First impressions of Gracias

*85% of men who appear over 40 years old wear sombreros/cowboy hats- it’s actually quite charming. They make me smile.

*I feel safe! (So far..) My site mates said they haven’t had any incidents here, and overall there it’s a pretty tranquilo place. People walk around with purses, openly use their cell phones, and there is a café in the middle of the park (with free wifi) that has wide-open windows around it where people nonchalantly use their laptops. Of course I won’t flash my electronics nor freely use my cell phone in public, but its nice to see that no one is gripping onto their backpack for dear life hoping it’s not snatched by the next passing ladron.

*The park. It’s adorable, and in the aforementioned café you can get probably the closest thing to iced coffee you’ll find unless you go to the Dunkins in Teguz- it’s a sort of frozen coffee slush. My heart danced when I bought one the other day. And you can sit on a bench without your heart pounding wondering whether or not that bolo is going to come over and do something weird to you (::cough:: Talanga::cough::). From what I’ve seen, the amount of sketch in Gracias in minimal. For this, I am graciosa.

*Piropos (cat calls and the like) exist here, as they do all over Honduras (or Central America), but I haven’t received any overly aggressive ones yet, and they seem to come from a few select areas in town (mainly by the bus terminal). And, it’s never the sombrero men giving them. Usually men working outside with no shirts, or the ones trying to put you on a bus to San Pedro (to which I always refrain from telling them that never, on my own terms, will I let you put me on a bus headed towards the second most dangerous city in the WORLD).

*Discrepancies. This is a much more developed area (well, not even area, just town I guess) of the country, and with that are more businesses, more people working in offices, and overall a more educated community. At the same time, there is still a strong campesino presence, with people walking with their horses and machetes to and from the campo to work, and women balancing baskets of tortillas, fruit, yucca, and who knows what else on their heads (this impresses me every time). You see more kids going back and forth to school than kids selling things in the street to make some money for their parents, but those kids still exist. A lot of the kids I will be working with at INFAH don't have shoes to wear, but my host siblings go to a private bilingual school.

*We are surrounded by beautiful, majestic mountains- the highest peak in Honduras, Mt. Celaque, overlooks the pueblo. I seem to be the only one taken aback by them when walking down the street, as for everyone else, they are just a part of the backdrop like they always have been. I will probably grow accustomed to them after 2 years, but for now, I’ll let them take my breath just a little bit. Oh, and slightly related to the mountains, the weather here is favorable- hondurenos say its fresco, but it’s really not, when the suns shining, it gets hot, but it’s a bearable hot, not an OMG I’M MELTING hot. For a New England gal, I lucked out climate-wise. My prayers are with my H17 northerners who were sent down south…

*Integration will be substantially harder here, given the size of the town. I am doing my best, saying hello to everyone, following my counterpart so she can introduce me to people, but it will take time. Poco a poco, I am meeting people involved with the Youth Center, but keeping track of their names is another story (I’m already bad with names in English, but in Spanish, I am absolutely AWFUL). Buuuut, it’s comforting to know I have site mates who will be here a while, and they’ve been really welcoming. There’s also a group of teachers from the states teaching at the bilingual school here, so I am hoping to meet some of them as well.

*Work will be tough in the beginning, especially given it’s towards the end of the school year (which affects Youth Development volunteers quite a bit). There are a few things I’d like to do that would be better off starting when the school year starts (English course for teachers, Colgate dental health program, and Yo Merezco, the selfesteem/sex ed class), not to mention I wont have the manuals for any of them until Sandra (YD project director) comes to do the first site check up in 3 months. BUT my counterpart (from the youth center) said after this week of getting to know the organization/people, we can start planning and brainstorming. Vamos a ver. As far as my other counterpart from the INFAH (instituto hondureno de la ninez y familia) center goes, we are in for an interesting experience. She never showed up for our first meeting, but I finally met with her the other day, and I think I am going to have to strongly emphasize that my role as a PCV isn’t to watch the kids in the afternoon when the teachers take off, but rather collaborate with the staff and implement projects with the overarching goal of sustainability. For now I know I am going there tomorrow to make name tags for next week when I get to know the kids. They don’t have much as far as materials go, but there’s a stack of white poster board… so the name tags are going to be snowmen.

I am also beginning my house/apartment hunt! I've never done this before (picking which college dorm I live in doesn't count), so wish me luck!
OH and I have my address, just let me know if you send something so I think to go to the post office and check. I'll post it on the side of my blog, and I sent an email out to some of you, but here it is:
Lisa Lavezzo
Voluntaria del Cuerpo de Paz
Gracias, Lempira
Honduras
America Central
Yup, that's right, no numbers or street names. Welcome to Honduras!
Miss and love you all, take lots of pictures as the leaves start to turn (and send them to me!).