The Peace Corps offers one of the best vacation policies I've had in any job (just not a salary for travel!). Besides practically being on vacation for a job, I get 2 days per month that I can save up and use how I want. A few weeks ago, I was euphorically dragging heavy cables through coffee plantations, across drainages, over hedges, and under an intensive heat. Euphorically because 1) the very cables that were a present burden would be a future blessing, and 2) I was one day away from heading back to the U.S.
I remained very content during a 5-hour, sweaty bus ride, a sleepless night in a hotel without AC, and a 3 ½ hour flight to Houston. And upon arrival to the U.S, my patriotism was soaring like our national bird. Then I hit customs, ha ha.
Anyway, I won't write about my trip because this blog is for those who live in the US and want to know what my small part of Honduras is all about; HOWEVER, Nate and Emily's wedding in Hawaii was unforgettable, being back in Dickinson to see my sobrinos, family and friends made it hard to leave again, and I'll sure miss my Jeep.
It was a bit tough leaving, especially to arrive in sweltering heat in San Pedro Sula to stay at the same hotel withouth AC. I instantly was hit with the realities of my life in Honduras: you can't flush your toilet paper, you get used to being sweaty all the time, you walk a lot, you keep your few possessions close, and you go a long time between accessing your Facebook!
But I was genuinely content to make it back “home,” to my cooler mountain town, to unpack all my stuff, and see that at least the neighbors already had electricity. Sadly, they waited to do my house because they didn't want to intrude while I was gone--I swear I wouldn't have minded!
I did go through some remorse for the first day or so away from the U.S. again, but in the first week since being back:
-I hiked to an undeveloped waterfall with a group of other volunteers, and then we went for a dip in a beautiful blue lagoon
I remained very content during a 5-hour, sweaty bus ride, a sleepless night in a hotel without AC, and a 3 ½ hour flight to Houston. And upon arrival to the U.S, my patriotism was soaring like our national bird. Then I hit customs, ha ha.
Anyway, I won't write about my trip because this blog is for those who live in the US and want to know what my small part of Honduras is all about; HOWEVER, Nate and Emily's wedding in Hawaii was unforgettable, being back in Dickinson to see my sobrinos, family and friends made it hard to leave again, and I'll sure miss my Jeep.
It was a bit tough leaving, especially to arrive in sweltering heat in San Pedro Sula to stay at the same hotel withouth AC. I instantly was hit with the realities of my life in Honduras: you can't flush your toilet paper, you get used to being sweaty all the time, you walk a lot, you keep your few possessions close, and you go a long time between accessing your Facebook!
But I was genuinely content to make it back “home,” to my cooler mountain town, to unpack all my stuff, and see that at least the neighbors already had electricity. Sadly, they waited to do my house because they didn't want to intrude while I was gone--I swear I wouldn't have minded!
I did go through some remorse for the first day or so away from the U.S. again, but in the first week since being back:
-I hiked to an undeveloped waterfall with a group of other volunteers, and then we went for a dip in a beautiful blue lagoon-I was interrupted from digging a curb (to keep water out of my house), in order to show 11-year-old Leonardo how to butcher and prepare a domestic rabbit (everyone LOVED my cooking!)
-I ate a whole pound of mamones, tropical grapes, or whatever you call these wonderful fruits that are in season now
-I helped herd an escapee pig back to its corral (it was eventually carried back, SCREAMING, by it's two ears an it's tail)
-I tried to convince the school president to release the house wren fledgelings that she'd captured AND...
<---- doesn't my house look content now?
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