PC Handyman skills

You learn a lot of things in Peace Corps.

Some things you expected to learn, like Spanish; some things you didn't want to learn, like how to manually flush a toilet with a bucket of water; some things you want to learn but can't seem to, like how to work effectively with Honduran counterparts; and some things you didn't expect to learn, like how to hotwire an electric shower.

Maybe you can just chalk it up to living on your own. Or Living on Your Own: Honduras version. I've never had a shop class, plumbing or electrical workshops, or even home ec, but I've found I learned a thing or two along the way. Now this isn't a blog post about how uneducated or ignorant Hondurans are. Rather, it's just part of the culture differences that exist between the countries. We all have indoor plumbing in the U.S. and we've probably all had a plumber come over at some point, or we Googled 'DIY electrical outlet'. But those resources don't exist here. Internet is something pretty rare in my mountain town. And the people that do use it are checking facebook on their mobiles, not looking up thermodynamics on Wikipedia. The plumber is the guy who figured out how to get his own toilet to work once, and the electrician is the guy who didn't completely electrocute himself installing the breaker box.

I've read a few stories and blogs about people making good relationships with 'host nationals' (Hondurans in this case) because they needed something fixed or installed in their home, and I can say with confidence that I started out with this approach, specifically in regards to my electroducha (electric shower). Well, the first attempt involved me going to the next town and buying a simple extension cord (which I clearly said I was going to use for an electroducha), coming back and testing it out only to start an electrical fire in my house! After that I examined the situation with the local handyman and asked lots of questions. I went to the store, bought the appropriate parts he told me, and returned home to assemble it all. In the midst of assembly, the plan stopped making sense to me. Like I said, I never had any home mechanics class, but I did have high school physics so I know a thing or two about electricity (although calling dad to confirm everything never hurts). I scrapped the Honduran plan and dusted off the old American self-reliance. Several hours later, after multiple trips to the hardware store, tedious stripping and splicing cables, making effective use of electrical tape, and replacing a breaker, I am now the proud owner of a working hot shower! The rumors are true, however. The shower's nickname is the "suicide shower ". But to me, that's just a testament to how amazing they are! (WARNING: Lame joke) People are dying to take a hot shower! But seriously, people are taking their lives into their own hands just to get a warm shower and I, for one, can relate.

A Little Bit of Everything

I realize these posts are starting to lag.

Having too much fun, Adam?

Yes. No. I don’t know.

Puppy update:

I finally named him… Whiskey! He’s whiskey colored, it’s pronounceable in Spanish and English (along with meaning that delicious poison), and it happens to be the “say cheese” of Honduran photo shooting. But thanks for all the other name suggestions. They got the wheels turning, but in the end I went with simple.

I Got a Puppy!

So after all the waiting, I got a call on Wednesday evening from the Pastor asking me to come over to the house. We were waiting for the first 2 months (8 weeks) to pass so the puppies could be separated from their mother. When I arrived, there he was all tiny and helpless, because I'm sure he hasn't hit 2 months yet. Though I've been feeding him milk (not cheap), I haven't bottle fed him or anything and he's eating solid food. The first major problem was he had fleas... a lot of fleas. This meant he was definitely not staying the night in the house. I grabbed the box from my blender that was laying around, put a couple sheets of newspaper and a hand towel inside and put it on my fenced-in porch. Yesterday, I got some anti-flea anti-tick shampoo and gave him (another) bath. A handful of the fleas escaped to his head (both times) and I've been picking them out and killing them one by one. I think my dog is almost afraid to scratch now because he knows I'm going to grab him and comb through his hair where he was just scratching. I think there's maybe 2 or 3 left at this point, so it's not too big of a deal.

I thought I would be more excited when I got my puppy, and I am happy, but just realizing life is different now. Not entirely different, but I have to be more responsible, especially now while he's so small. Add that to the fact that I didn't get to choose the day I got the puppy and I wasn't exactly ready that day for him. But here he is. Fortunately, he's pretty easy-going. Putting him to bed outside on his own the first night was challenging with all the whining, but I made myself a little noise deterrent and he slept the entire night (until about 5:30am). I did wake up at 3:00am thinking I heard him whining so I got up and went to the door only to find him still fast asleep. Just a worried parent I guess! I did the same thing this morning at about 5:30am. but he slept until 6:00.

He still has no name and he's pretty timid, but I'm attributing that to the fact that he's still tiny. And I'm trying to figure out what all his whimpering means; "I have to go to the bathroom" "I'm hungry" "I want to play" "I want to sleep within 5 inches of you". The distance thing is cute, most of the time, especially when he follows me around town. But he tends to get lost or confused whenever another person or dog crosses our path. He ended up following some lady for about 20 yards before I could get him to stop and come back.


