Allergy Pills Make You Fat

chico tiene pena!


tena preparing for una misa el domingo



machetes for chapearing


bananos but i cant remember the real name for them



pretty comayagua

really cool family.

selling things.



from the lemon tree.



the water wasnt very clean but that didnt stop us from having a hell of a time.




this one is for jim. i´ll be sure to tell gabe to eat more any time we cross paths, but don´t worry--i think he´s looking satisfactorily guapo.



two ladies talking. gotta love the chispa!



a saint of comayagua?

Lemons from the tree.

Moving the bases due to lodo.

Catholic Church of Comayagua.

Allergy Pills Make You Fat


Ever since I told my host mom that I have gained almost 10 pounds since arriving in Honduras, she has softly enlightened me every day of something that engorda. Engordar is the verb in Spanish for “makes you fat.” Apparently, allergy pills make you fat. Also, drinking water. Especially cold water. And eating breakfast. And running when it’s cold. There are other things as well that make you fat. We’ll only be able to tell with time just how fat I will get, especially considering that the Peace Corps medical staff has told me to take my allergy pill every morning.

Einstein

I have not lost my love for Einstein in the slightest. In fact, I was newly inspired by his cold, lonely winter of 1905 discussed in the Big Ideas podcast of Arthur I Miller. The roof in my house is made of a very thin wood, and you can see the sun through many holes during daylight. When it rains, little drops cover everything—they’re too tiny to see without a catch of light, but you can feel them. So you can imagine that now, while it is rather cold (about 5-10 degrees Celsius), with only a sheet to sleep with, I do feel a fabulous sense of struggle. I felt very close to Einstein and Picasso and their classic lonely, struggling, serious, cold, miserable,….. but then I realized that I had my zero degree sleeping bag and my SmartWool socks and my computer with all of this fabulous music… So much for the struggling Peace Corps volunteer image, and so much for my life parallel with Einstein and Picasso. Even though I do find myself missing many luxuries of the States, mostly the cash I made as a waitress and bartender, I have to say that I do sort of wish that I had less things. Less LUJO, as they say here. Except I was quite happy to snuggle into the warm sleeping bag (thanks, family.. real family.. in the States.) I do sort of wish that I wasn’t expected to look presentable and shower every day. I actually skipped the shower for the first time since being in Honduras today, and I feel very good about it. Here, though, it is expected that you shower every day, and iron your clothes, and fix your hair. Which I understand, but some days I dream of being like Einstein or Picasso or some struggling, wrecked, lonely, haggard, dirty, smelly,….but BURSTING with this amazing creative energy….. el tiempo va a decir en este asunto.

Throat

My throat hurt last night but we have delicious honey with a rather thin consistency for honey but still very tasty and a lemon tree in the back yard so I boiled some water and shook the tree gently and 3 lemons fell off and I drank hot water with honey and lemon and I feel much better. I had another cup today just for the taste.

Pimiento

The folks from the mountain apparently like to toast their coffee with pepper, which gives it just the most amazing, fabulous flavor, regardless of the fact that my gringa friend who lives in the mountain told me that they pick any kind of coffee bean off the trees, ranging from green and premature to black and rotten with bugs. Mmm. It’s delicious, I don’t care what kind of beans they pick. And it wakes me up in the morning just the same.

Dogs and Chickens

I really won’t talk too much about dogs because the situation really makes me sad. But there’s this dog that really won’t stop barking and it sounds like it’s right outside my window and oh, God I just want to yell at it but I can’t because it’s late. But all you folks in the States that sleep very lightly and call the police when dogs won’t stop barking (dad…) would really suffer here. Also I think a kid came in my room and stole my headphones which I’ve just been using as earplugs since my Ipod died. Also there’s one rooster that crows every morning, starting at 6 and stopping around noon, every 10 seconds. I kid you not. If I ever want to measure anything in increments of ten seconds and can’t find my watch, I’ll be OK. Oh yeah and the other day it was raining and I went in my room to correct some tests and I heard a banging noise at my window so I went to see what it was and lo and behold. A big blue bird was trying to break into my room. I pulled back the curtains and stared at it a bit and it flew away but then it came back and started again. It was very surreal and at first I was scared because I have seen the Hitchcock movie and it was fairly odd but then I thought, hell, it’s just one bird and it’s really pretty. But then it flew onto the clothesline and poked a hole in my favorite shirt with its little claw and I went outside to say, “that’s not OK.” I said “that’s not OK” in English because I tend to talk to the animals here in English, though my first host mother says that’s why the dog bit me once. “Beethoven only speaks Spanish,” she said. Either way, the big blue bird stayed in a banana tree in the rain for the rest of the day and hasn’t come back.

