Hola de Honduras!

Hola a todos! I am alive and well in Honduras! As many of you know I left for training early Tuesday morning and arrived in DC at 10:00am. Right after I collected my mountain of luggage I spotted another girl with a similar backpack and knew she must be on her way to Peace Corps staging also. As luck would have it she was on her way to staging in the same hotel with the group of trainees that were going to Ecuador so we were able to share a shuttle and later when we arrived at the hotel and left our luggage in the bell hop’s room we were able to walk to a whole foods store with a café and have a nice lunch together. It was so nice to have someone to pass the time with until check-in and discuss what lies ahead.

Staging itself began at 1:30 with registration which lasted until 3:00pm when we began our introduction to Peace Corps and to each other. We did some activities to get to know one another, talked about Peace Corps expectations and how we were going to arrive at post in Honduras. Staging lasted until 7pm so afterwards a group of us went out to a nice sushi dinner for one last splurge. Since checkout time was at 2:30am, none of us stayed out late so we would have at least some energy for the following day. However, I think I got a whole 3 hours of sleep before I was up and on my way to Honduras! I will say right now that I was immediately regretting how successfully I was able to pack EVERYTHING into my bags because they were so heavy! To make matters worse none of my luggage has wheels because I was only thinking of the Honduran terrain and not the airports so I had to physically carry all of my luggage myself which would prove more and more difficult as the day went on. We flew out of DC at about 6:40am to Miami and then onto Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras) where we arrived at noon local time (1pm eastern). The airport was really hectic with everyone trying to get all of their luggage and get through customs but we all made it out fine. The Peace Corps representatives were really organized and met us at the airport exit with tags for our luggage to be delivered to our host family’s house as well as snacks. A bus then arrived and took us to our training center located about a half an hour outside Teguz when we met the Peace Corps staff and our host family was waiting to pick us up. I am living with a host mom named Gloria and her 4 yr old daughter Reyna Maria. They live in what I believe to be an average Honduran home that has two bedrooms, an indoor bathe, and one large central area for the kitchen, dining area and living room. They have electricity but as I found out the first morning, when it rains the electricity goes out so we use candles and flashlights. The water for all the household activities arrives on Thursdays and Sundays so on these days we can use the sink and flush the toilets. But, when the water runs out, usually within 24 hours, you must get water from a large bucket, similar to a rain barrel, to flush the toilet and wash with. The water we drink is purified water that the family buys in large containers like those found in offices in the U.S. I have my own room, which is the daughter’s, with a lock and key as the Peace Corps requires and screens on my windows.

My first night both my host mom and sister were very quiet and didn’t speak much at all which I was really nervous about. However, since then they have opened up much more and now Reyna Maria is running to hug me when I come home from training and sitting in my lap so I am feeling much better. As for my host father, he works in another region of the country which I am told is very far away so he is only able to visit the family one time per month.

Training is really good so far. I have training Monday through Friday from 7:30 until 4:30 with lunch, packed by our host families, at the training center from 11:30 to 12:30. We also have a half day of training on Saturdays from 8:30 to noon. A Peace Corps bus picks me up at about 6:45 during the week and I live about 15 mins from the bus stop so I wake up a little after 5am to make sure I don’t miss the bus. There are 9 other volunteers that live around me, with one in the house next to mine so we are all able to walk together which is really nice. There are also some really great views along the way! Overall the training directors seem really well prepared and very nice which helps make the whole adjusting process much easier.

So far things are great. I need to practice my grammar because things are coming back slower than I would like but I am trying hard not to beat myself up about it. I have already done some pretty traditional Honduran things like take a bucket bath by candle light, wash my clothes by hand using a pila and play soccer with the local boys and other volunteers (I know what you’re thinking but this really is Katie writing haha)

Anyways, I have so much more to say but I just wanted to touch base and let everyone know I am here and doing well. I hope to get some pictures up soon! Hasta la proxima!