Family & Guacoca

My family was here this past week. They came up to Nueva Suyapa with us to learn about microcredit and to see our companeros and book discussion and supper on Wednesday. Thursday morning we took a bus uptown and then headed to Tela, again! Our hotel was WONDERFUL compared to what I've stayed in since I've been here, but not quite what my family was expecting when we still had 2 cockroaches in our room. But it was good, the owners were really sweet! Friday morning we rode bikes to Lantecilla Gardens again and then just the beach. Saturday we went to Punta Sal, a national park. We went on a little jungle hike and saw some monkeys and crabs and such. Then we went snorkeling, but the water was not very clear, so we saw maybe 2 fish. That was kind of disappointing, but the beach was still fun! Sunday morning their bus left at 10:30 to go to the Copan Ruins. And I headed home to Teguc. It was kind of a short visit, but so good to see them again, and we had lots of fun together! Also fun to show them what I'm learning, as they had lots of good questions.

Early Monday morning, we all left for Guacoca, a small rural town in Olancho, which is the North Dakota/Texas of Honduras. They are all farmers and have big guns and pretty machismo and not as developed. The best way to describe it is like living with Laura Ingalls Wilder with TV and lights. Oh, first we visited Alice, a girl who works with Peace Corps in a different small town. She's been there for a year and a half, and it was interresting to see her work, as Peace Corps, or something similar, is something most of us are interrested in.

There is a Christian Reformed church in Guacoca, and the women of the church welcomed us into their homes. Elise and I stayed with our mom, grandma, and great-grandma who was 89! Our mom was married and they had an 12 year old son. We also had 3 hired hands who lived in our house. We visited the community to do research and just to see what life is like for many Hondurans. The whole community was super loving and welcoming. Elise and I helped (or at least tried to) make corn tortillas every morning. We also milked cows, made cheese, drank yummy coffee, and sat on the porch talking and spending lots of time with family and friends. Everything was very "tranquillo" much slower paced and more relaxed. We ate beans, rice, tortillas, eggs and cheese at almost every meal - not much variety, but it was good. We took bucket showers because they didn't have running water very often; so sometimes they had to go to the well or river to get water. Our pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and sheep lived in our yard and on our porch. We had to use an outhouse. Our 12 year old brother drove us in the pick-up to see other towns. The community just got electricity one year ago. Now, everyone has a TV, fridge and lights. I can't imagine how much their lives have changed in the last year! But other than those 3 things, they really still live very simply. I loved how everyone just visited eachother after they were done cooking and cleaning and working for the day. We spent so much time just sitting and visiting and talking and laughing together. It was very slow-paced and would be hard to get used to living like that all the time, since we're used to living much faster, but they really live in community with eachother. They were all so loving and welcoming and warm to us all too! So, it was lots of fun for a week, but I'm glad to be back at my house with my modern conveniences. We just got back this afternoon, and I forgot my camera in Elise's bag, so I'll have to put up pictures some other time.