Life in the Campo.

Preface: 
These are not my vols.:

It’s been quite an eventful week in Chiligatoro. For one, we learned how to move cows from one mountain side to another. Our only close encounter occurred when one of our cows (the black one with really pointy horns) attacked someone else’s cow that was tied up on the side of the road. Luckily for us our host grandma stepped in with a machete to restore order. No cow was injured in the process. Another highlight of the week:  the water pipes connecting the water tank to the entire community of Chiligatoro broke, leaving its inhabitants with no running water for 5 days. Being the tough and flexible Amigos Vols. that we are, we ventured down to the local stream to bathe. Due to our positive outlook and the shining sun, the experience was quite enjoyable. Jen had some run-ins with barbed wire, but we made it home clean, happy, and in one piece. Our host family found our river bath very amusing and they welcomed us home with hugs of hot milk. Thanks Amigos for these unforgettable experiences!

Love,

Jen & Grace

One of my vols., Kristy is the sweetest lil' lady ever.

During our back-feed, we tend to draw and talk about everything and everything.

Did I mention that when I come for my weekly visit, she always has questions ready and waiting for me to answer.

This last week in particular, we spent about three hours drawing pictures for another volunteer, Jen.
It is actually, perhaps the coolest game ever of 'Riddle'..you should play.

Highlight of back-feed this week would be one of her answer's on 'youth involvement' (and yes she gave me permission to post this...)

"One of my favorite things about working with the youth is that every once in a while they will just start singing randomly one of the songs that you taught them two weeks before.." -Kristy

A lil' story.

Once upon a time, Nicholas Muth needed to take his Malaria meds. He decided that he would take it with breakfast, as it stated that it was required on the bottle. Among the Amigos vols., it is common knowledge that Malaria pill is not known for its good taste. Because of this, he decided that he would down it with a spoonful of beans that was provided on his plate. Upon doing this he realized that he would not be able to swallow this with his fresco. As there was no other solution then chewing the beans with the pill, he decided to try anyway. This was a bad idea. The Malaria burst open with powdered dust. This tasted terrible. To get the taste removed from his mouth he ate a large spoonful of rice. This made it worse, as the rice was still smoldering from being cooked. The taste plagued him for several minutes as he inhaled the food on his plate (except for the rice). Little did he know that later in that day (lunch time) that his supervisor would make him eat all of his crema, to make matters worse.

Can you read this? 

It says pretty much that Matt's Route sucks and that mine is the best. 

Sincerely, Stefan.

But just in case you can't read it, I shall highlight some parts here and there: 

Dearest Matt, 

      I hope this keeps you occupied when you are waiting in the clinic with your inferior vols. 

Best of Health, Stefan

     P.S. "What is love- baby don't hurt me."

Té de Piña

       Perhaps the easiest and most delicious thing to make: Pineapple Tea!

           Cut the skin off, and pop into a pot of boiling water. 

Let simmer ten minutes, 

and add sugar to taste. 

Then with the inside make Pineapple Upside Down Cake or juice!

Tetanus.

      It is amazing how fast you can freak out. I went on a run with one of my vols. this past Friday, and well...I fell on a fence. I didn't think much of it as I was running in the swamp of a field, through barbed wire fences, past cows and jumping across rivers..but when I got back to the house-covered in filth, it was certain my leg was bleeding quite profusely.

      Luckily, in my case the fence that scraped me up only got me in five separate locations, and also lucky enough, that same fence is only rusty as fuck.

    With that, I thought back to my shots..I have had three in my lifetime. Yeah, so it probs. leaves tetanus out of the possible ones...So I called my Mommy, and she looked up my shots..and I got a tetanus shot in 2006! Thank goodness, because it is already bruising in a five inch radius, also one of the symptoms, woot woot!

The very definition of PROUD. This is PRIDE. 

I am sad I could not be there this year.

A Dollar's Worth.

What can you buy with a dollar? Well in the United States, you can buy 10 mint candies, you can by 1/3 of a tank of gas, you can almost go one way on a bus (not quite..) You can buy an organic apple and a half, and you could even get a few bananas. 

