Over the Mountains and Through the Woods to Your Little Pueblo We Go...

For the most part, I've been rather lucky when going out to aldeas (villages) around our municipality. Either there's a 4 wheel drive NGO vehicle available for rough terrain, it's close enough that we can walk, or my counterpart rides her motorcycle, and I stay put in the office or go to the health center.

So when we got into the truck this morning to ride out to an aldea, I thought little of it... when the truck stopped on the side of what looked like a cliff (which later turned out to be our foot path down the mountain) I was a bit surprised.

Of course, the first question I was asked when I stepped out of the truck was, "Why aren't you wearing hiking boots?" Umm, well... no one told me we were hiking down a mountain today... "Oh, well... don't fall." Thanks, I'll try not to.

Anyway, I didn't realize just how far down we were headed (think top of a mountain to the base of the valley below), otherwise I would have taken more photos (and worn my hiking boots). It was quite pretty, quite steep, and I slid quite a bit... I was at the end of the pack so if I fell, at least I wouldn't go down alone :) Why didn't we take another road? The only available road has been out of commission for quite some time due to rockslides, mudslides, and general wear and tear of a heavily inclined dirt road. The team I work with is rather adventurous when it comes to basically off-roading, but this was even too much for them.

This region is called the "Zona Baja" (lower region) and is comprised of about 15 communities within the municipality. The last time I went to this region we encountered the same terrain to a lesser degree, but my camera battery was dead. I thought I'd share this time. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos until we were close to the bottom, I was concentrating on not sliding down the mountain.

This definitely wasn't my most arduous hiking experience, but just imagine being 9 mths pregnant and the only way to the hospital is by taking a foot path up the mountain or the "road"! The Ministry of Health has created temporary housing close to the hospital for women in the aldeas who are 8+ mths pregnant, but still... trying to get up this mountain was difficult enough for 6 healthy Hondurans and me!

So, here's a few shots to get to this one pueblo for a community meeting...

The path leading through someone's coffee fields in the middle of the forest. There apparently is an entire system of foot paths throughout these mountains, and we got a bit lost when we came to a fork in the path. Luckily, we came upon a farmer who told us we were traveling the wrong way and proceeded to take us the rest of the way down the mountain, thanks!

Finally arriving at the community center in the valley

And, this is the way back up... at the far left are the remnants of a rockslide that

completely blocked an already treacherous path by vehicle or foot. This photo doesn't do the climb justice.

At the top, looking down on the community center

(one of the little specks of white)

The view at the top always makes it worthwhile

Healthy Cooking Classes

Yesterday, my NGO colleague and I went up into the mountains to a little village to give a presentation on child nutritional needs for children up to 1 year of age to a group of community educators (mostly mothers) who will then pass this presentation onto other women in their community.

Once we finished with the talk, we headed on over to one of the mother's houses to teach a healthy cooking class to 20 women, including soy milk with cinnamon and soy "chorizo."

Soy is 10 Lempiras a pound ($.53), thus more affordable than other products with the same nutritional content (protein to fat ratio, etc...), and we are trying to promote its diverse uses. The lower region of our municipality can easily grow and sell the soy beans, so it's local and purchasing it helps the local economy.

Anyway, with 2 pounds of blanched soy beans, we made enough soy milk and soy chorizo to feed 20 women and about 15 kids. Not too shabby, right?

The Lencan community is quite traditional, so trying something new was met with a little skepticism. But, we powered on and in the end everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. The best part was, it wasn't any more time consuming for the mothers than any other meal prep.

Recipes below the pics!

Quaint little village

A little tag along...

Grinding the blanched soy beans, there's no such thing as a food processor here...

(please note the Yankees hat, my dear New Yorkers)

Everybody was a bit skeptical at first, but there wasn't any soy milk or chorizo left!

We love soy!

Cheers!

FYI... I am not a recipe writer...

Leche de Soya con Canela (Soy milk with Cinnamon):

2 lbs of blanched soy beans

2 gallons of water*

cinnamon to taste

sugar to taste

food processor

sieve

stockpot

a large stick :)

*The water wasn't measured, just poured into a stock pot, and filled bout 3/4 high, I'm estimating here.

