To be titled…

July 6th, 2009 by Ryan Baldini

It´s been about two weeks since I´ve last written, I think. You can´t blame me for the silence though. Between the presidents forced removal from office and Michael Jackson´s death, it´s been a difficult two weeks. The tears are just now drying up…

In truth, life here in the mountains has continued as usual regardless of the historic goings-on down in the capital. I haven´t seen any commotion in La Esperanza, and I wouldn´t be surprised if some of the smaller farming communities in the hills outside the city have no idea what´s going on. For the record, I am safe and I feel no more threatened now than I ever have here in Honduras. My only worry is that things won´t be cleaned up when it´s time for me to flight out of Tegucigalpa. Most likely everything will be just fine. The worst that could happen is a change in flight, I presume. So don´t worry. And stop hating on Honduras, UN! Zelaya was an extremely corrupt president!

And… no one really cares about MJ down here. Oh well.

I guess my usual routine is to write a big entry about my last weekend adventure. I thinkI´ll just do two small ones and call it even.

Last last weekend I went solo. In order to get some ¨me¨ time I decided to hitch hike a few hours back into some of the smaller colonial towns in Western Honduras. My first town was San Manuel Colohete, some 20 hours up the mountains from Gracias by pretty rough dirt road. I caught my first ride for just a few miles on a motorcycle. So that was cool. San Manuel is a magically isolated old colonial town on the hills/cliffs of Celaque. In truth I think I was lucky to get there as quickly as I did, as not many trucks run that road on any given day. The colonial church is one of the oldest and most ornate in Honduras, and the surrounding countryside is probably the most gorgeous I´ve yet. If there was an award for most picturesque Central American town, this would definitely be up there. I went on a good walk to the nearby river, and then up the hills on the other side to visit the even quieter aldeas (farming communities) surrounding the area. Though these rugged mountains look like I am the first person to ever set foot there, the truth is people have been living there for generations. The trail up to some of these towns is long and can only be passed by foot or horseback. I chatted with a mother making the walk with her two children, and a man passing on horse. Naturally, they were surprised to see someone like me around there.

After a night spent in a cheap hotel, I made my way out. I had to wake up at sunrise to catch the early trucks out, which got me some great photos of the area. Next stop, Erandique. It´s another colonial town a good deal larger than San Manuel but so far out of the way that it has that same isolated feel. This town was usual in that it had three central parks, each with its own church and extremely large ceiba tree. I asked a kid on the street about a cheap place to sleep, and he pointed to a nearby house that rented out rooms. Can´t get much more authentic than that, you know? I got a good running (albeit cold) shower, and it was the best deal in town of course. Shopped around for some items that I had been looking for, and enjoyed the weekend market. ´Twas a saturday. Hung out in the quietest of the parks, where a small family was celebrating a child´s birthday. Piñata was there of course. And that was my day.

Returned Sunday early morning to have breakfast at the street market, which swells on the weekends as women come down from the hillsides to sell their produce. I had a rather good, fluffy pancake with ¨butter¨ for about 25 cents and a nice slice of watermelon. Travel tip: eat at the street markets. Don´t be intimidated by the seeming lack of order and hygiene. Food is cheap, fresh, and plentiful. Buy a cup of coffee for 15 cents (it´s the next cheapest thing to water, which is less safe) and talk to the kids about soccer.

So that was last last weekend. The work week was a bit slow for me. I was feeling a bit more under the weather than usual, and had to miss two days of work due to sickness. And then we had to miss one day to meet with the volunteer coordinator, who gave us the option to leave the country if we felt threatened. But I´m still here and determined to work out the rest of my time here, regardless of what my stomach thinks. We´re really starting to finish up the walls now, and finally Eusebio (the man in charge) has brought out hammer and nails for the wood roofing. In truth I never really know what´s happening next. Travel/volunteer tip: don´t ask questions. Just do it. But as you can imagine, I take a good deal of pride in seeing walls over my head where I once saw only flat ground. Cool stuff.

Last weekend (i.e. yesterday) we decided to abstain from travel due to the political turmoil. Plus, we wanted to celebrate 4th of July in La Esperanza. So we headed up to the hill above the town´s holy shrine at 10 am Saturday morning (it rains in the afternoons!) and enjoyed a picnic of sorts with a fine collection of fruits and snacks. Nothing particularly United States-esque, except for the gluttony I suppose. I bought a soccer ball to kick around for a bit and ended up giving it to a kid who wanted/needed it a good deal more than I. It was cheap and I wouldn´t have been able to get it home anyway. That night we watched Honduras beat Haiti in the local bar, and then United States beat Granada. My two favorite teams! What a day.

Sunday… I missed the second half of the Men´s Wimbledon final because I promised some of the new volunteers I´d take them to the local waterfall (see: the post where I almost died). Little did I know that this would be the longest Wimbledon final of all time. Darn. But the hike was good and the countryside up there is another one of the prettiest places in the country, so no complaints.

And that brings us to today. I´ll be home in two weeks from tonight. Actually, a little after midnight, Tuesday morning. Bring me a bowl of cereal and a warm shower.

I love you all. See you soon!