hn51.

So I decided that I don't feel like writing much, and thus, I will tell my story in pictures. Or at least, the parts of it I can tell in pictures.

They're all mixed, so just bear with it.

Pic 1: This is Rene, he's one of my garden project community leaders. He's standing next to a compost bin he built himself of his own volition. Kick ass.
This is part of Don Neto's garden. Everyone's work coming along just fine, so there are a couple of these garden pictures. It seems for the time being that I taught them well, at least some of it. The rest they knew already. In fact, maybe I didn't teach them anything at all...
Pic 3: Ok so this flower I thought was awesome, especially because of it's constant erection.
Pic 4: This is what that coffee that I picked looks like now. More or less. Mad dry and mad tasty :)
Pic 5: This is a tomato plant at Arturo's model garden. Only 3-4 weeks since transplant, and it's huge!!!
Pic 6: This is a refrigerator that was converted into a compost bin. Yeah that's right, take that recycling.
Pic 7: Beats. In a model garden. I don't know, I'm proud of them. Kind of like grandchildren almost...

Ok, that's it for now. Oh, wait, one story.

So I went to meet with one of the communities participating in the garden project. 25 families in this particular town had signed up, and I went to explain all the details of the project and to get them to sign participation contracts with 4 little rules. Well, we started talking and one woman asked me about the distribution of her garden, and whether or not she could put one of the rolls of fencing to use for something else. Now, the point is, every family gets one roll. So i asked her how it was that she figured that she would get two. And her response was that she had two families living in her house (her's and her daughter's), therefore she should get two. And it turned out, that many families had signed up as 2 or 3 in order to get more material. So 25 turned into 12, in about 30 seconds. I didn't know what to do. I had never seen this before, not in any of the other communities, and no other place was so daring as to try to illicit more than they were intitled to. So now I have some extra spots open, and I'm not worried about filling them, but I was shocked. And they were all clearly explained to at the beggining that it was 1 roll per household. Apparently to them, a daughter who gives birth at 16 and stays living at home is considered a separate household. Since when? And how come no one in any of the other communities with their 10 children ( and even grandchildren) per family thought so...

yeah, that's it. it may not seem like much to you guys, but i felt cheated. but hey, you live and you learn. now, i'll make sure to make those kinds of things much clearer for the future. :P

hn50.

Ok, so first and foremost, this is my 50th entry in Honduras. Or at least, I think so. Regardless, let's just get on with it. Life is awesome. For now, I think that's basically it. Just had my mid term visit, where my my PTS, or Program Training Specialist, AKA boss, came to check out my work. We ended up sitting in meetings the whole time, but it was an awesome time, lots of future work got planned, some strong working relationships were formed, and all-in-all, I think it went well.
Work-wise, things are going well, although currently very slowly. Proposals are awaiting approval, solar panels are coming in December, and the coffee season is slowing things down all over. But, it all comes as a blessing, since I'm definitely in need of a break, and I can use the time to get involved in other things, smaller but equally exciting projects, and in the end stay equally occupied but less stressed out.
Oh, and the coffee experiment is moving right along. Although I'm not sure how it will turn out, because it hasn't been really sunny these days, and the coffee is drying in the shade, which may damage the quality. I guess I won't know until it's all over anyway. Here are a few shots of the process.

hn49.

So I have decided to start a little experiment, and I think it should be interesting to see how it all pans out. I will make a cup of coffee from scratch, and I mean the scratchiest scratch. I will pick the coffee, dry it myself (se llama cafe melado), depulp it, roast it, grind it, and finally drink it. I thought this would be easy, but after starting yesterday, it seems it may be harder than I think. For two hours I picked coffee in my host dad's farm, and only picked enough for a third of a bucket, which is worth 10 Lempira, or about 50 cents. So 2 hours of work=50 cents. Pretty good for a university grad (one redeeming fact is that only a small portion of the coffee is ripe enough for pciking, which makes the process much longer). For now, its drying, so we'll see what happens. Here are some photos.