In a food processor, grind the beans until smooth. Remove the beans from the processor and pace in a bowl. Fill a stock pot 3/4 full with water. Fill a sieve about 1/2 full with the ground soy and submerge the soy into the water (not the whole sieve) and lift out. Work the soy through the sieve with your hands (most of the soy won't go through) and repeat the submerge and lift as you are doing so. The pressure created from the repeated action pushes the soy milk from the paste. Continue this process several times (about 4-5).

What will be left in the sieve will be used for chorizo and should have very little liquid content. Place the pressed soy into another bowl for later. Continue to do this until all two pounds have been worked through. The trick is the more you work the soy, the thicker the milk will be in the end. Don't worry if the liquid seems too thin at first, it will reduce on the stove.

After the entire 2 pounds have been pressed, put the pot to boil. Once it begins to boil, lower to simmer, add the cinnamon and stir (very frequently) for 30-40 minutes. The women stirring yesterday used a large stick, whatever works! The liquid will reduce to a milky consistency. Lastly, add the sugar.

Re: the sugar and cinnamon, the women literally just poured and tasted, poured and tasted, until it was yummy.

It was served hot and was amazing!

Chorizo de Soya (Soy Chorizo):

(Since traditional chorizo is so fatty, this is a healthier and cheaper version for the local community.)

2 lbs pressed soy beans

1 can crushed tomatoes (unless you want to hand crush them, the Lencan way)

1 small chopped onion

2-3 cloves of minced garlic (I would add more)

1 chopped bell pepper

1 egg

1 chicken bullion cube*

3 tbsp Canola oil

salt to taste

Lots of tortillas

*The Lencans love bullion cubes, whether the meal needs it or not, it's just like cilantro... goes into everything. Anyway, it might not be for you, just give the chorizo a taste before you add it and if it feels lacking.. add it!

Heat the canola oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic, onion and bell pepper and let soften, then add the soy. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the egg, tomatoes and salt and let simmer uncovered for another 20 minutes (if you add the bullion cube, add it now).

Serve hot!

We served it like you would chorizo inside of a tortilla, seemed to work well.

Bon appetit!

The time has come...

...for care packages!!!

Our friends and family have been asking if there's anything we need, so we thought we'd just post a list of indulgences and sit at the post office and wait :) The word "need" is just so subjective...
We can get quite a bit in the state capital not far away (major priorities like peanut butter, nutella, etc...) but there are some things we are really craving, because we are that spoiled.
So, don't feel like you're obligated to send us stuff, but if you do we'll give you a shout out of how awesome you are on our blog :)


Food related:

• Raw nuts (walnuts, almonds, etc...) and roasted pumpkin seeds and/or pistachios. Trader Joe's sells these big bags of awesomeness cheaper than anyone else I know of...
• Dry-cured sausage/salami products (soppressata, etc...) and water crackers/Ritz
  
• Chocolate covered blueberries or acai berries... an unsatiated addiction thanks to Jacob's family :)
• Fruit/nut trail mix
• Granola mix
• Dried dates... nom, nom, nom! (check exp. date)
  
• TEA!!!!!!! Chai, english breakfast, green and/or black
• Chopsticks (I know, I know... but I really want to make sushi, and you just can't eat sushi with a fork and feel good about yourself)
• Bottle of Sesame oil
• Packs of dried seaweed sheets
  
• Sushi roller
• A tube of wasabi paste
• Bottle of Rice Vinegar
• Bottle of Mirin
• Jar of Shichimi Togarashi red pepper (the spicy stuff they put on Japanese noodle bowls!)
• Dashi (dry stock granules)
• Roasted wasabi peas
• POPCORN! You know who you are :)
• A fat block of Velveeta cheese for making macaroni
• Measuring spoons and cups, hardly anyone bakes here and I can't find these. If my neighbors even have an oven, it is only used to store pots and pans
• Baking Soda... right? We can only find baking powder, and Jacob makes a killer soda bread
• Pretzel or peanut m&ms...
• Spices: Cayenne Pepper, Steak/hamburger seasoning, Lemon Pepper, Curry powder- most everything else we can get
• Herb seed packets: rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, sage, dill... anything but cilantro. Please God, no more cilantro.

Miscellaneous:

• Chapstick, chapstick, chapstick
• Lent brush or roller, can't find either
• Any good books you've read and don't need anymore (And if anyone has "My Life in Paris" by Julia Child.... Please pass it this way!!)
• Markers (heavy duty kind, lots of colors!), glue sticks, crayons, construction paper, scissors, masking tape, etc... might start an art class!
• Oil paints (Daniel Smith, Windsor Newton, Rembrandt, etc...) Think I found a place where I can buy canvas, etc...
  