All that said, I have a dog. I'm very content. And though it's a sad reality, pets can and do die here due to whatever kinds of illnesses they might have. But I do hope this one survives. He has a lot of potential and I think he's kind of attached to me...








I would also like to mention that I had my first visitor, Nancy, visit me from El Negrito down the road. She came just in time to see my dog, too. She left alive and well-fed. Come one, come all.

Also, shout out to all those who participated in Pueblo Crawl in Olancho. Getting there is half the battle. Venga si quiere; Salga si puede. Viva Olancho! And just a little visual for those of you wondering about Honduran travel... you have to take the good with the bad:

Fútbol & Baleadas

Sunday I spent the day like many of you probably did - watching football. Fútbol that is; the Honduran national sport and pastime. The game took place in the next town over, Morazán (about a 40 minute drive in car). I was given a special invitation as the team 'trainer'. My job was to lead the team in some warm-ups and stretches before they soundly defeated the other team 3-0! I found a seat on an 8-ft high cement wall under a tree, which protected me from the light rain, but did nothing against the downpour during the second half. If you end up soaking wet and your team won, it's totally worth it. If your team lost, it's just miserable. Fortunately our team won and I got a nice tan (read: light sunburn) out of it (when it wasn't raining). I think everyone's getting used to me walking around rojito (red) by now. Or at least they stop asking me if I just got done playing fútbol.

The team is doing well. Or they're just lucky. I'm no soccer expert, but I've watched the World Cup and I've seen what a professional soccer game looks like: there's usually a lot of passing and not as much running (compared to these guys). These guys, late teens to early twenties, seem to play like little kids in the street - crowding the ball and making half-field solo attempts at the goal. Maybe I'll read a couple articles about soccer before giving my input, but I'd like to use this as a platform to subtly talk about individualism versus team mentality (something that pervades the culture here). Other advice that seems cliché like 'control the pace of the game' could be of major benefit to these guys that haven't seen your classic sports films. (Not saying I've seen them all, but I do remember Air Bud making a great QB and Point Guard). I'd like to be able to give a great half-time pep talk in Spanish one of these days. That's an outstanding goal of mine.

The other thing I did on Sunday that you probably all did was eat food. Maybe some of you even ate Mexican food, but I bet nobody (minus you other Honduras PCVs) ate Honduran food, let alone the Honduran national dish (that's what I call it at least): Baleadas. The best part is you can eat these for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Just switch up the toppings to give it a different feel. I'm not sure why I love this food so much, since it's one of the most basic foods you could possibly imagine (it should be on the 99¢ menu at Taco Bell). Although when you make the ingredients from scratch, it can get pretty involved. Here's how you can eat one:

Your favorite Mexican fast-food drive-thru:
Order a bean burrito (no cheese)
Add sour cream
Find yourself some queso seco (dry white cheese, probably not available at fast-food chains which is why you're in the drive-thru so you can complete the baleada with the cheese in your passenger seat you bought at the grocery store 5 minutes ago) and crumble it on
Packets of hot sauce to your liking

Home version:
1 packet flour tortillas, warmed
1 can refried beans, also warmed
1 package of mexican cream (crema de mesa in Guatemala, or mantequilla here; sour cream that isn't sour. Or use sour cream if you can't find any)
1 package queso seco
Chili sauce
Avocado, optional
Scrambled egg, optional
Favorite meat, optional

Authentic version:
Handmade flour tortillas, still hot (recipe to come when I learn how to make this. Right now I get them from friends or pay the laundry lady about 50 cents for a dozen)
Refried beans (see recipe below)
1 bag mantequilla
1/2lb queso seco
chili
avocado, optional
scrambled egg, optional
meat of choice, optional

Refried beans (not as easy as you thought):
First, mix beans back and forth several times between two buckets in front of a fan (best to do this outside) to blow away most of the dirt and grass.
Then go through by hand sorting out any rocks or bad beans (split, black, holes).
Next you can soak the beans with plenty of water for a few hours to make the cooking time shorter.
Boil beans with a few cloves of garlic (or add later w/ onion for stronger flavor) until done (40-60 mins), using water from soaking. You'll end up with a sort of bean soup. Don't dump this water, it has a lot of nutrients.
Remove garlic and let beans cool for about an hour (so they don't ruin your blender)
Blend beans in blender (in stages if you have a lot of beans), add water if necessary.
Finely dice some onion and fry with a little oil. Add blended beans and heat until simmering.

Voila! You just made refried beans from scratch! Now you can make those delicious baleadas!
Note: If you don't cook the beans again (i.e. refry them), they will ruin unless you stick them in the freezer to refry (or boil) at another time. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.

Enjoy!