Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Visit highlights and other goings-on


The Bay of Trujillo
Originally uploaded by StormyPetrel
Just a quick update since it's been a while. I haven't written recently because for the first two weeks of April I was hosting Nina, who came down to visit before driving cross-country to start school in upstate New York. Lots of photos in my Flickr photstream.

Highlights: Lot's of beach time, reading New Yorker articles, and drinking delicious coffee from Philz. Brent's despedida. A hike to the top of Calentura that didn't exactly go as planned. (We ran out of water and despite it being hot and sunny there were clouds obstructing the views). Chili night with friends and coworkers from Trujillo. A small hurricane in Tela. A delicious final meal in La Ceiba. Meeting Honduran novelist Roberto Quesada. Navigating a roadblock and hundreds of screaming protesters to get to the airport. Hitchiking back to Trujillo and getting followed by some hoodlum in Savá.

After Nina left, I had to jump right back into work, with a three-day Men's Health workshop with 28 participants. The third day (Sunday) the participants did their practicum; my group went to a nearby army base. The soldiers were great participants, and we had a lot of fun working with them.

And now I'm busy, busy, busy... but I love it. May will see me traveling on Peace Corps related business once a week for the whole month. A survey of People with HIV in Trujillo is nearing completion and I'm going to be compiling all the data and preparing a report. And soon two new volunteers will be arriving in nearby Santa Fe to start their service! I'm excited to meet them. I hope they're as cool as Brent (just kidding guys, no pressure).

3 comments:

lola said...

I enjoy your blog. I grow up in Trujillo and your information remainds me of how life is down there.
I love the pictures and I enjoy the accurate description of the country, culture and people.

Raphael said...

I appreciate the comment. Thanks for reading!

Have you been back to Trujillo recently? How would you say it has changed since your childhood?

lola said...

I went back last August. Trujillo is almost the same as 10 years ago. They did some changes to the Mirador. Also, they bilt a new cafeteria close to the park (I took my kids for icecream one day). I saw lots of new fancy homes everywhere.
Have you been in San Antonio and Guadalupe, lately?
I used to visit San Antonio every Sunday for about a year. I used to teach Sunday school to the kids there.
I remembered going to a small, but good restaurant in Santa Fe. I don't remember its name. They had good seafood.
I enjoyed your post about Olanchito"s Carnaval del Jamo.