• Decorative hooks for hanging stuff
• Magazines! OK, People, Newsweek, Time, etc...
• Postcards from YOU! Something we can put up and be reminded of our awesome family and friends :)
• Clean and Clear sensitive skin face wash
• Bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps (Peppermint scent)... an all in one, fair trade, pure-castile soap (probably found in places like Trader Joe's, found our last bottle in Drug Emporium, go figure)
• Socks! Calf/knee length good old white socks for Jacob... I steal his and he runs out quickly, oops
• Small toys for the kids in our town... dime store items or stuff like silly bands, pogs, chalk, free toys from Happy Meals, etc... they love this stuff! (We may be working on a school library in the Spring- will ask for books later!)

*We figure clothing is more in the mom category to send, but if anyone has any fleece laying around, or sees any super-duper on sale (socks too!) and needs to pad the box they are already sending... we wouldn't turn it down :) Jacob's a Large, and I'm usually an XS or S

*Padded envelopes and small boxes are definitely better to mail than large boxes, which are particularly inviting when it comes to theft... or they don't make even make it here.

*Please use USPS as private carriers are more expensive on both ends (plus you'll have to mail to a PO Box).

*If the box is heavy but compact, it might be cheaper to use an international flat rate box, just ask the clerk.

*You'll have to fill out a customs form, just put "personal items" and very little value. Please do not send anything electronic, there is a minimum entry customs fee of $100!

*Please make a list of items that are inside the box/envelope and stick it (visibly) inside.

*Please write at least one of the following on the outside of the package:

"Dios es amor"

"Dios guarde a este paquete"

"Dios siempre nos está observando"

*The package will probably take a month or so to reach us, so don't mail anything that will go bad within about 6 weeks. We will definitely contact you with due appreciation and worship once we get it.

We'll post the mailing address on Facebook, don't want to post it in a blog.

Thank you all again for thinking of us and entertaining our ridiculous list!
Miss you all!
Lauren and Jacob

Health in Honduras

During training the hierarchy of the Honduran health system was thoroughly drilled into our heads. Now that we're at site, seeing it in action at such a local level has been really interesting.

In our municipality there are approximately 10,000 people and 2 doctors. Therefore, the health center and NGO I work with have teamed up to recruit a group of community volunteers in 24 villages around the municipality who act as representatives and community health educators. These volunteers come in once a month for a 4 hour meeting, which includes information about upcoming health programs at the center or various villages (ex. lectures/activities on nutrition, hygiene, diarrhea, dengue, malaria, etc...), what health related issues have arisen in each village, and receive a short informal health session on various topics, which hopefully they will pass on to other leaders in their community. The goal is to create a domino effect that will reach many more people than just those who manage to come into the health center.

I went to the meeting last week and was thoroughly impressed. It's not a perfect system, but these volunteers clearly care about their communities and are eager to learn themselves. My counterpart managed to program 24 events in the next two months during the meeting, and we'll be giving nutrition and child illness prevention classes to mothers in each of the 24 communities (who hopefully will then pass on this information to the other women in their communities).

A few Honduran health stats if anyone's interested (I work mostly with women and children, so these stats favor that demographic):

• There is both a public and private health system in Honduras
• At the local level, there is usually 1 public clinic with a doctor per municipality, and several smaller clinics with a nurse. If someone needs to go to the hospital, they must travel to one of the 18 state capitals or the national capital. I believe there are only 3 private hospitals in Honduras, but I could be wrong.
• There is no such thing as an epidural in a public hospital here… (eek!)
• It costs 20 Lempiras to give birth in a public hospital in Honduras (or $1.06 USD) or 40 Lempiras ($2.11 USD) if a cesarean is required. (70% of the population in our municipality lives on less than a $1 a day/18.95 Lempiras)
• Despite this low cost, 70% of women in some aldeas still give birth at home with the help of a mid-wife or family member. A few reasons why: Many roads leading out to villages in remote or mountainous areas are virtually impassable during the rainy season. Some locales are hours from the nearest road, and the path leading to it is sloped, rocky, etc… And of course there is the fear that they won’t make it to the hospital and will end up giving birth on the local bus (think school bus). Or, this is the 10^th child and they don’t see the need to go (some will go to the hospital for their first child, then for none of the others).
• Midwifery here is a bit of a touchy issue in Honduras. The Ministry of Health is trying really hard to have all babies born in hospitals to bring down infant and maternal mortality rates. I think one issue is that some midwifes have been properly certified, whereas the knowledge has just been passed down generation to generation in some situations. We visited a hospital in La Paz where 3 newborns had just arrived with sepsis (their umbilical cords had been cut with dirty knives). To make hospital births more inviting, they've started a program to utilize midwifes as promotors for institutional births. If a midwife can get a pregnant woman to all of her checkups (there are usually 3-5) and to the hospital (arranging a ride, etc…) they get a stipend, which offsets the price they would have requested for delivering the baby.

