Jesús de Otoro, Intibucá

Hello from Jesús de Otoro, Intibucá! I apologize for the lack of updates, I have now been living in my assigned site for about 6 weeks and have been incredibly busy! To start this update, we have to go back to when our training group, H-18, was officially sworn in and 53 volunteers came into service with Peace Corps Honduras on May 13^th, 2011 at the U.S. Embassy. We had a beautiful ceremony with inspirational speeches by our country director, the US Ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Lorens, and fellow volunteers. I was reminded of the perseverance and determination of getting to this point…the countless months of revising application essays, hours of volunteering, and finally waiting for my Peace Corps assignment. We were also encouraged to take the patience, adaptive skills, Spanish, and technical training we´d learned in the last 3 months to do our best to make a difference in our communities.

After a teary goodbye to my host family and especially my 6-year-old host sister, Andrea, I began my travels to my new site with my counterpart, Pablo, who is the director of the high school in my town. Jesús de Otoro is located in the central part of Honduras in the department of Intibucá, one of the poorest departments in all of Honduras. You can imagine my surprise as we turned off the main highway and drove the 30 kilometers to my new home through beautiful, lush greenery, rolling mountains, peaceful-looking fincas (agricultural plots) with equally peaceful animals roaming about. Intibucá is known for its cooler climate and also La Ruta Lenca which is a touristic route celebrating the traditional Lencan people and their artisanship and culture and way of life. It is common to see families on the sides of the road selling hand-crafted pots, hand-woven hammocks, freshly-harvested honey in bottles and the ever popular fruit stands with locally grown produce. Ironically, my new town also happens to be the rice capital of Honduras. I guess it´s a good thing rice has always been a large part of my diet.

I have since learned that while most of Intibucá enjoys un clima más fresco (cooler weather), Otoro, situated in a valley between mountain ranges, is actually quite hot. This makes for a great excuse to take a dip in one of the 3 balnearios (swimming pools) located in town, or to enjoy a charamusca or palita (popsicles) from the many vendors and pulperias (family-run markets). My site of 15,000-30,000 people (there´s no official census) is a medium-large site that boasts 8 schools, 2 of which are bilingual, 3 parks, 2 hotels and a Chinese restaurant. While I don´t live in the typical small village as one might envision of a ¨Peace Corps site¨, my town is a sleepy pueblo with dirt roads, the evermore familiar sight of oxen carts mingling amongst 4x4 trucks, and most of all, a humble and welcoming population that have taught me to slow down my days and take the time to tomar una taza de café (have a cup of coffee) and spend time visiting with family and neighbors. (This is my pitch for you to come visit me, Spirit Airlines has cheap flights in and out of Honduras and the South…)

My host parents are in their 60´s and are well respected in the community. My host mom, Doña Berta, a former Spanish professor, calls her husband, Don Jose, to meals every day by the endearing nickname ¨viejo¨, or ¨old man¨. Their love for each other after over 40 years of marriage is still incredibly strong and I already feel like part of their clan. I have developed a great relationship with them and my 5 new siblings and 19 cousins. My family´s house is the hub and home nest of the Rojas Reyes family and, at any given time, there´s bound to be someone eating, chatting, playing, sleeping, or simply hanging out at my house. We are required to live with host families for the first two months in site and then will get the chance to move out if we choose so. I am so happy here that I would love to stay with my family for my entire service. Thus, it was incredibly satisfying to find out recently that my host family actually has 2 apartments on their property, right next door to our house, that they are willing to rent out to myself and my site mate who is a Peace Corps Business volunteer. Not only will we have the benefit of living next door to this wonderful family, but we will also be able to enjoy our own living space and aprovechar (take advantage of) the coconut and mango trees in the backyard, the small plot to plant a future garden, and the well-constructed house complete with running shower and without the typical leaky clay-tile roof that is so common here. I am already excited thinking about painting my new apartment and finding items to decorate my house for the next 2 years. This will be the first time that I won´t be living out of a suitcase in over a year!

I have included some pictures so you can get a glimpse into my new life here in Otoro. Next post I´ll give you more details on what all I´ve been so busy with!

Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony at the American Embassy. From left: My counterpart at the colegio, Pablo Osorio, Ambassador Hugo Llorens, myself

My new host family—spanning 4 generations—celebrating the 67^th birthday of my host mom. I was able to borrow a violin for a few weeks from the music school at the University in Tegucigalpa for a concert, hence the requisite Happy Birthday violin rendition. (More on this saga later)

My office in the colegio, where you´ll often find me making charla (lesson) plans and preparing materials.
This is the view that greets me every day when I leave my office in the colegio (high school). I am frequently overwhelmed by the beauty of these majestic mountains and have ventured on several hikes…I´ll hopefully be doing one of the 5-hr hikes to the peak soon.

A moto-taxi arriving at one of the Catholic churches in Otoro. These motos will take you anywhere in town for L.10 (about 50 cents) and are always honking at me to give me rides. I once tried to explain to my counterpart that for every journey that I make by foot, I could save myself at least L.20 per day, which would easily fund a vacation to the Bay Islands in a year (and help me exercise off the abundance of grasa (fat) in my diet). She has now taken on this mentality and is walking her way toward a future vacation as well. (Sorry local economy, I will support you in other ways.)
My future back yard, with mango tree in center. You can see the trunk of the coconut tree at the very left edge of the photo. We have decided that the trees are spaced a perfect distance apart to hang a hamáca (hammock) between them in the dry season. Our pila is to the right; this is where my site mate Andrea and I will be able to wash clothes by hand, simultaneously if we want, and keep a reservoir of water for when the indoor plumbing runs dry, which is almost every night after about 8pm. I know it doesn´t look like much yet, but can´t you see the potential? Space for a BBQ grill, herb garden, tiki torches lighting up our sanctuary at night…can´t wait to move in!