So, I will keep you guys updated with the progress of my beans. Let's see if I can make coffee. Maybe at the end I can even plant a few, making the cycle complete.

hn48.

where do i start? there's so much to say since i last wrote, but to be honest, most of it is pretty boring so i'll summarize what i can, and then drone on about something that some of you may find interesting. and if not, well fuck it, at least i tried.

work is good. i've been busier this month than ever before. i usually have 1 training session (for farmers doing organic model gardens for my food security project), 1 meeting, and 50-100 phone calls to make ever week. i think 80 in one day is my record currently, but as my CCC grows (that little organization that i organized for community-wide development projects) i have to call more and more people for meeting reminders and things.

the solar panel project is getting into it's final stages, with all participants in agreement, the mayor's approval signed and taken to the bank (that's almost 90 thou, baby!), we're ready to install by december. 43 systems in total is the final number. 6 public buildings (3 schools and 3 community centers) and 37 houses. not bad right?

gardens are good too. so far over 180 families have applied for the project, and still i get daily phone calls and house visits, looking to sign up.

there's more brewing, but i'm gonna let it go. i don't want to bore you guys just yet.

anyway, the whole point of this thing today is that i want to share a little cultural idiosyncrasy that i have recently discovered. to be honest, it has been a running theme in my peace corps career that just recently showed its ugly head, and made me realize something absolutely fundamental about the peace corps experience. it's all about trust. confianza.

when we started training, we heard that word a lot. but many of us, including myself, brushed it off. "it can't be that hard to get people to trust you enough to play with their lives," we all thought, "i mean, we're here to do good things, right?"

and when i got to site and found myself welcome in everyone's house, smiled at by every passing individual, and apparently loved by the people of my community, the concept of personal trust drifted further and further away from my mind. but over the months that i have lived in Honduras, in my community, I have come to see how important confianza really is. And how to get anything accomplished on a community level you need to earn your stripes.

1 example. meetings. when i started in capucas and called my first meeting of the 42 current organic producers of the cooperative, only 7 people showed up. Now, when i call a meeting of 10 people, i get 10, or if i call 30, i at least get 25. sometimes people bring friends and i even get more than i awaited. and it's not like i'm giving out free cookies or something at these shindigs. apparently these people care about what i have to say. :P

2 example. politicians are notorious in this country for absolute corruption and failing their constituency. look at the roads. or education system. or energy system. or...well you get the picture. and the people know this. but they still vote, argue about issues, and the politicians keep making promises. what's interesting tho, is that most people have a very conscious distrust for any statement made by politicians. and sadly, this mistrust is then transferred to other public figures, government employees, NGO workers, everyone. because when someone shows up at your doorstep promoting something, you always ask, "what's the catch?"

3 example. and this is the recent one. so, for the solar panel thing, the price per system went up. had to do with the bidding for the installation, but i won't go into details. the important detail is, it went up, 25 dollars per system. to you that may seem insignificant, but when your yearly monetary income can drop below a hundred dollars (thats 28 cents a day), its quite a chunk of change. and to no surprise some people were pretty upset. angry to be honest. a few even accused me of taking that money for myself, and using it for personal benefit. how do you jump to that conclusion? i mean, look at me! i'm harmless. and i had just spent 7 months working on this project, coming up there, talking to everyone, really, is that necessary? and at first that was my reaction. and then i realized, it's not their fault, it's cultural. so i went up there, had a meeting with everyone, and answered all their questions. and you know what? not a single complaint.

it's all about trust. and showing all your cards. complete transparency. and that throws people off, because they have different expectations. they think that no matter what you say, there's something you're hiding. but if you're honest, and give everything you've got, and show that you are willing to sacrfice yourself for their benefit, the whole mentality changes. attitudes flip, frowns turn into smiles (yeah i used that cliche, so eat me), and the whole situation appears to morph in front of your eyes.

this doesn't mean that everyone in town is willing to give me their first born or anything. people aren't trusting me with their finances. but at least for the basics, people care. and when i speak in public, they seem to listen at least 40-60%. and that's heavy. pretty awesome.

