Adventures in Honduras: Welcome to El Rancho Santa Fe!

Well, I’ve officially been here for a week. By “here” I mean El Rancho Santa Fe, located about 45 minutes outside of the capital, Tegucigalpa (or Tegus, as we call it). It is beautiful here; I’m not even sure how to describe it. We have pine trees growing next to plátano (plaintain) trees and it is so green. The ranch is huge (around 2100 acres). Every day it gets a little bit smaller as I get to know a new part of it.

To elaborate on the getting here part: It involved taking a 3 hour bus (that was late) from Copán to San Pedro Sula and then taking another 4 hour bus (also late) to Tegucigalpa. At the bus station we were met by the Volunteer Coordinator and packed into the van to go to the ranch. It was a VERY long day in arriving but so worth it. I remember after arriving and putting our stuff down we went up on the roof and I looked around and said, “I cannot believe we live here now.” It was so surreal. Leaving Copán was much harder than I had anticipated. After how hard the first couple of days were it was nice to finally feel familiar with a place and know my way around. But it was also time to move on.

To be honest, so far it feels a little bit like camp. All of us girls live in two dorms; I live with the other Austrian girls that I met in Copán. Upon arriving we all had a plate, cup and spoon sitting on our beds along with our monthly ration of toilet paper, bar of soap, and toothpaste. We also have scary toilets without toilet seats that we have to flush with a spigot over the tank and we have cold showers. When I say cold showers I mean COLD: take your breath away, shriek like a girl, and wash your hair and body as fast as possible while running in place under the water. I am not a fan of this. In a few weeks we’ll move into individual rooms with a roommate where we will have more normal toilets and warmer water for showers. Till then…my showers will be mighty short.

This week has been busy. We’ve been in orientation all week and will be for another few days before starting to work with the current volunteers in our new jobs. We have met with tons of people to learn what the different offices are and what everyone does to support NPH and the Ranch. We’ve also gone on lots of walks and tours throughout the Ranch. Some of the highlights for me were: hiking to the represa (dam), spending an afternoon in hortaliza (the garden), Día de Diabetes, and a day trip to Tegus for the first time and buying groceries! Groceries are important because you become obsessed with food here. I’m already a bit sick of rice and beans for breakfast (for other meals it’s fine but for breakfast…eh). We do have some variety though. We get salad with some meals and for breakfast occasionally we get panqueques (pancakes) or oatmeal or cereal. I’ll elaborate more on the food at a later date.

Día de Diabetes was really interesting and a very long day. On this day all of the patients at the external clinic who have diabetes come on the same day to have their blood sugar checked, see the doctor, and get their medications refilled. We started very early at 0430. We did preclinic by checking in each patient and checking their blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight. After that they all get a diabetic friendly breakfast (or as best as we can). For breakfast we served plátanos, beans, cheese and sugar free kool-aid. It was nice to be able to spend some time in the clinic and get a little more acquainted with what we’ll be doing there.

Also, I’m going to start a section of my blog on occasion called: Cheque Wachiman

This is essentially where I tell funny, absurd, and bizarre things that happen or I learn.

Cheque means about the equivalent of “okay, cool.”

Wachiman is what we call the security guards at the gate and that roam the grounds.

I think both of these words are hilarious.

For my first installation:

Cheque Wachiman

Fun Honduran Game:

Chocolate frosting or frijoles (beans)?

Platanos (plantains) or banana or banano (banano may or may not be the same thing as a banana, this has yet to be determined)

Sleeping or dead (this mostly applies to Matías the cat and resident beggar of the volunteer house – she’s always alive though)

Sometimes black beans are so smooth and well blended for things like making baleadas (traditional Honduran food) that they look like chocolate frosting…especially when they’re in a bowl next to vanilla cake. Raphael had the unfortunate experience of putting frijoles on his cake.

Plátanos are eaten frequently here with lunch or dinner. I am not a fan of plátanos. I love bananas but plátanos and I are not friends. Maybe they’ll grow on me.

Until my next post!

Matías the cat. Matías is a girl but was graced with a boy's name, possibly for being annoying.

First night Fogata (fire) to welcome the newbies.

A weird panorama of the volunteer house. On the right and left are rooms, the middle is a garden and the far end is where the two dorms are. Behind me is the kitchen, living room, library and laundry.