September to Remember

This past September could have been one of the busiest months of my life!

To regale you all with the daily goings on would be so boring to read that I am not going to set down that path. 

To make it easier to here is my month long agenda:

August 27 – 29: Ok, not technically September but I consider this the kick-off of my month. I went up to Santa Rosa de Copán to celebrate Noche de los Fumadores, or an annual party that ends their fair that honors their factories and traditions of cigar making. Getting dressed up in cocktail attire was VERY different from my day-to-day jeans and worn in t-shirts, but definitely an interesting event.

September 30 – 3: Reconnect in Siguatepeque. This was a week long Peace Corps meeting with the Health and Water and Sanitation Projects. Here my days were filled with presentations and conversations about other volunteer’s work and advancements within our own projects.

September 4 – 5: Lake Yojoa. After our meetings had ended a few friends and I went to the only natural lake in the center of Honduras. We stayed at D&D Brewery, a volunteer favorite and the countries only Microbrewery, owned by a US ex-pat. To say this place is laid-back would be an understatement, as soon as you walk down the stone steps you feel your blood pressure immediately drop. The menu is filled with American favorites: food, soda, and of course beer. After eating myself into a coma, we were lucky enough to have a late night concert performed by the owner and 2 of my volunteer companions. 

If you are feeling a little lazy, as I was, you have some great activities close by. We elected to hike to the near Pulhapanzak Waterfall, the largest in Honduras at 140 feet in height.  You have the option of swimming in the pools above the falls, hiking to the bottom, zip lining across, or going under the water to hidden caves; my friends and I decided we had to go under. We were immediately approached by guides after our entrance into the park, and worked our way down to L. 60 a person to be guided under the falls. You have to hike down to the bottom of the waterfall and then hop a fence to get close to the water. By the time you are next to the base you can hardly see where you are going because of all of the mist flying at you. The only way to can go forward is to clutch onto the hand in front of you, when climbing through rushing pools of water and over boulders, handholding becomes almost impossible and the pace close to crawling pace.  First, you reach a large long cave first that is chest high full of water, where you are swaying back and forth because of the powerful water pouring over the rocks. The guide then gives you the option of going further, staying there, or turning back. My thought was “How could you go this far and turn back?” So I grabbed the guide’s hand, followed by only 2 of my friends and we stepped into the heavy cascade of water. I managed to hit my head twice on overhanging rock before the guide lifted me under the lip of a cave. Our reward was crawling up into a small cave on the far side of the fall and being deafened by rushing water. It was one of those examples of “It’s the journey not the destination” scenarios. There is no way to describe the power of the water beating down on our backs; it really leaves you in awe of nature.

September 6 – 12: Choluteca. After my adventures at the lake I head down to Choluteca to visit a fellow H16 health volunteer and to translate and work with an NGO. Sharefish, a small North Carolina based, educational focused NGO came down their third time this year to work with the small aldea El Carrizo. During this week we came to check-in on library and school maintenance. This was my first time to the South of Honduras and it definitely lives up to its reputation of being the hottest place in the country.  While I was wearing jeans down there I thought that I would pass out from the heat even in the shade. Despite the oppressive heat I was very exciting for this trip because it was also an opportunity to see my Aunt Nancy. I was able to catch up on life in the states and show her a bit Honduran culture. I wish that I had more time with her and that we were in a community that I knew, but I was so happy to have my first American visitor.

September 13 – 21: Ocotepeque! I finally made it home! This week was filled with moving apartments, my birthday, Honduran Independence Day, Ocotepeque’s 75^th birthday, friends visiting, and another bout of stomach illness. Not the rest I had been looking forward to!

September 22 – 27: Dad visits Ocotepeque to be my first American houseguest. I think that my dad was thoroughly unimpressed with my lack of running water and the opaqueness of the available water. It was more than a little funny when he would have to bucket bathe (dump small buckets of water over your head) and I would hear screams coming from the bathroom! When I offered to heat the water, he rejected and said that it was going to be awful no matter if it was warm or cold. American machismo if I have ever seen it. I then head up to Copán Ruinas for the first time. I timed it perfectly, just so that Tropical Storm Matthew was right over-head as I head to the park. Luckily the skies cleared, and left a completely empty park. The Mayan Ruins were absolutely beautiful and mystical. I plan on going back many times over.

I hope that abbreviated recap of my month was a good snap shot of my life right now in Honduras.

Now on to October…