I
have spent the last 6 weeks in Yuscáran, El Paraíso. As you can guess, I did not have access
to internet here and that is why I haven’t been able to keep this blog updated. I will try to catch everyone up on what
has been going on in my life during FBT.
My
Monday thru Fridays have been spent having a combination of both Spanish
classes and technical sessions where I am learning a little bit about a lot of
different topics regarding business opportunities in Honduras. We have talked about everything from
agro forestry, income generation projects to tourism niches. We also had the opportunity to do a
number of hands learning activities.
We spent an afternoon planting home gardens and learning how to start a
tree nursery. I knew I was really
in the Peace Corps when I received a text message from Jesus, my training specialist,
asking if we could ask our host families if we could barrow a machete for the
afternoons activates! Another fun activity was a business simulation we did
with a local school. For one week
we worked with some 6th graders and taught them about the basic
principals of business (Marketing, Production, Accounting, ect). Then the kids
got a loan from Peace Corps for about $20 USD to start their own business. It was a really fun week and both the
kids and us trainees.
Some
other highlights from the past 6 weeks would include a tourism field trip we
took to a number of 3 tourism locations near Yuscáran. The trip was overnight and all 18 of
the business trainees plus our language teachers and Jesus all spent the night
camping on a man made beach next to some man made lakes! We had a bonfire and even roasted some marshmallows! It was a lot of fun and something I
never though I would be doing in Honduras.
I
also went to visit a current volunteer in her site for three days. It was one of my first experiences
traveling in public buses here and let me say, I think it is going to take some
getting used to! The common form of transportation here is yellow school buses
that have been brought over from the states. I am keeping my eyes peeled for a
bus that has one of my old school districts name painted on the side! I went to the department of Valle to a
town with the reputation of being the hottest town in Honduras and it was
definitely HOT HOT HOT. I am used
to hot weather living in Texas, but the difference is that we have air
conditioning in our homes, cars and offices in the states! I literally showered three times a day
and never stopped sweating the whole time I was there. All in all it was a
great experience to learn about what volunteers really do here in
Honduras.
Over
the past 6 week I have really become close with all the other Business
volunteers. Outside of classes we
have been doing all kinds of things to keep ourselves entertained. I love
Yuscáran, it is a great little town, but there is not a whole lot to do
here. We have had to get very
creative at time to mitigate our boredom.
A few times we have hiked up a hill to an old tree that overlooks the
town. We have played countless
games of cards. A few times we
have gone hiking in a nearby biological reserve. They are some waterfalls and lagoons up in the mountains,
but unfortunately, we where there during the dry season. After of few hours of hiking we got to
see a few trickles of water and not much else. One Saturday, we planned a soccer match in a neighboring
town (a one and a half hour bus ride away) with the group of Water and
Sanitation volunteers who were in training nearby.
All
in all, FBT was a wonderful experience.
I improved my Spanish and learned a lot more about doing business in
Honduras. I also have made some
really great friends among my fellow PC business trainees. It’s a little sad to think that soon we
will all be living all over Honduras. On May 14, we will all be headed to our
sites!
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