Back to Normal, Almost.

I have emerged from the coming home blues. All it took was another vacation of course! Let me explain. I already had to take the almost 9 hour bus ride into the capital city for midservice medical checkups, so I figured why not take advatange? First I stayed with my very first host family, Patty, Javier and Alejandra in Tegucigalpa. They just had a new baby, Javier. While I only stayed with them a short time, any time with them is held dear in my heart. Plus I had to drop off some gear to represent! Then, because riding in a bus for 9 hours in one day wasn`t quite enough, I hopped on another one the next day for another nearly 7 hour ride to Morolica, Choluteca to visit my friend Kristin. Now when I say ride, I mean dirt, winding, bumpy roads with the most amazing mountainous views I have every seen. Every corner you turn your breath is taken away again unexpectedly. What a rich country, so lush and natural with little golden nuggets like Morolica tucked away at the foothills. Morolica was severely damaged by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and they have rebuilt the small town at a higher elevation just a few kilometers away from the old site. We did get to tour Old Morolica which was amazing to see because of stories I have heard about the devestation. The other great thing about visiting Kristin was experiencing her Peace Corps experience. Most people don`t realize how distinct our experiences are from each other. My house is very private, very enclosed on a street where hardly anyone passes by. Kristin had neighboors stopping by, bringing food, offering to take us places. Everyone that passed by the house greeted her. Also, she doesn`t always have water and the electricity goes out all of the time. These are things I don`t have to deal with, but she does with a smile on her face.

Apparently there are two things I just can`t get enough of, busses and the beach. We hopped on a couple more busses for a couple more hours and arrived in the department of Valley, Honduras. Then we hopped on a boat and headed to the island of Amapala, which is right on the borders of Nicaragua and El Salvador. We rented a big house right on the beach and hung out, swam, played games, created music and cooked. It was so relaxing and such a boost to be with good friends.

Next it was back to Tegucigalpa for midservice medical checkups, which weren`t particularly fun, but what is fun is having our Municipal Development group all together in one place. Then it was back home where I found an old friend. Anne is back and ready to work my butt off, so I am super pumped about that. We have big plans for the school health program, the dental team and some other neat projects. We are meeting soon to plan the next six months.

As for the municipality I am still working on a project which is protecting the borders of a nearby river through reforestation and education. Part of that project is creating a garbage collection service for my town, a much needed service. We hope to start on that portion of the project soon. Of course my English classes are still going strong, well, at least stronger than any other work I have going on. Some Saturdays, like yesterday when only 3 of my 12 adults showed up, are disappointing, but at least I got to those 3! I brought back some "snow" from the states to show the kids in my morning class. It was just a package of some sort of crystals that you add water to and it puffs into real looking, real feeling snow. We did a whole chapter on weather and at the end that was a treat for them. You should have seen their faces. Never have they seen snow, weird for this Northeast Ohioan to imagine. The high school library that I am working on with Oscar 1.0 is coming together nicely. We just ordered a ton of books and reference guides. This was made possible by the Ames, Iowa Rotary Club.

Politically things are calm as candidates campaign for the upcoming election. The President who was removed by the military and Congress has not been put back into office as an agreement between himself and the newly appointed President was never reached. Schools have been closed more than a month early and, because of the disruptions with teachers striking, the government has decided that every child will pass on to the next grade regardless of their performance. My hope is that a new President will be elected in November, take office in January and the strikes and closed schools will be less frequent. Everything else aside, this is my main concern. Why would a government want their people to remain uneducated? Jarring.

For those of you who read my last blog, here is the little visitor that surprised me upon my return home from the states.