Adventures with Gringo in Paradise!
Hey Everyone!
Hope everyone is doing well stateside, still chilly? Or are there erie reminders of global warming treating ya’ll to some oddly pleasant warmer days? There’s a line in a song by one of my favorite bands, The Postal Service, that says “And last night I had that strange dream where everything was exactly how it seemed / With concerns about the world getting warmer / People thought they were just being rewarded / For treating others as they’d like to be treated / For obeying stop signs and curing deseases / For mailing letters with the address of the sender / Now we can swim any day in November.” Well, here in Honduras, that’s a reality! Well, the being able to swim any day in November part. I’ve been swimming in the local lagoon a lot in November, December, and now in January.
So I got a new companion! Mans best friend; a dog! And he’s certianly still a puppy. I wake up each morning to find little “surprises” scattered around the house. He’s a quick learner though, he already knows how to get in and out of the screen door (when it’s open during the day) to go potty outside in the grass. He’s also a big sleeper. Is this just normal for puppies? He sleeps around 50 - 60 percent of the day! He’s also a snuggle bug; he loves to snuggle up and fall asleep in my lap as I’m reading at night. His name, which always gets a laugh from the hondurans, is “Gringo.” I named him that because he’s white, like me, and it provides an opportunity to talk about the whole “gringo” issue in a light hearted manner with hondurans. I tell them, yeah, some gringos don’t like being called “gringo” but it doesn’t really bother me that much because I understand it’s what they’ve been brought up saying, and it’s so much easier than the politically correct “norte americano.” My friend Rain who lives close by has Gringo’s brother, Zorro. We we’re gifted the dogs from Rain’s counterpart, a nurse, who has also been hooking us up with all the shots the pups need. Gringo and I have already been on a few adventures. He follows me around town (I don’t own a leash!), and we’ve been swimming/fishing at the lagoon a few times.
Speaking of adventures, I went horseback riding the other day. Toni and I went out into a field to find the horses grazing then we rode them bareback (youch!) back into town where we saddled them up and rode around town like real vaqueros (cowboys). Everyone said stuff like “David, you must have done this before, that horse usually doesn’t like to ride, but he knows he’s got someone with experience riding.” In all reality I’ve ridden a horse once or twice before coming to Honduras. I knew that pulling the reigns left meant turn left, and the opposite for turning right, and pulling down meant stop, but apparently that’s all I needed to really come off as a vaquero. The next day, Toni and I had nothing else to do, so we went fishing and caught quite a few fish. It was a good overcast day for fishing. We took two of the larger bass we caught home and had a lunch fit for a king! Fried bass, rice, beans, and corn tortillas. And to top it off we quickly ran into my backyard to find a lime for the fish. Gringo got a little as well to reward him for making the journey with us. We sat at the table for a good 30 minutes after our meal just talking about how good the lunch was, which was probably aided by the fact we didn’t feel like doing the dishes quite yet.
The cello playing has become a lot more stimulating now that I’ve got loads of music to practice/play (thanks Mom/Dad/Laura!). Gringo is jealous of the cello though, he went bizerk the first time he saw me play it. I think he thinks it’s an animal or something. Which I think is cool, the image of the cello being an animal.
Oh yeah, Peace Corps work! We’ll I can’t remember if I wrote about this or not, but my main man Isaias has had to take up a job at a fabric factory to make ends meet for his two kids and wife. Isaias is the guy heading up the jelly business for the pineapple farmers in town. So, his new job at the factory (out of town) will definitely pose problems for a business trying to get off the runway. But, he talks like he still plans on going through with the jelly business and he still wants my help, so we’ll see what happens. For the time being, I’ve just been going to his church, visiting him, having him over for visits at my house, etc. I have been taking up every invitation he gives me, to stay in good contact with him, b/c I’m sure once he starts up at the fabric factory he’ll be harder to find. Oh, and get this, just after he asked me how much Katie Bess made as a dental assistant, he told me he’ll be making $10 a day at the fabric factory. And apparently that’s a good wage! Just a little perspective for you guys I suppose.
The bakery that the women’s group started hasn’t seen any progress since late November. I’m not sure what happened. I need to go and find Aula, the lady heading up the bakery and ask her what’s up. I thought they’d just stopped for the holidays, but here we are, the 10th of January and the bricks are still at about chest height, where they were the last day I was there helping in mid/late November. We were warned about progress such as this during our training, so I’m not super bummed/discouraged, but I’d still like to see some progress sometime soon.
Aight, so I suppose that’s enough for now. Thanks so much for reading! I’ll try and attach a picture of Gringo, and a cool pic from a sunset over the lagoon, which I’ve come to start calling “my paradise.” I miss all you guys! Adios!