In Honduras, one dollar is the equivalent to 18.9 Lempira. Which is a damned lot! Meaning that you can buy:

• 18 packs of Choco Risas (4 cookies in each packet.)
• 3 Pera Jugazzo juices.
• 2 bus fares (that takes you over 2 hours away.)
• 1 1/2 of bread (approx. 12 pieces in each.)
• 20 bananas.
• 3/4 box of cake mix (name brand.)
• 9 bags of Alborotos (my favorite snack/candy.)
• 3 notebooks.
• 1/2 handwoven neck scarf.

        The dollar just went down, meaning that the bank won't exchange any money for my poor lil' vols., looks like you may have to go with one less Choco Risa and lolli-suckers (right) for the week, sorry : (

       Slash meet Hanna, she drew a mustache on her face with permanent marker this past Monday for a skit she did in one of her classes. Way to go Hanna, yes, stressing the importance to cover your food so that mosquitos do not carry germs and dirt to your food when they are flying around..

The Things I Do For You-

Carrying large sums of money is scary as shit. Every week on Route, I bring with me a bit too much, and as I walk the few hours to each community, get on another bus and hitch another jalón, I am always worried that not only the money will disappear, but so will I. Apparently, in the La Paz region (where there is another AMIGOS project) there have been a crazy increase in kidnappings, might I add specifically on the highways to other countries. I think this would be the appropriate time to note where one of my communities is…on the carretera to El Salvador! Note this is a fantastic community, love it, I really do..but it is also the same community that I grab a bus that is going to the border to get there, and simply get off a bit before. Oh, and did I mention that there was also a bus that blew-up on this same highway (but on the El Salvador side) last week. It killed 12 Hondureños, 1 Canadian, and 2 Estadounidense! Hopefully this won’t be me..but one of the host mom’s Blanca (one of my favorites) called me just to make sure that I had not blown up too, and that I would still be coming that Wednesday because she wanted to make me tamales..)

To come back to the subject matter, exchanging money..I hate doing it, if carrying around all that skrill wasn’t enough, I also have to carry my passport..and let’s face it losing your passport sucks-straight up, not down. Thus, I try to exchange money as little as possible and the story begins:

I was exchanging money at Banco Occidental, and I waited and waited outside the bank inline for so long to find out that they weren’t actually waiting for the bank..that was fun. So I go inside soon after and I go up to a window where this nice man helps me. He asks for my identification, and I squirm in panic..and then I find my passport at the bottom of my bag. He asks for the money, and then he converts it to Lemp. oh the glorious Lemp. full of plastic holes in the twenty bills and god forbid you try to break a hundred L. bill..back to the story, he counted it about eleven times to make sure it was the correct amount. Asked me a few questions, what I was doing here, for how long, where am I leaving..I am sweating a few buckets with each. I don’t know what it is with authority, they scare me shitless. But the Bank people know how to keep it hush hush when dealing with these large sums..I think I should take note of them. All they do is whisper and mumble, moving their fingers so fast that not even my eyes can follow along. One request, speak up? I know you are super skilled and can stay hush hush, but I can barely hear you!

Right, slash these are two of my lovely vols. that I carry money around for..meet Nick and Stefan. 

I am really loving my time here, but it would also be a lie to say that I would not also really love to be home and snuggling with my someone special : (

And thus, the countdown begins: 20 days!

Feria de Juventud.

Point blank, because we are a 7 week project (meaning 6 weeks in Community) time is a'limited! We have a Youth Fair and Route Picnic instead of an official 'Midterm'..and might I say that our Feria de Juventud came out pretty darn dashing with a splash of fun..

*These are my lady vols (FYI)..

Route Picnic

    We had our Route Picnic about a week ago now. It was quite fun, and filled with ice cream, pizza and internet-every American's dream..