yeah i think that's it. i wrote this in two sittings, so some of my energy changed as i wrote. regardless, you're gonna have to live with it.

hn47.

i left my house today to do some GIS work for the cooperative, a project that I have been involved in since I arrived here in site. the work involves mapping each parcel that pertains to certified farmers, in order to be able to demonstrate to inspectors the extent of property, locations of letrines, garbage cans, etc. usually its pretty monotonous, with hour long hikes along perimeters of fairly boring farms, with parts as steep as 45 deg. the climbing of the hills could be fun, but there's usually little scenery, and too much of one's concentration goes towards trying not to fall on one's ass.

However, today, well today was different. In fact, it was one of the most incredible experiences I have had in Peace Corps and maybe in life. Def top 25. If there was an MTV special on the life of DIMITRY this would be in there, with some comedians joking about all the little adventures. Regardless, here's the story, I know I won't do it justice but hey, whatever.

we started the hike at the entrance to the farm, a small grove of cedars that my host uncle has been cultivating for years now. the maderables, or timber yielding trees, are a hobby of his, and the whole property is covered in various species, with ceibas, cedars, guamas, and many others. most are juveniles, with only 2 or 3 years of growth, but still, they are already reaching 30 feet in height.

as we crossed the grove, i realized that the incline of his land was even steeper than expected, and soon enough we were slowly falling (you could not call what we were doing climbing or walking) down the steep clay terrain. the close we got to the river that borders his property, the steeper it became. at the end, a 75 degree incline prevented our decent, and we climbed through trees and down vines to arrive at the riverbed.

here the trip became much easier, and much more beautiful. as we walked along the rocks we entered an almost pristine forest that my uncle has been preserving ever since he recieved the property from his father. and it was forest then too, so at least 80 years left untouched. it looks as jungle does in indiana jones movies. deep underbrush, tall tropical trees, filled with butterflies, beetles, and a spongy floor, as soft as a sleepy's matres (leave off the last s for savings, lol).

we then turned onto a small stream that runs through the forest and marks the border of his property. now we were really in it, climbing over fallen trees, getting caught in vines of all sizes, and finally we arrived at a natural spring that my uncle is extremely proud of. to be honest, it's quite incredible. water comes out of the rock, crystal clear, with a sweet flavor like no other water. he's thinking of building a small pool there for tourists, so maybe if any of you come visit, you can take a swim in it one day.

we took a drink and continued walking. as the stream cut deeper and deeper into the rock it became a dark tunnel, with vegetation above and cliff faces on both sides at points 5-10 meters tall. we reached a point, and my uncle said, "you know, i have never, in my life, walked past here. i know there is a small pool up above but i dont think i have ever seen it." and he was right. but it was no small pool. as we reached the clearing we found ourselves staring at a waterfall and an 8 foot deep, 10 foot wide natural pool, with a small underwater cave going off to the side. it was paradise. we sat for a moment and then the clothes came off (til boxers, don't worry I'm not gettin naked just yet) and we both dove in. and although the water was freezing we swam for a good chunk of time, trying to touch the bottom, diving into the cave to see if we could touch the walls. it was absolutely incredible.

once we were out and dressed, we began the ascent towards the road and the end of the property. but we underestimated the true path of the stream, and found ourselves clinging to vines and climbing of completely vertical cliffs. fallen trees were our bridges, small seedlings and rocks our handholds, and luckily our rubber boots held tight to the slippery walls. within a few meters of the first pool we found another, equally deep and large. we continued further to find other little waterfalls, small draps of 5 feet. the whole place was unreal, very cinematic. as we reached the top we realized that it has started raining a long time before, but due to the thick canopy we had not felt a drop. in the end, as we walked out of the finca, we were soaked, smiling, and chatting happily about all of the trips we'll be taking to the pools now that we know they're there.

i think however, the craziest part of the experience was that it was somewhere so close to home, yet completely unknown to me and the owners. how do you have property and not know every inch of it? but i guess you learn something new every day right?