our one little baby. Then we went to Gloria's brother's house where we had chicken and rice for lunch.
After lunch we went to our hotel and Gloria and the gang headed back up to Concepción de Maria. We spent the day lounging by the pool and I got to watch a little TV. We had dinner in the restaurant, which turned out not to be anything too exciting, and went to bed.
Day 113 - Monday February 18, 2002
We got up early and went into Choluteca for breakfast and to catch the bus to Tegucigalpa this morning. Everything went very smoothly considering the amount of luggage we had (2 back packs and a big rolling suitcase). We got into Tegucigalpa at around noon, then went to the Peace Corps office to lock up our bags and get what we would need for the next two days into one backpack.
We got to the bus stop for San Juancito and waited, and waited for the bus to come. It showed up at 3:10 PM, only about 10 minutes late; and we headed up to San Juancito to stay in a nice cabin owned by a German couple.
We arrived in San Juancito at about 5 PM and debated weather we wanted to hike uphill the 2 1/2 miles to where we would be staying. We decided with sunset getting so close it might be better to get a ride, so we had someone in town radio the owners of the bed and breakfast we would be staying at to come down and pick us up. Jen and I had climbed up the hill once before and it was quite a challenge, one that Jennifer was eager to tackle again. I didn't think we had the sunlight or stamina to tackle the big mountain.
The ride up convinced all of us that a ride up was the best choice as just riding in the truck we became tired.
We had a dinner of rice with sautéed vegetables and went to bed after talking for a while.
Day 114 - Tuesday February 19, 2002
We got up just after sunrise missing a brilliant sight. The cabin we stayed in has a deck looking out into the eastern skylight and is higher than most other points in the valley giving an incredible view of the sunrise. However, we woke up after the fact and simply got a brilliant morning sun. We vowed that we get up to see the sun rise tomorrow.
Breakfast was a simple, but delicious meal of homemade breads, homemade jams, homemade juice, coffee, cheese, tomatoes, and cream cheese.
We headed out into the national park at around 8:15 AM and had our sites set on making it to a waterfall that was inside the park. About an hour and 15 minutes later we were looking at a beautiful waterfall. Not the Niagara Falls type of waterfall, but a falling trickling water fall. It was about 150 feet high and is one of the starting points for water sources that supply water to the capitol.
We then walked out of the park and got back to the bed and breakfast around noon. We then rested (I took a nap) and read. Dinner was at 5 PM and we had a great lasagna, whine, bread, and homemade juice.
After dinner we played scrabble until about 9 AM, and then went to bed.
At about 2 AM we were woken up by one of the dogs that lives one property who wouldn't stop barking. I went out side, look at the dog, and it didn't bark for the rest of the night.
Day 115 - Wednesday February 20, 2002
We got up early to watch the sun rise, which was truly magnificent. The sun rise from the patio of the bed and breakfast was incredible. I've decided the point before the sun rose to the point where you can see the entire sun happens entirely too quickly, and if you don't pay close attention you can miss some of the brilliant changes in the colors of the sky and the peeking of light over the lines of the horizon. It was well worth waking up early for.
We went for a short walk and then had another wonderful breakfast of toast, jellies, and cheese. We then walked down the mountain (which took about 1 1/2 hours) into San Juancito to catch the bus back into Tegucigalpa. The bus showed up about an hour and a half later than we had expected it to come, and the ride back to Teguz was kind of rough.
When we got back into Tegucigalpa we went to a restaurant for lunch and then to the Peace Corps office to pick up our luggage that was in storage there; we then were off to a local hotel to check in.
The hotel we stayed in is one of the nicer ones in Tegucigalpa, and Jen and I managed to get the room for 1/2 price after talking to the manager the last time we were in town and asking for a discount. The room and hotel were excellent. The view left a bit to be desired and we were off a main road so it wasn't really quiet, but the accommodations were very clean and spacious.
After checking in we rested for a while and then went to the mall to finish off our tour of Honduras before Mom VP had to go home. We walked around the mall, check out movies, and then went to Tony Romas for a Skillet brownie Sunday. It was very good. It is a skillet with a large brownie on the bottom, topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. We then went back to the hotel, sorted out our back packs and luggage, and went to bed.
