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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Looking Back

Jacob and I have been in the States for more than 2 months now, and while I have spent some time in and out of the hospital, it still feels like the land of milk and honey. Peace Corps has taken excellent care of us, and it is difficult to think we will not be an active part in the Corps again. I should be without crutches within a month... just in time for my 30th birthday :)

Looking back, we are both quite proud of our time in Honduras and our ability to live and work under adverse conditions. Had the incident not happened and Peace Corps not closed the post, we'd be back there in an instant. But, that isn't the case, so we have to move forward. That being said, this isn't the end of international work for us.

Most of what I miss is our daily existence at site. We knew many of the locals by the end of our time, and our integration was pretty solid. Jacob and I could both carry on conversations in Spanish, and we'd adapted to power and water outages, holding some woman's infant in your lap on 8 hour bus rides, the Honduran lifestyle and food, etc... I had made a point of building relationships with the women leaders in every village I traveled to so I always had someone I could trust and rely on, and I often saw them in the state capital. It was somewhat of a symbiotic relationship; they provided me with more credibility, and they seemed to like being seen talking to a gringa. I miss seeing and talking to them about their children, their villages, the local gossip... Before we knew the post was closing, Jacob and I thought we'd be able to come back. Needless to say, I cried horribly when I found out that wouldn't be the case.

The hardest part is the feeling that we left behind all of our counterparts, the Honduran Peace Corps Staff, and the local people; all of whom are great people. Peace Corps made the correct decision, of course, but the guilt is still there. Hondurans don't deserve what is happening to their country.

Anyway, we just wanted to thank everybody for reading our blog, sending us care packages, and giving us so much support over the last year. I doubt we'll post to this blog again, so I'll leave with some of my favorite photos:

Home... we loved this spot.

Our view every morning and evening from the back porch.

Community meetings.... and the dogs.

Translating. One of my craziest experiences was the day I spent
translating for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Blake from TOMS shoes.

Work. We traveled to some of the most remote (and beautiful) places on earth.

The daycare. The day before the incident, Jacob went out and bought/decorated a Christmas tree for me. I never got to see it, but he took it to the daycare a week or so later and shot some photos of the kids with it. They had never had a Christmas tree, so it was the very least we could do.... wish we could have done more.

The Lencan women. Some of the strongest women I will ever meet.

The artisan works.

Pig roasts. We planned on writing a blog post about it, but ... We hosted a Thanksgiving pig roast and about 30 PCVs came from all over Honduras. Even the locals loved it.

The colors. Nobody does it like Honduras.

It was great, guys. Thanks for reading.
-Paz
Jacob and Lauren Roberts