Today, we got up at 7:30 and ate breakfast. It was a little bit disgusting and one of the foods just looked like vomit so I just ate a banana and watermelon. Can you tell I’m a picky eater? I don’t really trust the water here so I went into the hotel shop and bought a huge gatorade for a dollar. Totally worth it.
After breakfast, we went to Fray Lozaro, the community where we’re volunteering. They gave us a presentation on basic hygiene and the typical hygienic issues that the Hondurans have, and we toured the area a bit.
The school
An example of the stoves we’d be making
There were chickens somewhere in these people’s back yards, though I can’t see any now.
Then we toured the three houses that we’ll be working in. There were dogs running around everywhere. It was hard to tell if most of them were pets or strays; they were allowed in the houses but were obviously starving and mistreated. One family had a parrot named Rosita, but she was better cared for. It was a little awkward just walking into their homes, but they all really wanted us there, so that helped. They will all need a concrete floor, a shower, a toilet, a septic system, and a water storage system. We’ll be building those over the next three days.
The view from House #2
Hammocks served as beds in some houses.
A metal barrel holding the family’s water supply
Rosita the Parrot
Building materials for House #1’s sanitary station
The hole for House #1’s septic system
After meeting the families, we toured the Water Brigade’s site. It was a long way up the trail, so about five other people and I jumped in the back of the pickup truck carrying our water supply. Then there was an even smaller trail that the truck couldn’t fit up that we had to hike. Water Brigade was basically digging a trench to put in a pipe that will bring water down the hill to six or seven families, out of about 130 in the community. The community must be really spread out because I didn’t see anywhere near that many homes. They had a well at the top of the hill where we ate lunch. A family came up to get water while we were there. The two little boys were SO cute.
The walk up to the Water Brigades’ site
The community well
A family coming to get water
A cutie who we’d be seeing throughout the week
We saw a herd of cows on the way back to the bus
And we saw more chickens!
Then we walked back down to the bus and left to go to a nearby town. We had a standard bathroom-in-an-underdeveloped-country experience: just a tiny toilet bowl, not flushing, no toilet paper, no sink. I won’t go into detail, but it had a lot of the girl squirming. I’m glad I read up about Honduras ahead of time, and I brought a bunch of tissues and hand sanitizer. This was behind a little shop with a TV and a bunch of local men watching the World Cup. We all got ice cream and stayed there for a while. There was nowhere left to sit by the time I came back from the bathroom, and I’m not much for soccer, so I went across the street to sit in the park with a few other girls. We were supposed to go to a market and a museum, but apparently the museum was closed. I don’t know what ever happened to the market though. Then we went to the church across the street, as planned. Our program coordinator’s parents were married there, and one of the girls from Fray Lozaro was baptized there. We looked around for about ten minutes, and then came back to the compound in San Lorenzo.
Sitting in the park
The church
I still don’t trust the water here, so I used a no-rinse shampoo shower cap, rinsed in the shower real quick, then used no-rinse bathing wipes. The rest of the night was pretty low-key. We had a quick meeting discussing all the projects we’ll be building throughout the week. After that, I played cards with a couple of the other girls and Facebook messaged my mom and my boyfriend, then went to bed early.
Also, sorry some of these pictures are small; for some reason I can’t make them any bigger!
-C&C
Chicks & Crafts 