MARV Meeting in Tela, Honduras

On a side note, we'd like to thank Susan and Hatch for sending us a care package, and Jo and Aaron, too!!! Thanks so much guys, sorry I didn't post pics... it only means we devoured the box of goodies before I could get ahold of the camera :)

Marv, or Married Volunteers is a Worldwide Peace Corps group focusing on the needs of just that, married volunteers (Married coupes only make up about 7% of the volunteers serving). Twice a year, we marrieds get to meet in a location of our choosing for 2 nights and catch up, swap stories, etc... without having to use vacation days or personal leave.

Not that being a married volunteer is that difficult, I actually believe it to be easier. You come to Peace Corps with your best friend, you always have someone to talk to in your native language, and you can always get advice from someone who is not a host country national. Plus, being a woman in a foreign country isn't always easy, so there's the added bonus of a male traveling companion. And, as much as I hate to say it, having a husband in such a machista society seems to make my work more credible... they all assume he did it anyway.

But, regardless, having this meeting semi-annually is helpful. For this trip, we chose Tela on the North Coast... not too shabby, right? Please be aware that the US Government is not funding a get away for couples twice yearly. Yes, they do provide a small stipend to help with traveling to/from the meeting, but it comes no where near the amount of the cost of the trip for each couple. Other volunteers like to give us a hard time about it... we just tell them to get married :)

Tela, Honduras

Anyway, the first thing we all decided to do was jump in the water, a stone's throw from our hotel. The tourism industry in Honduras is still small and according to the locals here, tourism fell even more in 2009 and hasn't fully recovered. So, the beach was rather empty.... nice for us, but not nice for the locals trying to earn a living. There was one other family on the beach that day...

That night we decided to have our official meeting over dinner at Maya Vista... if you ever come to Tela, the restaurant has a great view...

During dinner we all simultaneously discovered that no one at site invites us couples to anything... weddings, fiestas, birthdays, or even lunch. People in all of our sites seem to assume that we have our own daily agendas and can't be bothered. Our single volunteer friends all tell us of the crazy fiestas they've been to, and Jacob and I kept thinking maybe the locals didn't like us too much. But, at least now we hope it's just because we're married, and I need to be at home to cook my husband's breakfast/lunch/dinner/wash his clothes.... you name it.

The next day, Honduras celebrated it's 190th year of independence, so we headed down to the central park to see the Garifuna marching in a parade and several Honduran marching bands from the local area schools.

Next stop was the boardwalk. We had piña coladas while watching a group of men play for people on the beach, and later ate pizza at a restaurant (Bella Italia) owned by an Italian woman. It was great! She spoke with us for a little while and told us she moved down here about 13 years ago with her husband. It's a small world when you can have authentic Italian pizza and wine in a little town on the edge of Honduras.

I'm already looking forward to our next meeting in March. It's always great to catch up with other volunteers, but especially nice to see the other married couples who sometimes face the same issues, and more often than not, provide great advice.