My first real overnight Peace Corps experience

May 8, 2008

I went on an adventure. Yesterday a man from my office took me to an aldea (village) up in the mountains that surround Olanchito. It is a pain to get out there. We got way too early to the bus stop, first of all, and had to wait 2 hours in the heat. I read my book for most of that time, but a teenager wanted to talk to me for about 10 minutes, too. We got onto the bus and drove around to various aldeas and eventually wound up at the end of the line, an aldea at the foot of the mountain. We restocked on water and had a snack at a pulperia (quickiemart) then started the hike up the mountain to the peak. I had my pack with my sleeping bag, clothes, trail mix (thanks, di!) and overnight toiletries. Maybe 10 pounds, not bad. We took two breaks, and I drank 1.5 liters of water. I should have brought 3 liters instead of two. We sweated a lot while we were at low altitude. But I rationed well and didn't get heat stroke. Two hours, 100% uphill. Beautiful views. We bonded as we walked up...I got him to laugh a couple times, and felt good. We walked through a herd of cattle grazing in the road. Bulls make me nervous. Not enough to give me pause, but I keep my eyes on those horns.

Once we got to the top, we went to the school to meet with the junta de agua, but we were late and they had already started a meeting of 3 communities to settle some border dilineation issues. So we waited. For an hour. At least the weather was lovely. So much cooler on top of a mountain than in the hot valley. We met with the junta, I introduced myself to the group, they clapped their welcome. We discussed the general things that need to be done before Engineers Without Borders comes to begin construction of the new water system. Gathering construction materials, mainly.

My primary goal for the next 3 months is to facilitate communications between two aldeas and their respective groups from Engineers Without Borders, make sure that everyone is on the same page, make sure that everyone is proceeding at a good pace with preparing for the project. At the same time I want to tag along on the surveying trips of some other volunteers in the area to really get a feel for a complete topographic study project.

So after the meeting, we walked to the other side of the aldea and chilled with the family that was letting us sleep in their house overnight. We sat around outside, and they chatted and I tried to keep up. I'm great answering questions, terrible at smalltalk. We took a look at the guy's farm around his house and I was pretty impressed. Small plots of plantain trees, pineapples, tomatoes, peppers, and other stuff, all planted on the mountain slope. Apparently my counterpart organization has been working closely with them to improve farming techniques as well.

Then we sat around as the sun set. I drank the cup of coffee that they offered me, and it was full of sugar so it didn't taste bitter at all, else I would have wandered off to dump it discretely. I'm not a coffee drinker. Gorgeous view, very peaceful. The house was an odd construction. Some walls were wood planks, most were concrete, metal roof like normal. Doorframes painted with a white-petaled flower motif. Just like the doorways in the kitchen of Serenity, the firefly class transport. We ate dinner in the kitchen by candlelight. Then me and the three older men sat around in the room listening to the battery-powered radio by candlelight.

We went outside after awhile, and stood around talking. The surrounding scenery was black against the cloudy sky glowing with the light from Olanchito in the valley. Fireflies everywhere. Dancing over and around and through the vegetables in the garden, the plantain trees, the forest above us, the rafters of the house. So nice. No electricity, no noise, just crickets and peace.

Right when I was about to turn in, the son flipped on the noisy gas-powered generator in the toolshed and all the lights came on and we went inside to watch a 2 hour futbol game on television. I was a bit surprised. I have trouble getting used to the contrasts in technology and construction techniques.

Watching sports bores me.

Went to sleep in my sleeping bag with the vents unzipped, set on a mattress on a bed suspended with twine. Not metal springs, not straps, but hand-tied twine. The family basically made their own bed. Very cool. A firefly was in my room in the pitch darkness...one of 'em gives you enough light to see. An old guy said 5 in a jar is like a lightbulb.

Everybody snored. It was hilarious. I laughed silently in the dark.

When I woke up at sunrise (5 am), I packed up my sleeping bag first thing, then went out and sat in the shade facing the vista and read my book until breakfast. Then we were given a tour of where they want to start the water system. One source, a dam at a creek well upstream from the town, in a mountain jungle area. Really cool experience walking to it. The dam needs to be built, the tanks need to be built, the conduction line from the dam to the two tanks and the distribution network from the tanks to the houses...nothing has been done except an initial survey by the volunteer before me. Whew. Lotta work.

The old man with us, while we were looking around the dam site on the creek, dug up a root with his machete, carved it into something he could carry, took a leather strap out of his pocket, tied it around the root, and threw the loop of leather around his shoulder like the root was a canteen to carry back to his house. He said it makes a good tea. That, my friends, is hardcore. I want to be able to do that sort of thing.

I drank the unfiltered water out of a hose from who knows where at the kitchen of the house we slept at....it was the only water available, and everyone else was doing. We'll see in a few days how that turns out.

The hike back was quick and easy. Downhill is niiice. Except the weather got hotter and hotter as we descended. Sad.

I also found the gamer enclave in town. There are 3 computers, and two walls of consoles. They have gta4 set up on the one 360. They're open til 10 pm, 2 hours later than anyone else. One night, two guys were playing gh3 until close, and I was talking to my girl til close, and we were all bobbing our heads to the music. Cultural integration, CyberAlex style. Downside is that while they have headphones, all the mics on them are broken off, and the one webcam that works has a built in mic, but it dies after an hour of use. It's really weird.

The end.

Life is good. It's hot here. But I finally got a fan for my room, so it's 5 degrees cooler.