Anyway, that's a little summary... I'm really looking forward to these classes the next few months and meeting so many people. The more friends we can make, the more opportunities we will have to help. Sounds a bit cheesy, but that's the way it works here. Plus, getting to go into the mountains each day is amazing!

Have a good one!

Lauren

Recap and Our New Home

Jacob and I returned from our respective Field Based Training sites (thank god), found out our site placement, and we swore in as Peace Corps Volunteers on Friday the 13^th! We celebrated by gorging ourselves with the last sushi we'll be able to find for a while.

We have since moved to site and for the next two years we will be hanging out (a mile up) with the Lencans in a tiny town surrounded by pine forests and mountains. We ended up with the coldest available Peace Corps site, yay! I had to wear a fleece top to bed last night J Also, the buses to the Western half of Honduras pass right through the middle of our town or the larger city nearby, so we can be in Gracias, Santa Rosa or the Copan Ruins in a matter of hours.

Home: We are required to live with a host family for the first two months (integration… yada, yada), Our family is great… but, it’s a bit “rustic” here. Regardless, PC doesn’t really leave room for complaints, so I’ll move on to the waterfall 5 minutes from our house:

This is only the beginning of the rainy season, by September it will be roaring.

We’ve already found the house we want to rent. The ceilings in homes here are only seven to eight feet high (a form of insulation), which will take some getting used to, but other than that the house has a great view of the mountains and a traditional fogon (stove) inside the house. Also, it has a large back yard so I’m scouting for seeds and places to buy plants for the future garden. One of my projects will be working with communities on organic home and community gardens (or diversifying the ones they have), and I figured I should start with my own home. Some previous occupant made a decent start; there are currently 2 peach trees and leftover spinach, turnip greens and summer squash currently growing. Someone even planted several rose bushes and lilies, which I hope to add to.

Jacob’s only concern is where to put the hammock. That and how the hell we are going to get a full size fridge from a larger city to our site via a very rocky (and sometimes impassable) dirt road with a vehicle we do not have. Welcome to the 3^rd world, baby. We will have a fridge… I demand it J

Our little town does not have the following: a post office, a grocery store, a bank, an ATM machine, a mid-wife (she was ninety and died last week) or paved roads. Not exactly New York City, but for two years, we can handle it.

But, it does have: Strawberries and apples- one of the only areas in Honduras where these are grown, a ton of pulperias (convenient stores), a hardware store, 1 Catholic church currently out of commission due to an earthquake a few years ago, 8 evangelical churches (not sure why you need 8, but…) and LOTS of pine trees with a waterfall and lagoon thrown in for good measure. Oh, and a butcher whom Jacob has already met. We’ve been here one week and we already have a butcher J.

(We are about 30 minutes from a city where we can get almost whatever our hearts desire, even raw nuts, organic seafood and peanut butter)

Jobs: Jacob’s working with a local forestry cooperative, and I’m sure by winter he will be Head Gringo Lumberjack, beard and all. Going to try and find him a red and black flannel shirt to wear to work. We also found a hardware store in the nearest city for all your Lumberjack needs (and the owner used to host Peace Corps volunteers… small world). In reality, he’s going to be working with their investments and exporting capabilities, drawing up business plans, etc… He’s also been paired with a Lencan artisan cooperative who make everything from pottery to pine needle baskets. I know what the family’s getting for the next two years!