Dear Diary,

     I have been having a super bad case of anxiety lately. I don't know what it is, but I have had a plethora of nightmares, yikes..all of which are not fun! Most interesting is the fact that I have had one of my vols. in two of them..I still can't figure it out. I am losing so much sleep because I am too afraid to close my eyes, goodness this is not good! So, I shall retell them for you here (the abridged version):

1. My first dream took place in San Rafael, on Highway 101 in-between the Central San Rafael Exit and the Lincoln one. I was a slave, and we would walk down in a line in chains, going from one end to the other. By the end of the dream I found myself a mermaid (yeah I know, this is pretty cray-cray) made of paint, and me and my vol. painted our way out of slavery by disguising our art into a mirage. Then we slipped over the side of the freeway wall, and on the other side it was as if nothing had happened, it was regular downtown San Rafael. 

Choco Risas: 1 Lempira (every night)
Roll of Toilet Paper: 10 Lempira (at least once a week)
Sleep Talking in Spanish: Priceless.

                   *Just some words of advice from my vols. in San Fernando.

Superstitions

From all of the traveling that I have done, perhaps the most valuable lesson that I have learned regards to the various superstitions. Instead of arguing something with reason, it (in most cases) is better to nod politely, and most importantly..agree. Some of my favorites superstitions as we would call them, really just never seem to stop being ridiculously funny:

• When there is a thunder storm, you must sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing. If not, the rayos will strike you and you shall die instantaneously. 
• Do not read books. If you do, you will surely go blind.
• Do not put money in your bra. If you do, you will get breast cancer. 
• Never bathe in the night time, or else you will become very sick. 
• Do not drink coffee and eat warm bread right after the other, or else you will get a horrible stomach ache. 
• If you find a snake in your path, it means that there will be much trouble in your near future.  

 Dear Lil' Boy 1 & 2,

   Did you know how adorable you both are? I am always so excited to come visit El Tablon. You both are always eager to answer every question, you are always grinning with so much joy and most of all, you make a damn good Mano de Derechos. Thanks for helping my girlies out with their charlas, until next week.

Big Hugs, and Hopefully Not So Many Bugs!

Doggies.

There are many different customs that one is exposed to when traveling, kinda the best part. For example, here in Honduras, having a pet is not so common. 


Here, the dogs are not fed in our conventional way. 
One of my vols. threw up the other day and within minutes the dueño was feeding his dog, and cleaning up the mess! Buen provecho!

   

To Highlight A Bit.

This week has not been the best, let's be real.
It started off just fine, but by the end of the week it stripped me to bones: Maybe rabies, and even scabies.

• I almost got in an accident, but instead I just got slammed into the back of a truck-nothing broken. My phone got lost in the process.
• I got bitten by a dog, and now I may have rabies. I won't know for another 7 days now.
• One of the Supervisors got scabies, and Tuesday night I psychologically convinced myself that I too had them..
• I had to eat meat soup. I then had a horrible stomach ache for nearly two days (I haven't eaten meat in 7 years.)
• One of my vols. broke a fence.
• I tried to take a shortcut to one of communities, it is an hour walk is the heat, then a bit up a steep ass hill, well I ended up 45min. in the wrong direction-which was also nice. 
• I got 10 tortillas in one meal, no joke.
• I finally made it home to Staff House to find out that two of my best friends need me more than anything, and I can't do a single thing.

Far From Daisies.

Being disconnected to the world means not having to face reality.

Frankly it is quite nice, and I wish that I could have resisted the dying temptation to communicate with those that hold any single sentiment.

What you hear does not pertain to any yellow Daisies.

Ironically, you wish that you had never spoken to them, you wish that you had never thought about the yellow Daisies shining in the sun’s rays.

This utopian idea quickly flitters off in the distance, as the harsh veracity of life sinks in. Deeper than the flowers’ roots that shallowly grip the soil, harder than the tap of the key from which builds characters making the god forsaken sentence, the count of all accountability.

You are my Dark and Twisted, yet if I am the other, don’t let me be the only.

I am lands away, and even my tears don’t make a moat long enough to sail my way back.

But alas, the feeling resides inside my body as if mites that only want to further make there mark. The permetherin doesn’t make a difference, it doesn’t stop the box full of buttons, the bearer of bad news from transmitting themselves to me: of which they are not shared with anybody else. These buttons have no answers, yet they are the only superficial emotion that I get with such a distance.

Now as I sit here, copying my insides onto paper under a candlelight that flickers with each fly, their surrounding nuance only brings to the forefront another actuality. I cannot hold you, and I cannot tell you it will be alright.

