This friday (which marked the end of our orientation), there was a bienvenidos party for all the new volunteers. They made us really tasty balleadas, which are a traditional Honduran food made up of a tortilla with refried beans, eggs, salsa, and a variety of other stuff inside. After dinner the party went from listening to reggeaton to moving down to the fire pit in the garden to listen to one of the volunteers play guitar (and singing along).
Then last night, after returning from spending the afternoon in the city (a topic which is going to need a blog post of it's own), the handful of us that were around had one of those great conversations that just went on for hours and moved its way through religion and spirituality (a lot of people here have really interesting perpsectives on being spiritual), international economics, sustainability and activism, cultural awareness and how that plays out in our roles on the ranch, etc. Definitely my kind of thing!
Speaking of economics, being here in Honduras and seeing how much everything, in various ways, is tied to the economic situation here has really has gotten me wanting to know more about how it all works. Everything from the huge wealth divide (we've talked a lot about how there seems to be virtually no middle/professional class), to the general poverty in the country (and which many of the kids I'll be working with come from), to why it is that Tegucigalpa is filled with American fast food restaurants (Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Dunkin Donuts, Dominos, KFC, even Church's Chicken- I don't even know what that is and I'm from the US!).
The stories about how all this has come about --and from there, maybe how to help with some of the sad parts-- must be really really interesting. If anyone has any good resources/thoughts about this kind of stuff, I'd love to hear them!
Anyway, I took a picture today to try and capture the laid back-ness of the weekend:
This is from inside the volunteer house- the room I've been staying in is on the far side of the garden. I spent most of the morning sitting in one of these chairs and reading (in this photo Pete, one of the other new volunteers, is doing the same).
"Confessions of an Economic Hitman" is one of the most eye-opening books I've come across in regards to Economics and globalization (IMF, World Bank kind of speak)... I hear ya, these observations you are making are a reality in many if not all 'developing nations'. (kind of a rhetorical question, but something to serious think about when delving into this topic) What about that infiltration of 'western culture' is actually positive?... we are so proud of you Max... happy to see you got a blog up! the site looks amazing. :)
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