I’m working with an international NGO, World Vision, and spent last Wednesday on the top of a mountain hanging out with a group of community volunteers who have just been trained by WV to teach a two year course to families with children (nutrition, hygiene, how to identify and prevent diarrhea and resp. infections, etc...) in the community. This week I gave two charlas (classes)on ways to prevent diarrhea and upper respiratory infections, and the second on the nutritional needs of children, both of which included a cooking class. Today I made soy milk from scratch with 9 Lencan women, and they got a great kick out of me trying to hand form tortillas (we didn't eat mine, lol).

I’ve also made a local contact who is also working on latrine and improved stove projects, so hopefully I can get some support when the time comes. I’ve also been placed with the local health clinic which has to 2 female doctors, a rare but exciting sight here. I’ve been invited to visit the next meeting for pregnant women, and they want me to start providing nutrition and healthy lifestyle classes at the health center. (The malnutrition and chronic sickness rates are unbelievable here, and so many live with so little.) Also, in time I hope to get to know the midwife groups that come to the health center, but it will take several months to gain their confidence… little by little. Needless to say, I hope to be busy.

Think that’s about it for now… we’re going to try and have a post office box in the next few weeks (for care packages, postcards and such J )

All the best guys,

Lauren

T-Minus Two Weeks

Not too much to report this week, although it is the last week of Field Based Training, and I am incredibly excited to be returning to our original site where we have a shower that doesn't involve a bucket :) Priorities people.

Most of the Health group made it to Comayagua for Semana Santa (Holy Week). Comayagua is famous for their Easter alfombras (rugs) made from dyed sawdust. The artists work from 8pm Thursday evening until 8am Friday morning to construct the rugs, some up to 40 feet long, and then a procession with the stations of the cross led by the Priest from the Cathedral walks over the rugs about an hour later. Unfortunately, we couldn't see this particular part (public transportation grinds to a halt during this time) but we were able to see a few rugs that didn't receive the procession. This picture doesn't do them justice (and the ones that receive the procession are incredible):

On another note, I keep seeing these in town, horse or bull driven carts with tractor/vehicle wheels... It makes total sense and is rather clever, I just never thought about it as an option. The guy probably has better shock absorption, that's for sure, lol (And, it makes it's own gas, zing!):

So, we find our our site assignment next Thursday, the 5th, and move to our site about a week later. Jacob and I are hoping to be working with one of the indigenous populations, the Lenca, who live primarily in the departments of Intibuca and La Paz. Once we find out, we'll be sure to update.

Hasta Luego!

Another Month Flew By

(I promise I will be a better writer and friend when we have our own place (in July) and internet. Until then, you will have to endure sporadic posts, sorry.)

We've been in Field Based Training for a about 4 weeks, and quite a bit has happened... so I'll just try and give some highlights.

First is the deer that lives on the roof of my host aunt's house... yep. Because where else would you put your pet deer?

In Spanish related events, I accidentally told my host father’s sister in law that her husband was flirting with me, when I meant to tell her that he told me a funny joke. Oops.

I also spent an hour or so trying to translate the lyrics to Eminem and Nelly songs for my host mom. I didn't want to break her heart and tell her they were all about sex, murder and drugs, so I made some of it up... and the fact that I couldn't translate "smack that", etc... probably helped too.

In other news, several of us went to Comayagua a few weekends ago, a huge city in comparison to our location. We went to the Cathedral and clock tower, and then on to the Archeological Museum.They had several old printing presses, so I got to give my shpeel on how they worked to all the unfortunate trainees who came with. Poor souls.

On to the clock tower (the view from)…

We were able to stay at the top of the tower until they rang the noon bells… pretty cool. The tower also houses the oldest clock in Central America and one of the oldest in the world still in use.

On the way home from Comayagua, a fellow trainee sat down in front of me on the bus. An older gentleman in full cowboy get up came and sat down next to her. He proceeded to stare at her so my seatmate and I tried to keep conversation going to avert the awkwardness. Anyway, towards the end of his ride, he asked her if she wanted to buy his machete… the whole bus looked on as to what her response would be. We couldn’t decide if he was joking or not, but she ended up laughing and responded back in Spanish that in fact, no, she did not want to buy his machete, but thanks for the offer. At this half the bus erupted in laughter and the guy smiled… tension averted. He then proceeded to dance his way off the bus. The machete was actually pretty nice, full leather sheath complete with what looked like a bike reflector glued on… because you can’t glue a reflector on your horse, I guess.

Anyway, we miss you all!