Andrea in Honduras: 2012

Well, I've been back in the states for almost six months now. It shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't feel like posting during the evacuation, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of Honduras since my return. After much procrastination and a computer failure, I finally put my last batch of photos on Picasa (let me know if you want the link), and I wanted to give my blog a little bit more closure.

I was lucky enough to have a nice last few weeks in Otoro with my host family and friends, and also to have both of my training host families visit during our closing conference in Tegus. I am so glad to have had such wonderful families and to have been able to say goodbye to everyone, and now the pictures are finally up (oops!).

Not much else to say, except I hope this won't be the end to the blog... hopefully at some point I will be able to visit Honduras, or go on another Peace Corps journey, or both!

my wonderful Otoro host family (minus Profe Justo) -- Mariela, Profe Nelly, Carlos, and David

Tricia's host family (who were also our landlords) -- Profe Bertha, Tricia, Danita, Jose Carlos, Don Jose, Selvin

Los Planes host family (minus Nelson and Don Paco) -- Andrea Pequena, Yolanda, a cousin, and Melissa

my Yuscaran host family - Damaris, Claudia (Merii), Riccie, Sandra, and Jose

I'm not gonna lie, the past few weeks have been very difficult. We are restricted in what we can do and have been getting limited information about the next steps. We are being asked to leave this country that we now call home, without warning or closure.

In a lot of ways I feel like I just lost a game -- I picked the "go to jail" card in Monopoly, hit the snake in chutes and ladders, or drew Plumpy in Candy Land. I've worked hard to get where I am in terms of work projects, furnishing my apartment, and building personal relationships, and now I am sliding backwards without reaching the finish, and unable to do anything about it.

Even within the context of this Peace Corps pullout, I got unlucky. Many volunteers were permitted to take their pre-approved vacations, but since my visitor was a friend (not family) and we were traveling within Honduras (not to a safer country), we were forced to cancel our plans. I also had to cancel a much-anticipated training with the staff of Plan, on a small business curriculum, since it was in La Esperanza and would require me to leave my site. It was tough not being able to visit my office to say goodbye to my counterparts there.

The plus side to all of this is that I really do like my town, and aside from the above frustrations (which were plenty), I did not mind spending three weeks here. We even made the best of Amy's vacation -- helped with a service event at Georgetown, played soccer with family, went to the President's birthday party, made tamales on Christmas Eve, picked coffee with one of the colegio teachers, and spent a VERY festive New Years with my host mom's extended family. It was nice being in my site for the holiday season.

But overall it has been a whirlwind -- one minute I am running around town, the next I am infuriated, the next I am too sad to get out of bed. Random things make me want to cry, and things that used to annoy me are suddenly endearing (except Rooster still annoys me). Three weeks was a really awkward amount of time to say goodbye (a fellow volunteer described it as doing a slow waltz out of a burning building). I stayed in denial for as long as possible, but it's finally time to leave.

We leave on Thursday for a closing conference in Tegucigalpa with PC Washington staff, and supposedly everyone flies back to the states on Monday the 16th. I'll close with a photo journey of the past few weeks.

Esperanza puts on an annual event at her house where the Georgetown families donate clothes and toys to poor kids in the neighborhood.