Set This Circus Down by Tim McGraw

Hey everyone, this post is entitled Set This Circus Down since the past 2 months have seemed like a Barnamen and Baley’s act to me. My life has been like a circus in that I’m constantly bombarded with craziness, and I’m just sitting here the whole time never knowing what’s going to happen next. There are some parts that I like better than others, and some that I don’t like at all, but I guess it’s just all part of the show. I’ve seriously slacked on keeping up my blog, and so I won’t be able to list everything that I’ve been up to, but I’ll try to hit the hot spots.

First of all, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year’s. I really missed everyone, and it was tough not spending the holiday season with my family and friends. Christmas here was decent. Many families have a holiday party on Christmas Eve, but due to a couple family issues, our Christmas eve was just my host mom and a few of my host siblings and I who stayed in and watched TV. On Christmas Day, I visited a couple different houses with my counterpart’s family. We went from house to house tasting different dishes and talking with everyone. Well, actually we from house to house and tasted the same dish, just made differently. During Christmas, pretty much everyone in Honduras makes Nacatamales. Nacatamles are like regular tamales, which are made up of mashed corn backed in a cornhusk, except they are also filled with rice, some kind of meat (usually from a pig), and a bunch of different spices. They are really good, but after eating about 15 of them in a span of 3 days, I had had enough. For dessert, most families make this dish that is kind of like flan, except instead of a pudding texture, it’s more like bread. They basically have deep-fried bread smothered in a syrupy substances. The first couple bites were fairly good, but by the end I was so sick of sugar that I was barely able to keep it down. Another strong Honduran tradition is building a nativity scene in the home. Many of the homes I visited would boost these very large and elaborate scenes that consisted of dolls, and many homemade action figures constructed of sticks and finger-paint. They were all really beautiful, and I was shocked by the fact that every family makes one and they are always really big.

On December 28, my family from the states came to visit me. It was really awesome to see them, and I was excited to show them what my life is like here. I met them at the airport, and then when we went to get the car we rented, the lady at the desk said that they didn’t have the SUV we reserved. My dad and I talked to the clerk in Spanish for a long time trying to figure out what kind of car we could get. Even though this kind of sucked, I think I was able to clearly demonstrate to my family that I am able to speak Spanish. So that was cool. Anyways, we went to our hotel to settle in a little bit, then out to a very typical Honduran restaurant across the road. After eating, we drove over to the Peace Corps office, met one of my bosses, and then walked over to the central park. We stayed in the Marriot hotel that night, and I got to sleep in a king-sized bed with fluffy white pillows and real mattress and everything. Needless to say, I haven’t had that good of a night’s sleep since I joined Peace Corps. The next day we headed to my site where my family got to meet my host family, my counterpart and his family (see pictures above), my neighbors, and some random passer-bys that were just curious about all the gringos in town (see picture above of old man). We also got to visit my counterpart’s farm so I could show them where I work sometimes. My parents brought me 5 suitcases full of clothing and other things to donate to my community. I distributed everything to members of my community, so thank you to everyone that contributed and rest assure that it all went to people who could really use the help. We stayed in my community for the night (which I think might have been a little bit of a shock to my family, who described where I live as “a bit primitive”). The next day we traveled to a town called Valle de Angeles, which is a very touristy spot up in the mountains near the capital where my first host family from training have a store. We got to visit with them, grab lunch at another very typical Honduran restaurant, and then head to Tegucigalpa where I got another luxurious night in the hotel. We woke up the next morning on December 31, and headed to Comayagua. Here, my other host dad from training met us, and he gave us a little guided tour of the city, which was this country’s first capital. After grabbing lunch, we drove to San Antonio De La Cuesta, the little town where I lived for 7 weeks during training. Here, my old host family and my real family sat and talked while drinking some coffee before my bothers and I went to play some soccer with a couple local kids. Then we all went to mass and then came back to the house where we had a little New Year’s Eve party. There were many girls there that were my host brother’s friends who were more than willing to teach my real brothers and I how to dance bachata, merengue, and salsa. At midnight, we burned a life-sized dummy of the current president of the country at the time, Micheletti. Apparently, it is a tradition here in Honduras to burn someone famous on New Year’s Eve to represent a new beginning. It’s kind of like saying ‘out with the old, and in with the new’. The next day, January 1, we traveled back to Teguz so that my family could catch their plane back home. All in all, it was really great seeing my parents and brothers, but at the same time, their visit really made me miss home.

My projects are going slow still. It turns out requesting money is an extremely long process. My community members keep asking me when we are going to start constructing pilas, and it’s tough because I don’t know the answer. We are building the pilas in my little neighborhood of Quebrada Grande, but the other town I live in, Mata de Platano, is pushing me to start a latrine project. So it looks like I’ll be running two projects at once, while doing environmental education and while building gardens for a few families.

I want to wish good luck to my cousin Erin Tuntland, who was diagnosed with liver cancer a couple weeks ago and is currently undergoing chemo. Stay strong Erin, we’re all thinking of you.

I also want to send a shout out to my buddy Dan Stueland (aka wildcard) who recently got engaged. Congratulations buddy, I’m really excited for you two. (I also hope I get a chance to meet your fiancé sometime before the wedding)

Ok, that’s all I got. Enjoy the video of me with a beard…

Peace,
Miles