Autumn

Oh, how I envy you, you who are walking briskly through the center of town glancing up at the leaves changing and feeling them break apart under your cute new brown fall boots with your fabulous new purple scarf and red fingernails. It’s OK. I’ll have autumn again someday. But today, I must say, I came very close. Today, October 29, is my mother’s birthday. Which usually falls at my absolute favorite time of year. I am always in my best shape, in my most creative way, in my most fun relationships, in a new school year… And as my Honduran friend Mari and I walked through Comayagua this morning I caught a glimpse of the costumes and OH how I love Halloween! I wanted to buy this witch costume but it was 400 Lemps which I guess is only 20 bucks but we’ve already gone over this. Last year I was Andromeda for Halloween which was really fun. I miss Halloween.
When I got home from Comayagua my host mom, Tena, was outside chopping the corn and cleaning up around the banana trees. (They’re actually not banana trees, it’s another type of banana, but I can’t remember the name right now.) She pointed to a heap of beheaded, bright orange flowers that she had cut down that were beautiful but “smelled bad.” Then she showed me around the garden, repeating names of plants that I’ve already learned but cannot seem to remember, tampoco in English. Then we got to these weird looking greenish fruits about the size of a large fist that she had picked. “Have you ever eaten ayote?” she said. I’m not sure if that’s how you spell it, but I had never heard the word, and certainly never had seen this odd-looking fruit. It looked sort of like one fruit that’s white in the middle that I really don’t like, that’s called Guayavaya. Egh. I asked if it was white inside, but no. She showed me that it was kind of pinkish inside. She told me to smell it.
“OH!” I said. “Are these usually big and orange?”
“Yes! Well, not here but yes, on the TV they are.”
“Pumpkins!” I said.
“Ayote!” She said.
And I cannot believe it, but I started to cry. This sense of cold and the handful of yellow leaves on the ground and this scent of pumpkins and this day in October just overwhelmed me, and she laughed and said we would cook something with these pumpkins. I told her about pumpkin pie but they don’t bake much here. Apparently they used to have a custom here in which all of the kids and all of the men would go to every house and say “Angeles somos, del cielo venimos, ayote pedimos.” Which means we’re angels from the sky and give us pumpkin to eat. And all the moms were in the houses cooking the ayote and the guys and kids would come in and eat a bit. But my mom told me the tradition is dead mostly because there’s light now, and before when there wasn’t electricity, it was easier to scare people. I said I could imagine that. Also she said that it just doesn’t grow here anymore, and that it was by fluke of chance that she found some in the yard. But I asked her if we could grow it and she said yes that she had seeds and everything.
I went to my meeting and when I got home she had removed the seeds and boiled the pieces of pumpkin with chunks of “dulce,” which is basically brown sugar made from honey. Oh my god. It was so delicious. And I ate it with spicy coffee and wore my toboggan and scarf all day and it was just fabulous. Happy Birthday, Mom.

Béisbol

Since it’s been so cold and rainy, it’s been hard to have practice. But every day at 4:30 there are at least 4 kids at my house asking to borrow some gloves to throw the balls around. I love the kids on the baseball team who really want to play, who are always there, who want to know more and watch the World Series with me and win next year. But the kids that aren’t on the team come often and hang out in the background, and out of jealousy or just desire for negative attention, bother me. They just bother me. There’s one boy from the kindergarten who literally looks and acts like a small adult, but just BOTHERS me! He was playing with all the stuff the other day and running around the playing field in between second and third base and I said “further away, move back,” but in Spanish of course and he just repeated it to me in a high and mocking voice. “Mas abajo! Mas abajo!” I said, “No, no esta bien.” And he said, “no, no esta bien.” And today he came by the house and stacked wood and rocks to reach up to the Christmas lights on the tree and take them off. When I heard about this I couldn’t help but laugh. But, I was frustrated. When I saw him later at the library I tried to talk to him but he was much less bravo, much more timido. I think he needs positive attention, but first I want to get him to clean up the broken glass from the lights in the front yard. Lots of kids walk around without shoes here.

Slow Internet

Oh my God it is so slow. I’ve wanted to put pictures up for the longest time but it takes so long that it’s almost unbearable. I went to use the internet for an hour the other day and did not upload a single picture. I’m writing for my blog at home to shorten my time on the internet, but no matter what it will take a very long time to upload pictures. I have so many that I want to show, and I’m going to try to upload as many as possible tomorrow, but little by little they’ll be up here.

Mornings and Church

There are a lot of mornings when I wake up that my host mother is at her pew with her rosary and candles and praying out loud which sounds weird or uncomfortable but it’s actually very beautiful. I went to church with her again last night and already it had almost lost its beauty and become a sort of routine, that I had to go, that my mom would be disappointed in me or something which was obviously a strange feeling for me since my real mother never would care if I went to church or not nor would she judge me but I do fear that judgment here. At least the music is very pleasant. And afterwards talking to the old ladies without teeth and feeling their soft arms when they hug me while they’re talking and call me “blancita preciosa” which does mean very pretty, I have to say it’s worth it. And there was a little boy from the kindergarten who said that I already was in his heart and that was very sweet.

