Weekend in Review

With every day that passes, I find myself feeling more at home in Santa Lucia. It’s a beautiful city with warm and caring people. I also am continually reminded of how much time, energy and genuine thought has been put into our training here. While I do think that each one of us PCT’s [myself included] joined PC to help, I think its important to realize how much we are being given, from amazing host families to incredible training staff and a great deal of support from various resources. I am definitely thankful for it all and reaffirm every day my choice to be here.

That being said…my weekend was wonderful. I spent Friday night with my family, my abuelo and I watched the news and had an enlightening and interesting conversation about politics in Honduras and the U.S. Its so nice to be able to have those kinds of conversations…I remember living in Chile and not understanding a word that my host family said. I’ve come such a long way since then.

Saturday I woke up early and went with mi Mama and sobrino to the training center where there was a cultural festival. There were representatives from each of the 7 indigenous groups of Honduras and each had their respective stands with information about their culture, customs, food, clothing, etc. We moved in groups to each stand and listened to their presentations. Then the Garifunas [an indigenous group of African descent who reside in the Eastern part of Honduras known as Gracias a Dios] demonstrated some typical dances which was a lot of fun. Then we had a delicious almuerzo which included pollo asado [grilled chicken], 2 kinds of rice, frijoles [beans], plantains, avocado, and horchata! Plus there was fresh fruit and arroz con leche for dessert. I was in heaven of course. It was good to spend time with my family and I got to meet a lot of the other families because they all know each other and are either family or friends. It’s pretty amazing actually, pretty much everyone is a cousin or married to some other family member of my family. I love it.

Saturday afternoon I was completely lazy but then one of my fellow PCT’s Anna, who is also my neighbor, convinced me to go to the disco with her. We headed out and met up with about half of the other gringos and proceeded to shake our groove things for a few hours. I had a great time and it definitely made me nostalgic for the nights I went out dancing in Chile.

Sunday I arose early and went to Mass with another PCT Katie. There is a really pretty Catholic church in town and I figured it was good to make at least one trip. Plus, I find religion fascinating, especially in other countries. The rest of the day was spent hanging around Santa Lucia. Since its such a small town, I ran into almost all the PCT’s at one point so I puttered around with various groups, having coffee and basking in the sun and also discovering the city. I had a nice dinner with some of them at El Casa de Piano, which I clearly can only do once given that it was 2 days of my PC allowance. Oh well, it was definitely worth it.

I’ve gotten to talk to mi novio y mi mama in the last 2 days so that has been nice. Also, I have my address for the next 3 months if anyone wants to send me a letter or small package, shoot me an e-mail! Sorry for the essay, somebody said they like all the little details ;)