Pila Talk & Olancho

As you may remember about rural Honduras, most people don’t have washing machines. How in the world do they clean their clothes, you ask? This wonderful invention called a pila. It’s basically a permanent cement washboard connected to your holding tank of water. This is where they get that saying “washboard abs” – it’s the tool you use and the result of using it. You get that tub full of water and then wash and rinse your clothes little by little using a paila (scooper). This method really does clean your clothes better than a washing machine because you are washing every item of clothing individually. However, the downside is you use a lot, a lot!, of water. And if you’re anything like me, you also sweat. A lot.

Now this does seem like a fun thing to spend 2 hours every Saturday doing, but let me add to the thrill. The pila is right next to the kitchen, where the women like to hang out. I have a 40yr-old brother living with me who does his own laundry, but for the most part it’s extremely rare for a man to wash anything on the pila. (We’ll talk about why 40yr-old sons still live with their moms later). So you can imagine me, for maybe the fifth time now, taking my laundry for the week and setting it down in a heap to be washed. First of all, I do like to wear clean clothes on a daily basis. And second of all, I am twice the size of the average Honduran.  After having been told that I have a montón of laundry, they stick around to watch how I intend to wash my montón. Now, I’m not in any particular rush to wash my clothes as fast as possible, nor do I want to be working up a sweat in the near-100° heat. I mean I’d rather not spend my whole day doing laundry, but let’s be honest, what else am I going to do all day? So about 20 minutes in, the women decide I need a lesson from an expert. Poor gringo has used a machine his whole life and he’s not used to washing his own clothes (slightly demeaning, but nonetheless true). Let me not forget that this shirt-washing lesson was quickly followed by an underwear-washing session, while the other women were still watching. I could have chosen to be embarrassed, but instead I decided to take notes, as she was explaining I’ll probably have to do this every week for the next two years so I should learn how to do it right. The embarrassing part is actually when I’m washing the clothes and someone walks by every so often, maybe lingers for a minute watching me, and asks, “¿Ya termina?” “Are you done already?” ¿Cómo se dice: “Does it look like I’m done already?!”?

Overall, I think I halved my laundry time this past weekend, and will continue working on my technique. Let me also say, these washboards were designed for a 5’ tall woman. So a 6’ me… have you seen the movie Elf? Yeah, it’s like I’m working at an elf station. But I know it’s a good workout. At least that’s what I tell myself when I’m dripping sweat into the shirt I’m washing.

Venga si quiere, salga si puede

Come if you want, leave if you can

Olancho is a department unto itself. It’s not quite the abandoned terrain of the Moskito region, but it doesn’t quite belong to the rest of the “well-maintained” Honduras. It often maintains its own form of vigilante law, and for that, it is often referred to as the Wild East (at least among Volunteers). Olancho is also the proud home of Honduras’ two most recent presidents, Manuel “Mel” Zelaya and Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo. But its motto holds, whether referring to the captivating beauty of its rolling hills or to the dead feeling some people get when on the receiving end of a recently-discharged revolver, Olancho has its reasons for staying. However difficult it is to leave, I managed to escape (at least for now) back to the department of El Paraíso for another 5 weeks.

I learned several important things while visiting my new friend Erika in Olancho. The first was that I discovered I am preferential to small sites. Seeing her walk around town and being greeted by name by every person in the street gave it a really small-town feel. Now this site was only 1500 people; perhaps a little too small for me, but the sense of community is overwhelming and is exactly the type of community life I had pictured upon applying to the Peace Corps.

We also spent a day on top of a mountain hiking around to small coffee farms surveying the families about what kinds of resources (pilas, running water, cement floors) were available to them, and what business opportunities might exist for them (i.e. do you own the land). I’ve always been interested in coffee, and have spent a few years learning as much as possible about it while pouring double-tall non-fat vanilla lattes for Starbucks addicts. Upon seeing these coffee farms and discussing the farming methods with the farmers, my head was flooded with ideas of how to improve the process and sell the coffee for a higher price (Note: Coffee futures closed around $280). I continue to be shocked with how basic most concepts are here. Thinking to myself what little I actually know about a certain topic, and then realizing that one college class session about anything is more than what most of these people have learned in a lifetime, or sometimes several. And that’s not to say that people here are not smart. These people have figured out how to thrive with, oftentimes, only the most basic of living conditions. The intelligence comes in to play in a completely different way. I think if someone tested their social intelligence, they would be blown away. Tell me if you know where all the stores are in your town and what they sell. Now tell me about each of their families and what all of their children do and where they live. Now add to that knowing which fruit/vegetable/grain vendors come to town on which day and who has the lowest prices. And if you’re my host mom, you also run your own business baking and selling cookies out of your home! Can she do double-digit multiplication in her head? Probably not, but that’s why calculators were invented (for simple addition, too). I guess I’m trying to say life is different in Honduras, and I’m always learning.

The other point I remembered to bring up in my technical interview (interview with our directors about our site placement and work desires) was that I love teaching and working with youth. I can’t believe I almost didn’t say this, because we’ve done a couple of activities with youth so far and I’ve loved them. There is also a lot of material available for pretty much any project you can think of with the schools. I mentioned my most recent 2 months before leaving Seattle helping tutor for Algebra after school, and it was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done. The feedback I got from this desire was that schools are always a great place to start, and that they are almost like a blank canvas for volunteers to paint whatever picture they want, if not to just get their hands dirty.

All in all, I’m not too worried about my site placement. I’ve done my part in the interviews and expressed my desires. Now I leave it up to the pros, these guys have been putting Volunteers in awesome sites for quite some time and they probably know where I’ll fit best better than I do. And there’s One more who certainly has a plan for my site and the work I’ll be doing there, so I’ve decided not to worry myself about it.

As we continue through this journey together, I hope that you all are living good stories – realizing your desires and overcoming obstacles to get them. If it makes a good story, it makes a good life.