The moat stands a few miles long as of now, but faults far too many to make it to the San Andreas line. The mark of the Chosen One, the mark that says you are here because of love, this love that is more powerful than anything else known.

The tornado doesn’t stop, patroficos totalis.

If you get the chance, if you choose to connect yourself, you soon will find that the tornado does not die down. The wind will blow you to the next day, with destruction always damaging the little yellow Daisy.

If you ever thought that you could be a true friend from a far distance- 

Realize that your drops of tears may keep falling, 

All of which doesn't make the slightest difference when they can’t even see your face.

What Would You Do for a Choco Risa-

Sometimes when you travel off the beaten track you get cravings for things that remind you of home..Other times when you go traveling off the beaten track you learn to love the little things in life: like Choco Risas..

Well atleast my boys in El Cerrón do, this is our commercial in appreciation to the lil' Risas de Choco..

I got two fantastic interviews this weekend-I am elated.

water.

what a luxury you are. every other day you grace me with your presence, but then sometimes even on water days you don't dare show your face...leaving us with dirty toilet bowls, and dishes. but on the bright side..we got our new supervisor.

We put butterflies on our job wheels to make chores fun. 

The stove blew up today, it also melted the pan in the process...safety first?

      Sometimes I wonder if distance makes the heart grow fonder, or if I am naive to think that everything will always remain the same. As much as I want to believe, as much as I want to hop on that plane and fly right back, I am here for another month and then some. The time is short, but so are my conversations. Limited to once a week if luck is on my side-a pillow replaces my side of the bed. Endearing, and all too sad at the same time. But..you are pretty darn cute, even when you are stretching, so I guess I'll just cross my fingers until the next time I see you.

when you’re lost in a desert, it’s important to collect your urine and any other liquid you produce to distill into drinking water using a tarp and two coffee cans. most people, when getting lost, forget to bring the tarp and the coffee cans, so their urine is useless, their tears worse than useless, yet they continue to produce both and watch the tiny rivulets swallowed in seconds by parched and crackling dirt. for the desert, all your plump and watered hopes are just a drop on the tongue.

when the desert is lost in you, it sends out flags to other deserts. hard crusts of dry skin form along your outer ridges. your moisturizer fails. people start to steer clear of you, afraid you will “suck them dry.” only other desert people wander near, the ones who are further along than you. they wear their deserts on the outside. wrapped head to toe like mummies in baroque tatters, moving their sandpaper lips in crass imitation of language. we know you, they insist. we’re here for you.

[re-blogged]

Dear Soby,

   May you grow up in a place where your art is always appreciated. Your manchas are beautiful, and I see you being a role model for your lil' brother that you call Pollo. You are one of the highlights of my week, see you next week Sobs.

Big Hugs,

    Savanna

This would not be Central America if:

To seguir adelante como la Juliana in her Male Privilege Project..well not really but it is really quite nice, and you should check it out anyways-

I present you with:

This would not be Central America if:

• When I walk down the street, I get cat calls.
• When I go to someone's house they say 'Pase adelante' before they even know who I am.
• When I hop into someone's pick-up truck the men give me their seat.
• When I walk through communities they send their child with me so the dogs don't eat me.
• When I walk from one house to another, the dogs bark at you without stopping.
• When I do anything, I appear incompetent because 1) I am a gringa and 2) I am woman.
• When you try and cook something on the stove, you get electrocuted.
• When you live with Florian, there are no bananas in the house-ever.
• When you go out on route, you look like a dork-and when you come back, you are still a dork, a bit dirtier,  and radiating happiness (if you didn't have a sick vol.)

Sending the biggest kisses over the ocean, and through the woods.
While, secretly I am dying to snuggle with you right now.

This is Soby, everytime I come he is wearing something crazier than the first time. We decided to have some art time..

This is a taste of my 'Dream Team' in El Tablón. 

First school day and they are kicking ass in the school.  

Someone special had their birthday..To celebrate we made her two cakes: one with peanut butter frosting, and the other with coffee.. 

Happy Birthday my dear Kyla Renfrow!