Southern Comfort

Five months in service now and it feels as though time has slowed down. I’ve been traveling a lot this month and it has felt amazing. In the middle of June I went to city called siguatepeque for a meeting with the Abstinence team. That’s right, abstinence, and there is no better person for it. The trip itself took about 6 hours and I was there for 3 days. Basically, we worked on planning a workshop we are giving this Monday in Valle de Angeles, a tourist town about 20 minutes from my Santa Lucia host family. There were only five of us there, three new faces and Anna! a fellow Hondu 12er. It was awesome seeing her! After the meeting, I was back in Cholu for only a couple of weeks, before I had to go back to Siguat for an income generation workshop.

For the workshop I brought two counterparts from the HIV clinic. The workshop was for people living with HIV/AIDS support groups, the hope is that we can take the information back to our sites and start working on some kind of income program with our groups. The information was wonderful, and the workshop itself was so much fun. It was a great four days. On the way up to siguat my counterparts and I were lucky enough to hitch a ride with my program director from Teguc. Peace Corps has recently purchased some 2009 Landcruisers, so we decided that the luxury of a landcruiser outweighs the authenticity of a chicken bus…it was a good decision. Over the months I have learned that chicken buses require preparation, especially if you are traveling through the mountains. On my first trip to siguat I did not have the pleasure of taking a landcruiser. I honestly thought I was going to die. The road wound endlessly around the mountains and cars sped by with complete disregard for anyone’s safety. The bus driver was of the same moral caliber as the other motorists. With a “highway” that barely fit two lanes; the driver was laying on the horn and passing cars around blind curves left and right. I couldn’t even see the road, and frankly I didn’t want to. All I could see was the shit eating grin on the drivers face and his Jack Nicholson sun glasses through the rear view mirror…he was the devil, I’m sure of it. After the workshop, I was lucky enough to get the same driver for the ride back! I made sure to place my luggage in front of me as a cushion in case we careened off the mountain side…as if it would help. Seriously though, you know you’re scared when you are actually considering the likelihood of surviving if you were to jump off a moving bus before it plunged to its doom. Alas, I soon realized that there was no way I could squeeze my reubenesque physique through the school bus window in time, so I settled for the cushiony luggage.

Speaking of my physique, aparentally Ive lost a bunch of weight. Since I dont have a mirror at my disposal, I havent really been able to see how my body has changed since I got to site. It was all seriously brought to my attention as soon as I arrived to the workshop and all the volunteers from my training class that were there didnt recognize me. It was awesome. I honestly didnt want to stop looking at myself in my hotel bathroom mirror. I'm pretty sure that at one point I told everyone that I would be in my room checking myself out if anyone needs me. SOOOOO, with a new found confidence I have felt amazing. My total weight loss so far is 61 lbs. I currently weigh a pudgy 210. I only hope that I can continue losing. My goal weight is 185.

So overall, the income generation workshop was amazing. I learned a bunch of great information and got to see some old friends. The best part of the workshop was the capstone party we had on the final night. In addition to celebrating the success of the workshop it happened to be the birthday of a volunteer, the final two weeks of another, and a farewell to our project specialist who is becoming the director of the business program. poems were read, a dance was choreographed for our project specialist, and candles were blown out. Following the farewells and congratulations, the party began. We arranged for a DJ/karaoke and bought beverages and snacks for everyone. By the end of the night I learned how to dance meringue well, and not just how to flail my elbows around and shake what my mama gave me. There were people from all over the country at the workshop and they all came to the party. The best were this group of Garifuna women, (garifuna are the people from the north coast of honduras who come from an african decendancy. They actually speak english, spanish, and garifuna.) They are so much fun and full of life! There is a traditional dance on the north coast called Punta, which basically consists of shaking your butt around in a circle (without moving your hips much) and shuffling your feet in a circle. These women were large, in charge, and making there butts move independantly from their bodies...it was almost scary. What was really terrifying was that they would grab the gringos from the crowd and pull them in to dance. Thank g-d I was already dancing, I wouldn't know what to do them. There was also this one guy who stole the show. Just so you get the whole picture, he was a transvestite who used to be a professional dancer and celebrity imitator in Mexico. During the party the man didn't stop dancing, it was incredible, and he was wearing heels the whole time!

Two things to note: (1) Since it gets hot whilst dancing, we set up fans in each corners of the room. Whenever our professional dancer friend would get hot he would dance his way over to a fan and dance in front of it for about twenty minutes before heading back out onto the dance floor. Everytime he did it he would go alone, and really push it to fourth gear. More than a few time he would throw himself to the floor and throw his head back, forwards and and every which way...definite youtube material. (2) About halfway through one of his fan dances, one of the volunteers sat down a little too close to the dance floor. As a result, fan dancer shuffled his way over to this volunteer who will remain nameless and gave her the most ridiculous lap dance ever. Seriously, mouths dropped and flashbulbs fired. Fan dancer was throwing his leg over her head, rubbing his hair in her face, and basically using her as an aluminum pole. Some how, 20 lempiras appeared and his dance ended. Later in the evening, after most of the workshop participants had returned to their rooms, another surprise lap dance was given. The situation was actually pretty awkward for all of us. The only ones left in the room were the DJs, the volunteers, and four workshop participants (one of which obviously fan dancer) . Essentially, we were waiting for the volunteers to goto bed and the DJs to leave at 1am. Out of no where, fan dancer starts giving another lap dance to a workshop participant. We were pretty shocked and kind of giggled at the repeat performance. But then, something happened that no one expected. About halfway through the dance a balloon appeared on the lap of the guy getting the dance. All of a sudden fan dancer managed to throw his entire body 360 degrees around the chair the guy was sitting on and catch himself before crashing onto the balloon. At that point he paused, screamed, and threw himself on the balloon popping it. At that point we made the joint decision to turn the music off and send everyone to bed. It was an awesome party and definitely filled with some interesting surprises. After the workshop I was happy to get back to Choluteca.

Right now I'm out of site again for the workshop in Valle de Angeles. Before I go, I just want to mention a strange thing that happened last Saturday. Saturday afternoon I decided to play some soccer with the the neighborhood kids and my site mate. About halfway through the game a small girl, followed by two younger kids (just wearing underwear mind you) ran up to me holding something. I couldnt make out what it was since it was just kind of dangling by the girls fingertips. I didnt expect it to be anything bad since she had a big smile on her face and was running towards me a pretty quick pace. When she got within a few feet I realized that she was actually holding a dead duckling...Trying to keep the puke in my mouth I started backpedaling. When she got close enough, she let it fly right for my face. I totally pulled out some matrix move and managed to dodge it. I wouldn't have been as annoyed if she hadn't picked it up a second time and thrown at me again. I'm still haunted by her carefree giggle.

Anyway! Thats about it. Sorry for the long delay. Hopefully my next post will come sooner.

I miss you and love you all so much.

J

P.S.

Nick and Allison congratulations again and I hope you have an amazing honeymoon. I saw the pictures, you guys looked amazing.