Joanna Newsome

“And the rest of our lives will the moments accrue/when the shape of their goneness will flare up anew.” How pretty that quote is.
The other morning I was frying platanos, heating my water for my bucket bath and making coffee when I heard the distinct whine and harp of Joanna Newsome coming from the living room. She was on some concert on HBO (yes, my host family here has HBO.) and singing a song I had never heard and my host mother liked it a lot and that made me happy because I listen to “This Side of the Blue” almost every night when I’m falling asleep.

It’s Getting Better All the Time

When I find myself listening to the Beatles I do know that things are getting better. And I listened to them the other day and that night I had a dream that I was surrounded by colored leaves and knew that they had to die for new things to grow and was surrounded by peace and an extreme sense of balance and I was very situated in my surroundings.

Baleadas

Mari and I went to Comayagua for baleadas and that was very delicious and I wished I had brought my camera because this woman was making flour tortillas so fast I couldn’t believe it and the other lady spread refried beans and scooped eggs and cheese and butter inside and folded them over and we ate them with ice cold orange juice in the late morning and then later had fruit salad with honey and granola and a liquado of banana and granola and it was so good.

Mellow Mushroom

I dreamt a couple of nights ago that there was a Mellow Mushroom here in Honduras and I went there and ordered a Kosmic Karma which ended up being half Veggie and it was delicious. Then I decided I’d work there to make extra money and called my dad to see if he’d send me my shirts so I wouldn’t have to buy more here and as it turned out, I rode my bike back to the restaurant and they were dressed very nicely (the servers) and so I realized I couldn’t wear my old shirts.
I’m glad I don’t wait tables anymore, but I have realized that I think it was more enjoyable than I felt it was at the end. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for pizza, beer and Turkish food. Especially Doner. They just don’t have any good Turkish restaurants ni great gourmet pizza nearby.

Music

Top songs I’ve listened to the most since moving to Honduras, in no particular order, for no particular reason:
1. Crazy Rhythms, The Feelies. Actually yes this one is first because I’ve listened to this song by far the most. You’d think that with 20,000 songs I’d try harder to listen to stuff I don’t know well.
2. Con Alma, Stan Getz. It just feels good.
3. Sweet and Lovely, Thelonious Monk. Reminds me that there’s no rush.
4. Shade and Honey, Sparklehorse. This is just a fabulous song and I highly recommend it.
5. The Rise and Fall of the Mountain People, Tea & Tempests. Hearing my sister’s voice is always awesome and this is just an amazing song.
6. Suki, Unrest. Reminds me of my good old days when I lived with roommates instead of host families.
7. Expectations, Belle and Sebastian.
8. Johnny Appleseed, Joe Strummer and the Mescalitos.
9. I Dream a Highway, Gillian Welch. I had to stop listening to this because it is a very sad song but it’s so beautiful and 14 minutes is the perfect length to put me right to sleep.
10. Games Without Frontiers, Peter Gabriel. Reminds me of my childhood.
11. Kucap Kicup, Gentra Pasundan. This is a great song from Indonesia and makes me want live traditional music which is very much lacking here.
12. Mera Piya Ghar Aaya, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. What a beautiful song to listen to in the mornings.
13. Banana Leaf, Shonen Knife. Gotta love songs about bananas in Honduras.
14. The whole album, Jonathan Richman, Jonathan, Te Vas a Emocionar! What a great album for some Spanish practice.
15. I was listening to a lot of Midtown Dickens but it’s one of the only things I had on my Ipod and don’t have on my computer. So if you feel like sending me a CD that’d be awesome.
16. Three more guys: Robert Johnson, Richard Thompson, Blind Willie McTell.
17. Three more ladies: MIA, Elizabeth Mitchell, The Be Good Tanyas.

The Phillies

I cannot believe that they have won the World Series. I feel very silly for having told my baseball team that Tampa Bay would likely smush the Phillies. But seriously, what happened? And why can’t the Mets just not screw up??? At least the Giants are still doing well. And I must say that it seems Hondurans are more interested in American Football than baseball. Even as a baseball fan I’d rather watch American Football than the damned Phillies winning the World Series. But maybe that’s just as a Mets fan. Honduras has to win their next futbol game in order to advance.


Winter/Belize

I had a dream last night that I went to visit my best friend Julie in Belize where she has just started her Peace Corps service as well, and that there were about 25 of us including the futbol team from Honduras (?) and Belize was just covered in snow. It was so beautiful and cold and we were camping in the snow and I was slightly worried that it would just keep snowing and we’d die but mostly I was happy.
Later it wasn’t snowing anymore and we were on the beach for a futbol match-up and all the guys flew down onto the beach with little mini propellers as if it were a James Bond movie and some of them fell and didn’t land on their feet which was very funny and then Brad Pitt came down from the sky to play soccer and it was a good game but I got hungry and a few of us left after taking very cute pictures in black and white to order sandwiches for carry-out and I don’t know who won the game. We don’t really have a place you can call for carry-out in San Jeronimo.

Late.
It’s 11:30. Way past my bedtime. Until next time.