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All is well in Juticalpa. Juticalpa is located in Olancho, the largest department (State) in Honduras. See map below. I arrived on August 3rd, got settled into my new home and started my new job as the Development Coordinator for the Olancho Aid Foundation on Aug 8. As for my home, I don't have AC and there is no hot water, but the house is much nicer than I thought it would be. The Olancho Aid Foundation rents homes for the long term volunteers, so I did not have to search for a place to live which was nice. I did take my first bucket shower the second week I was here. When the electricity goes out so does the water. If you want to shower you take water from the pila (water storage). The electricity goes out sporadically. The electricity is also turned off one Saturday a month so they can work on it, however there was a televised Honduran futbol game on the Saturday it was supposed to be off in August so they waited until Sunday. Priorities! My home is located about 1.5 miles from my office, about 1.5 miles from the city/town square, and about 3 miles from Carina's house. The street pictured below is a road that I travel almost daily between my house and the town square.
Seven laps around my neighbourhood is a mile, not the most interesting run but it's the safest option at this point, so I'm making it work. I did join a gym a few weeks ago and I'm grateful to have a gym, that being said, let me be honest and tell you that this place looks like something from a prison scene in a 1950's film. Concrete floors, grey block walls, dusty, dirt floors in some spots, none of the equipment matches, it's not the Brentwood Y, but I'm loving it. I'm learning to be creative and there is a great tienda on the same block where I can pick up a drink and something to eat after I work out. As for the hours of the gym, the sign shows Mon - Saturday 7:00 - 9:00, however that is Honduran time, last Saturday I sat in front of the locked gate from 7-7:45, at 7:45 I gave up and returned home to prepare for a hiking trip. Rule #1 in Honduras - Be Flexible. I will take pictures of the gym at some point and post them, I should probably wait a few weeks, I'm already getting some pretty unusual looks from the members, probably not a good idea to take pics at this point.
We (the volunteers) hiked the Boqueron Mountain last Saturday. It's about a 30 minute drive from Juticalpa, part of the hike was on a trail and the other portion was in the river. We found a great place to stop and swim for a few hours as well. Honduras is a very beautiful country, the city I'm living in (Juticalpa) is situated in a valley and is surrounded by amazing views of the mountains.
The temperature this time of year is reaching 85-95 degrees, it's been very sunny, and there is not much humidity (compared to TN). We had a "cold evening" last week, it was probably 70 degrees, I saw Hondurans in jackets and stocking caps. Apparently they were cold.
As for the people here, they are very friendly. While Honduras is a 3rd World Country the people seem to be very happy. I would say while they are materially very poor, they certainly are not spiritually poor. It's not uncommon to see kids playing with a dirty tire in the street, with huge smiles on their faces. Yesterday I played futbol (soccer) with about 20 orphans who live next to a home where I have stayed on previous mission trips to Honduras. We had a great time. The children at the orphanage are raised by the Nuns that they live with. Some are truly orphans and never see their families while others come from families who can't afford to keep their children, but they may go to visit them 1 or 2 times a year. Here is a photo of Maximus (one of the orphans), at school he is all business and will hardly crack a smile, but yesterday playing futbol he was having the time of his life, ALL smiles. Maximus is a great kid and an awesome futbol player (Maximus is able to attend our special needs school due to a scholarship from a family in the U.S.)
The biggest adjustment I have had to make has been the change of pace. Hondurans are never in a hurry and there is no rushing anything. Everything is done at a very very slow pace. You should see the check out lanes at the grocery store, they have cashiers at all the lanes (not something you Wal-Mart shoppers have ever seen) but they are as slow as can be. Fifteen minutes to do my grocery shopping and 20 minutes in line to check out (I have a more efficient way all figured out, just need to work on my Spanish before I present it to the store manager). NOT to be confused with laziness, they are very hard working people. It is not uncommon to see people walking miles to work, school, church or a water source. The benefit to the slow pace is that they really value quality time with each other. I have been to Carina's house for watermelon on two different occasions and that was the only plan for the evening, just stop by, have watermelon, visit. I can handle that... and the watermelon is amazing!
Everybody wants to know how tall I am. Little kids stare at me like I'm a giant. The first couple times I went to the gym everyone just stared at me for the first 10 minutes, it was weird. It's not uncommon to walk into a store and hear..."grande hombre" (large man). The staff at the Olancho Aid Office couldn't find a desk tall enough for my legs to fit under so they actually nailed wooden boards to the bottom of a desk to give it another 3 inches of height. I don't feel that tall when I'm in the U.S. because I see people everyday that are tall, but I don't see many tall Hondurans and certainly none that are 6'5".
The non-profit that I'm working for (Olancho Aid Foundation, Inc) operates 4 schools, a special needs school (Escuelita Nazareth), a bi-lingual grade school (Centro Escolar Santa Clara), a Middle/High-School (Instituto Cardenal Rodriguez) and a bi-lingual Middle/High School (Instituto Bilingue Santa Clara). The majority of our students come from extremely poor families, these students are only able to attend our schools due to the scholarships they recieve from people in the U.S. Please consider sponsoring a child, with your monthly donation ($25 - $100) we are able to provide Education, Hope, and Transformation to many disabled and extremely poor children in Honduras. Visit http://sponsor.olanchoaid.
Michael