Hasta luego,
Hope everyone is doing well stateside, still chilly? Or are there erie reminders of global warming treating ya’ll to some oddly pleasant warmer days? There’s a line in a song by one of my favorite bands, The Postal Service, that says “And last night I had that strange dream where everything was exactly how it seemed / With concerns about the world getting warmer / People thought they were just being rewarded / For treating others as they’d like to be treated / For obeying stop signs and curing deseases / For mailing letters with the address of the sender / Now we can swim any day in November.” Well, here in Honduras, that’s a reality! Well, the being able to swim any day in November part. I’ve been swimming in the local lagoon a lot in November, December, and now in January.
So I got a new companion! Mans best friend; a dog! And he’s certianly still a puppy. I wake up each morning to find little “surprises” scattered around the house. He’s a quick learner though, he already knows how to get in and out of the screen door (when it’s open during the day) to go potty outside in the grass. He’s also a big sleeper. Is this just normal for puppies? He sleeps around 50 - 60 percent of the day! He’s also a snuggle bug; he loves to snuggle up and fall asleep in my lap as I’m reading at night. His name, which always gets a laugh from the hondurans, is “Gringo.” I named him that because he’s white, like me, and it provides an opportunity to talk about the whole “gringo” issue in a light hearted manner with hondurans. I tell them, yeah, some gringos don’t like being called “gringo” but it doesn’t really bother me that much because I understand it’s what they’ve been brought up saying, and it’s so much easier than the politically correct “norte americano.” My friend Rain who lives close by has Gringo’s brother, Zorro. We we’re gifted the dogs from Rain’s counterpart, a nurse, who has also been hooking us up with all the shots the pups need. Gringo and I have already been on a few adventures. He follows me around town (I don’t own a leash!), and we’ve been swimming/fishing at the lagoon a few times.
Speaking of adventures, I went horseback riding the other day. Toni and I went out into a field to find the horses grazing then we rode them bareback (youch!) back into town where we saddled them up and rode around town like real vaqueros (cowboys). Everyone said stuff like “David, you must have done this before, that horse usually doesn’t like to ride, but he knows he’s got someone with experience riding.” In all reality I’ve ridden a horse once or twice before coming to Honduras. I knew that pulling the reigns left meant turn left, and the opposite for turning right, and pulling down meant stop, but apparently that’s all I needed to really come off as a vaquero. The next day, Toni and I had nothing else to do, so we went fishing and caught quite a few fish. It was a good overcast day for fishing. We took two of the larger bass we caught home and had a lunch fit for a king! Fried bass, rice, beans, and corn tortillas. And to top it off we quickly ran into my backyard to find a lime for the fish. Gringo got a little as well to reward him for making the journey with us. We sat at the table for a good 30 minutes after our meal just talking about how good the lunch was, which was probably aided by the fact we didn’t feel like doing the dishes quite yet.
The cello playing has become a lot more stimulating now that I’ve got loads of music to practice/play (thanks Mom/Dad/Laura!). Gringo is jealous of the cello though, he went bizerk the first time he saw me play it. I think he thinks it’s an animal or something. Which I think is cool, the image of the cello being an animal.
Oh yeah, Peace Corps work! We’ll I can’t remember if I wrote about this or not, but my main man Isaias has had to take up a job at a fabric factory to make ends meet for his two kids and wife. Isaias is the guy heading up the jelly business for the pineapple farmers in town. So, his new job at the factory (out of town) will definitely pose problems for a business trying to get off the runway. But, he talks like he still plans on going through with the jelly business and he still wants my help, so we’ll see what happens. For the time being, I’ve just been going to his church, visiting him, having him over for visits at my house, etc. I have been taking up every invitation he gives me, to stay in good contact with him, b/c I’m sure once he starts up at the fabric factory he’ll be harder to find. Oh, and get this, just after he asked me how much Katie Bess made as a dental assistant, he told me he’ll be making $10 a day at the fabric factory. And apparently that’s a good wage! Just a little perspective for you guys I suppose.
The bakery that the women’s group started hasn’t seen any progress since late November. I’m not sure what happened. I need to go and find Aula, the lady heading up the bakery and ask her what’s up. I thought they’d just stopped for the holidays, but here we are, the 10th of January and the bricks are still at about chest height, where they were the last day I was there helping in mid/late November. We were warned about progress such as this during our training, so I’m not super bummed/discouraged, but I’d still like to see some progress sometime soon.
Aight, so I suppose that’s enough for now. Thanks so much for reading! I’ll try and attach a picture of Gringo, and a cool pic from a sunset over the lagoon, which I’ve come to start calling “my paradise.” I miss all you guys! Adios!
Hasta luego,
David
posted by David at 1:55 PM
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