Day 116 - Thursday February 21, 2002
We got up early and had breakfast at the a little bagel shop not too far from the peace corps office where they have fresh bagels and make egg bagel sandwiches and have fresh coffee. After breakfast Jen and I left her mom in the hotel and went to appointments we had made since we would be in the capitol. I went to the dentist and Jen went to an orthopedic surgeon who was supposed to do a check up on her knee. My dentist told me he didn't have my mold ready for my bridge and Jen's doctor told her she needed to wait another two weeks and he would see her. So our appointments were a waste of our time.
After our appointments we met back at the hotel, picked up Jen's mom and went to the airport. We waited in the airport for a while. I got my boots shinned, as they were very dirty from hiking in the national forest. We said goodbye to Jen's mom and ran into our host mom Erica who was waiting for her husband Jorge to arrive. Jorge has been in Japan for 9 months and we have not met him yet. So we waited with her and met Jorge when he got off the plane. He was very nice and told us to come visit him when we were in town again.
After saying good-bye we went to McDonalds and shared a Big Mac meal. We then went to the Peace Corps office where I bought a new digital camera on the internet for our travels here in Honduras and Central and South America. We also did some emailing and picked up our backpacks that were locked up in the Peace Corps Office.
We then went to the bus stop where we met 2 volunteers (a married couple) who were in their 3rd week training and coming to visit our site for a view of how volunteer life was. They seemed to like our site and our house. We told them their site, which we think is Santa Rosa de Copan (which is close to a Mayan Ruins site) was a lot nicer than Concepción de Maria. However we never really told them exactly where they were going just that it was in the north west and nicer that Concepción. They seemed to like the security of a smaller site. It is definitely one of the nice qualities of a small town. We feel very secure here.
We got on the "luxury" bus at 6 PM and were in Choluteca by 8:25 PM. We checked them into a room at a cheap local hotel, and went over to another volunteers house to sleep on the floor for the night. We try to save money were ever we can. there are three volunteers in Choluteca and we try to stay with them when ever we have to spend a night in Choluteca. The floor is not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it is one of the cheapest.
Day 117 - Friday February 22, 2002
We got up around 7 AM, picked up the other couple and went to the grocery store to find some breakfast. I wanted to go to a local restaurant, but I guess Shirleen and Tony (the new couple in training) haven't quiet acclimated to beans, eggs, tortillas, stinky cheese and fried plantain. I can't say that I blame them, I hated those food in training too. I kind of like them now and am continually looking for people who cook it well.
We took a short detour into the central plaza near the Catholic church for a bit of site seeing, then went to the bus. The bus ride up the mountain was horrible. Luckily we got seats, but half way up the full bus picked up about 20-30 high school students. Bringing the bus to clown car capacity. We were sitting 2-3 to a seat and the center isle was packed as tightly as possible with kids. I wanted to take a picture and send it to the safety director at the bus company I worked at when I was going through college. She would have gotten a kick out of it.
We reached Concepción around 12:30, had a tour around town, took showers and had a dinner of spaghetti, which Tony and Shirleen seemed pretty happy with since it wasn't bean and tortillas. We went to bed after having dessert of chocolate cookies and lots of conversation.
Day 118 - Saturday February 23, 2002
We got up and went for a walk while Jennifer made breakfast. We walked up the mountain on the opposite side of the river and took a look at the community of Guido Sucy (a small community of 17 houses that were constructed to relocated people along the river whose houses were destroyed in Hurricane Mitch). The walk took about 20 minutes and is all uphill. We got there looked around and then came back down.
Jen had prepared bagel, cheese, and egg sandwiches for breakfast, which were very good. We played scrabble with our guests, and saw them off on their bus at 2 PM after a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and tuna fish sandwiches; which again were a nice change from beans and tortillas.
After they left we took a long nap as we had had company for 2 1/2 weeks and were very tired. We got up a few hours later and enjoyed the peace and quiet of our site.
Day 119 - Sunday February 24, 2002
We slept in today, still trying to catch up on our rest. We had egg, ham, and cheese sandwiches on toasted bagels. We then had church in our house. We read the reading from the Spanish missal we purchased, prayed for a long list of people we have on our intentions list, sang songs, and went through the different parts of the mass together. We really miss not having a priest in our town and going to mass every Sunday.
We then took a short nap, had mac and cheese for lunch and played 2 games of scrabble. We then went for a walk, talked with our neighbors and got a surprise phone call from my family.
We spent the rest of the night cleaning up our house, reading, and for me...catching up on this diary.
