This is me and my Gracias host family during last night’s party.

Alright alright, last morning in Gracias, I’m gearing up for a PC party in Santa Rosa de Copan tonight. I’m not much in the mood this last week has really taken it out of me. Everyone in our group seems a little wiped out. I guess it is the norm to lose a few trainees during field based training but we’ve managed to make it through lots of hard work, hard chairs in our Spanish classes, more than a handfull of cases of amoebas, and one bout with Dengue fever (Get ‘er done Colleen). Last night we had a party to celebrate with our host families, it was a lot of fun. There were a ton of kids so we circled a bunch of chairs and had them play musical chairs to good ol American tunes. The kids were very into it and ran (not walked or danced) around in circles for a good portion of the evening. We also served them some quasi American food. We did the best we could with the food we could gather in Gracias (Imagine trying to put together a Thanksgiving dinner and only being able to shop at the circle K). But everyone had a good time and the families did a good job of pretending to enjoy the food. It was kind of nice to see the tables turned a bit. We’ve been struggling (some of the time) with some different foods here for about two months now. Last week I came home to sopa de mondongo (tripe soup) for lunch the other day. If you closed your eyes and imagined the cow intestines were actually some sort of exotic shellfish it was actually really good.
Yesterday, before the festivities, we had to put together some chicken coops in El Cile again. It was a good experience and nice to get out and hammer nails and put stuff together. We didn’t really have plans or anything and none of us had ever built a chicken coop before but it turned out well (except for running out of metal for the roof). I’m still learning a ton but there’s no way that I’m going to be able to remember a tenth of this stuff. Well folks, I’m about to hit the road. More next week to be sure. Keep on truckin or whatever…Joe

This is the view from Jorge's farm in El Cile. People are farming coffee and maiz on the steep stuff in the background.

The boys of Gracias getting ready for the feria.

Dawn, Jeremy and Luis sticking it to the poor chicken

Hey everyone, sorry it’s been awhile but I’ve been pretty tired. I only have a few more days in Gracias and then its back to Siguatepeque for a couple of weeks and then we graduate. I’m pretty sure I sign in on the 12th of August. We’ve had a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote. We were each assigned individual farmers to work with in the countryside and then we had to decide on two techniques to improve upon what they were doing. I worked with a guy named Jorge from El Cile. We had a decent hike up to his farm and I helped him cut fence posts and dig holes for them with a tiny little bar. We decided to make some traps for an insect called Broca that were invading his coffee plants. He was very motivated and on the ball. He was implementing organic fertilizer and using worm composting. He also had a couple of tilapia ponds. El Cile is a beautiful place just below mount Puca, Honduras’s second highest peak.
Gracias’s town fair also took place last week. There was plenty of chicha (a type of alcohol made from corn) to go around but I didn’t try any. I was still bouncing back from the amoebas and figured my system didn’t need that kind of attention. Also some batches of chicha can get a nasty form of bacteria. Today we vaccinated chickens for a couple of different diseases. One of the vaccinations was an eye drop and wasn’t too bad. The second was a sub dermal injection. It was pretty tough on the little chicks, also some of the roosters put up a pretty good fight. I guess I’ll find out my site next Tuesday, I can’t wait to find out where I’ll be spending the next two years. I’ve received a few hints and have a pretty good idea where I’ll be but I don’t want to jinx it by posting it here. Also most of you probably won’t know where it is anyway. I think I’m going to have to post pics later this is taking way too long. Paz Joe

This is the best way to get around Gracias Lempira.

This is the main river coming down Mount Celaque. Looks like a good trout stream but alas, no fish. My friend Jeremy and I hiked up to it last Saturday, it was kind of a bruiser of a hike and we didn’t bring enough water. But the view was amazing. I’ve already gotten my first Honduran parasite, I found out yesterday that I’ve got amoebas, pretty cool eh. Nothing serious just a little giardia (sp?), I don’t really feel that sick it’s nothing like the last time I had Giardia. The doc gave me some medicine and it should clear up in a couple of days. Other than that training has been good. I helped give a group presentation to a bunch of grade school teachers on integrating environmental education into other subjects. They were really motivated and the session went well and was a lot of fun. This Friday I have to give another presentation about the environment (in Spanish) to a bunch of third-graders. I’m pretty nervous but I’m sure it will be fun. Not much else going on in this neck of the woods. Hope you’re all doing well. Paz Joe

Hey everyone, here is Gracias in all her glory, you can see one of the colonial churches just to the right of the palm in the left side of the frame, you don´t have a good view of the mountains in this shot and it really doesn´t do it justice but for now its all i have. If anyone thats reading this wants to leave comments please do. I´m pretty sure I can respond to them, or we can just talk through email. Hope all is well in the states or wherever this finds you. things are great here. Today we worked on building improved stoves in a house just outside of Gracias. The work was great we got to really get our hands in the dirt and actually build something. The family seemed truly greatful that we were lending a hand. other than that not much has happened since my last post (last night). Happy belated 4th to everyone. What did people do? we tried our best to celebrate our independance down here but it just wasn´t the same. but it´ll do for now. Hope some of these pics are sparking some interest in coming to see me. well, i´m going to get some dinner hope its better than the ox tail that I had for lunch. Joe

Here´s a pick of the gringos celebrating the 4th at aguas termales just outside of Gracias

Hey everyone I´m now in Gracias Lempira for 4 weeks of field-based-training. New host family, new city, new experience. you´ll have to excuse the lack of visuals the only computers I´ve been able to find are pretty old and can´t support my camera software er something. Things are going really well here. Gracias is smaller than Siguatepeque and much more beautiful, it is located between the two highest peaks in Honduras and is surrounded by tall mountains and cloud forest. It has a pretty amazing history too. I´m pretty sure it was the former capital of Honduras and it is the oldest colonial city here. there´s an amazing plaza and old, colonial churches and a huge ceiba tree (i think the ceiba is the tree of life for the Maya) in the middle of town. My new family is cool too, they´re pretty formal and I´m not sure who exactly lives in the house with me and who just hangs out all the time, I´m also working on their names. There´s a one-year old, Michelle, that is absolutely terrified of me. I don´t think she´s ever seen a gringo this big. Also the food is great, for lunch the other day i had a big plate of chicharrones, pig skin fried in its own fat, and yesterday i had talapia (the local freshwater fish of choice). i´m also learning some interesting ag techniques. we´ve spent a couple of days on integrated pest management, spread out some decomposing leaves that had been soaking in water for two months (it smelled exactly like a dairy and brought a little tear to my eye reminding me of home), and did some tree grafting. To day we had a seminar on agriculture extension techniques and tomorrow we´re learning how to construct more efficient wood stoves, should be cool. I´m also improving my Spanish poco a poco, by watching novelas (spanish soap operas) with my family, and taking 4 hours of Spanish classes a day. I´ll be in Gracias Lempira for 4 weeks and am going to try and make it to see Copan ruins and try and climb up part (if not all) of mt. Celaque, the highest peak in Honduras. all for now, I hope to post some pics soon of this beautiful, beautiful place. paz, Joe