July 17, 2011

The stove project has officially begun. We did our first construction at the new women’s restaurant/micro-empresa in town, and we invited one class of high school students so they could learn how to do it, and then help us later on in San Ignacio. They really enjoyed it and learned quickly. I made the girls participate, which normally doesn’t happen here because of cultural norms, but they worked just as hard as the guys! We had a minor setback in the fact that the hardware store STILL had not sent the materials, so we had to borrow some of them from a local shop.  Overall, a success.

The hardware store truck FINALLY came around 5pm on Wednesday when it was pouring down raining. I rode in the truck of the owners and the large delivery truck followed us. We arrived to San Ignacio without any major issues. We had unload and count everything, which was difficult to do in the rain and in the dark. On the way back though, the big truck got stuck and we spent over 30 minutes trying to get it out of the mud while the rain continued. Several members of the community had to ride in the back of it until we got to Camasca to weigh it down. And we had to cross the river which had risen due to the rainfall…kinda scary. Regardless, we got the materials so construction can start!!

Thursday I walked down to San Ignacio with the carpenter to do demonstrations at the school. Of course  we arrive and there is no preparation, the old stove has not been broken down to build the new one, the materials are not there, etc. But by noon we had several community members present and we had the first stove completed. After lunch, they used what they had learned watching Martin (carpenter) and built another one beside it, and it was perfect! I was so proud. The school needed two stoves because they prepare the snack and lunch for the students. I will post pictures on facebook, the difference in the new and old stoves is incredible.

We took the weekend off, and will be back all this week to do a demonstration in each work group so that people can start constructing. I know it will be exhausting but I am already excited about the work ahead.

 

July 12, 2011

Karaoke, Enrique, and the Clay Pot Disaster

So Zach and I are now famous. Well at least at the Fogon in La Esperanza. We went out on Friday night after a welcome party for new Intibuca volunteers and instead of the normal dance music, the Fogon had karaoke. The karaoke scene was typical for many Honduran places, with people singing romantic ballads, seated and without a lot of enthusiasm. So Zach and I chose the favorite English song of Honduras, “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” And we sang it ON stage, with a little too much enthusiasm. We got quite a large amount of applause and supposedly the bar staff came out to see us as well. We dedicated our duet to Camasca, of course. It was a good night for sitemate bonding and for the future of karaoke in Intibuca.

I saw Enrique Iglesias live in Tegucigalpa! He played last Saturday night and I went with two other Peace Corps volunteers. And since we are such good small talkers, we made friends with important people who got us platinum status. Instead of sitting far away in the bleachers, we were on the floor (although we did have to stand the whole time). We were really close to the stage though, like if there had not been a bar around the perimeter of the stage, I could have reached out and grabbed him! Those same backstage folks hooked us up with drinks and food after the show and we got to hang out with Enrique’s band afterwards. Supposedly he left right after the show but one of my volunteer friends spotted him later that evening at the hotel. I came back on Sunday from the concert, leaving around 10am and finally getting to my site at 8pm. It was brutal to say the least.

Today was  a rough day. Supposedly I was going to meet a guy from one of the small rural communities at 8am to take the clay pots (for the stoves) to San Ignacio.  Long story short, we didn’t deliver the pots until after 4pm. And yes, I was waiting around that entire time. Once we leave Camasca to go to his community to get the pots (his mom is the one making them for us and there is money included in the price of each pot to transport them), we get to travel on the horrible road that makes the road to La Esperanza seem like it is paved.  The pots were not waiting for us on the road as planned. We have to walk to his mom’s house, which means climbing up a slippery slope and then crossing a river (don’t worry, there were several large slippery stones to step on), we get there. She has less than a third of the pots ready. Oh wait, it gets better. A little kid comes in and says that his dad won’t be taking us back to San Ignacio to deliver the pots.  I am just furious and let this guy know exactly how I feel. We have a contract, and he has already been paid! And I sure as heck was not walking back the hour and a half in the rain uphill, since I had only come down to this community because he had agreed to do the trip. After just sitting around and trying to convince him for a while, we eventually succeeded and he ordered the kids to carry the pots to the road (over the river).  In summary, we had to travel back to Camasca with these fragile pots while it is raining, then drive down the muddy roads of San Ignacio. I arrived back to Camasca around 8pm wet and annoyed (oh yes, he had hit on me hardcore while driving to San Ignacio).

SO supposedly the hardware shop that just didn’t show up yesterday with our materials (yes, another day of waiting) is on its way now (8pm and pouring down rain) with the materials to unload tomorrow. I’m not holding my breath…