Day 120 - Monday February 25, 2002
We had hoped to get up early, 4 AM, but I think we are still recovering from having company, and slept till 6:30AM. We got up and did laundry (I washed and Jennifer rinsed). We had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, and then I was off to the mayors office where I spoke with the vice-mayor and then with the person who is responsible for the department in the municipality for evaluating and setting taxes for peoples land. For you lake shore land owners...a person here who has 2-3 acres of land pays about $10.00 a year in property tax. We went over a few different things he would have to do to improve the quality of the information he was collecting for the future of computers, which the mayor is hoping to have money to buy in a few months.
In the afternoon Jen and I went to the high school to check our email and talk with the teachers briefly about us teaching computer classes. Afterwards we went home and had beans and rice for lunch, then we went to the library for a few hours to help out with what we could there. I spent my time trying to fix a computer that had an error coming up about installing Microsoft Office Professional. I think I am going to have to reinstall the software.
Day 121 - Tuesday February 26, 2002
We got up around 7 AM, and waited for someone from the health center to come and escort us to El Peñon, a community about 1 hour and 30 minutes (all up hill) from our site. While we were waiting we played scrabble. The person from the health center never showed up. Which was good as we had forgotten about the first communion of our two neighbor girls and that there was Mass this morning. So we showed up for Mass 1/2 hour late, which wasn't such a big deal as they started late and it was a 2 1/2 hour mass.
In the afternoon we spent a few hours at the library. I spent my time teaching one of the librarians how to stitch photos together to make cool panoramic or large images. I also started the process of reinstalling the software on one of the computers.
Jen, our neighbor Gloria, and I then went for a 1 hour walk along the road to El Triunfo. For dinner we had left of beans and rice and Jen made cookies for me.
Day 122 - Wednesday February 27, 2002
We got up around 6:30 AM and Walked to El Peñon this morning. Luckily we met someone who was on their way up there also, or we would have never found it. The woman we walked with turned out to be one of the school teachers in El Peñon 2. They have a El Peñon 1 and a El Peñon 2. 2 being the one that is higher up the mountain. So we went up the mountain with her and visited with her, her fellow teacher and their students. The walk was about 1 hour and 30 minutes, all up hill on rocky roads that are still washed out from Hurricane Mitch. She told us that El Peñon was greatly effected by the hurricane as there were many mudslides.
We arrived at the school and the two teachers explained that they have about 110 students at the school, and are supposed to have 4 teachers; however they currently have 2 teachers and are expecting to get one more at the end of the week. It looked like they had about 70 children to manage between the two of them, however the children were very well behaved. Helder, the other teacher, told me that most days parents come and visit the school. If they are having disciplinary problems the parents are called to the school and they discipline the children, so they don't have very many problems.
We got home, rested for a few minutes and took showers. Then headed to the high school to check our email and talk to the directors about our schedule for the up coming weeks. When we check our email we got an advisory from our "emergency zone coordinators" who sent out an email to everyone in the area advising to be on the look out for a con artist who has been praying on Peace Corps volunteers in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. He was seen yesterday in San Marco de Colon. Which is a community that is very close to here (relatively speaking would be about 2 hours by bus if there was a road, but it is 6 hours as we have to go to Choluteca first and then back up the same direction to San Marco). We have started alerting our neighbors and the local police about him and his little scams. Apparently he like to go to towns where volunteers live and try to steal their things, money, or money from people they know. We are waiting for him to show up. I've been building scenarios in my head. I'd like to get a photo of him to distribute to other volunteers and the police. So if he shows up here we will be making a trip to the local police and then I'll take some digital camera shots of him to be distributed, and then tell him to never come back to Concepción because everyone will know who he is.
Day 123 - Thursday February 28, 2002
After pancakes for breakfast and writing my monthly report for my director, I went to the mayors office this morning. I chatted a bit with Modesto, the only person in the Catastro department, about the cost of my back pack and whether I would bring him one back from the U.S. on my next visit. When I did the math and told him that my back pack costs about 2400 Lempira, the local currency, he reconsidered his need and had to do the math for him self to believe that anyone would pay so much for a back pack.
I then went back to the house and picked up Jennifer for our 11 AM meeting at the high school. We checked our email, and surfed the web looking for places to go in Costa Rica for spring break, and eventually had our meeting with the school officials to work out our schedule for the year. We will be giving introductory computer classes to about 300 students and advanced intensive classes to about 15 who are part of the business degree program at the school.
At 5 PM we had a very productive meeting with the librarians where we discussed the beginnings of a work plan and pay schedules for services provided by the library.
We then retired to our house where we had toasted ham and cheese melts and read a new marriage book we have on improving communication by H. Norman Wright.
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