Ecotourism Project: guides, food and lodging

I´m writing this at 10:30 the night before I go to Santa Barbara and it reminds me of writing papers at the last minute in college. There is no Internet in my town, so I have to write all my emails and blog stuff at home then carry them on a USB to SB because I never have enough time at the Internet café to sit an type them there. Alas, here are a few things I’ve been working on recently in my town:

1. More financial analysis stuff at the coop
2. School has started up again for kids here (and thus for me too)
3. Ecotourism committee

1. Financial analysis at the coop.
On the heels of the meeting I had with the Board of Directors of my coffee cooperative, I’ve been working on ways to help them implement some of the changes I recommended. For example, I think I’ve convinced them to stop the free lunches at meetings. There’s still doing sweetbread and coffee though, heh—we’re all addicts to coffee around here. Also, I’ve been helping Lucas, the administrator, work out a break-even analysis followed up by a projected cash flow, to see how we can actually achieve an expansion in our production. We’ve also been discussing doing some local promotion to coffee farmers who aren’t members of the coop, to match our cash flow projections with ‘coffee-flow’ projections, if you will. As it stands, we aren’t buying as much coffee as we could or as much as we want to. Also, I will finally be giving personal finance trainings to the members of my coop starting in March, with the objective of reducing the amount of cash advances and loans they’re taking out each year. Finally, a team of five Canadians came down and visited the coop from Van Houtte, our buyer. They wanted to meet the members, see the farms, see the factory, and talk business. It turns out that they’ve got their eyes set on buying much, much more. It was fun meeting them and putting faces to the myths of our “Buyers up in the North.” As it turns out, in a twist of irony, Van Houtte was bought out by the American coffee giant, Green Mountain in Vermont back in December… and in case you didn’t know, Montaña Verde, the name of my coop, means ‘Green Mountain.’

2. School begins: thus my work there too
I’ve talked to the principal of the school and it looks like I’ve gotten myself roped into doing after school extracurricular groups with kids. Last year I did a journalism group with 4-6th graders. I’ll be repeating it this year, but with a different bunch of kids. I think we may work on putting together a photo-documentation pamphlet of the community and of the cloud forest to use for the community’s ecotourism project. But I’ll also have a Business club with the 7-9th graders where we will learn business fundamentals, visit various businesses, and, hopefully, they will come with an idea and start their own school business. Also, I will have a Nature Club—I haven’t decided its focus yet, but there’s a lot of material to work with here. Plus, Alicia, the volunteer just down the road from me, is a biologist, so I’m sure she’ll help with ideas if I need them. On top of three clubs, which will keep me busy in the afternoons during the week, I’ll be giving classes to the teachers in English and computation—it’s really just going over exercises they can use directly in their own classrooms to help facilitate their teaching. We shall see if they decide to show up this year. Finally, we had talked about planning monthly school-wide events like painting a world map, poetry or essay competitions, art or science fairs, rocket competitions etc. Working with youth is definitely one of the major goals of my project in the Peace Corps, and I feel that it’s always a worthwhile activity to do in my community, when I’m not at the cooperative.

3. Ecotourism committee makes progress
The ecotourism committee that I help Alicia organize is just now starting up trainings for guides. Our idea is to have a bunch of guides ready to attend tourists, once our marketing efforts have begun seeing results. Guides are crucial not because of their knowledge of trails and local plants and animals, but because they’ll know things to offer to the tourist to do—they’ll be the direct salesmen, pitching horseback riding or cave exploring or visiting a coffee farm. So we will be giving our guides a 10 session course and this next topic I’m in charge of: customer service. How exciting. We’re also working with families to offer food and room and board. The next step is working out pricing and packages and promotional deals and finally more comprehensive marketing. The ultimate dream is to form an NGO out of the committee and hire employees to coordinate things like guides, services, and marketing. But we’ve still got a ways to go.

It’s been cold and rainy for close to a week now. And before that, it was hot and dry and dusty. It can’t make up its mind. I suppose I really can’t complain though, being in the Tropics through winter and all.

Cold in Honduras? Actually, yes.

Aloe plant flowers, AKA alien growths.

Hello loved ones and friends and random people I dont know. I am posting a lot of words here to send out a broad update on my life as a volunteer in the Peace Corps. As Ive said here in this blog before, look at the list of contents first and then go on to read only what interests you- otherwise Id feel sort of guilty obliging you to scan the whole damn entry because you feel you have to. Youd get bored that way- or I would at least.

1. Cold in Honduras? Where am I?
2. My computer fixed: life has normalized again!
3. Firecrackers: who was the bastard who sold a truckoad of firecrackers to every kid in my town?
4. Business training (yes, Im actually doing some work too): to my coffee coop and personal finanze classes to families
5. Survey and Census results: any statisticians out there?
6. Ecotourism Committee and a chat on Global Warming: environment=good
7. My work in the school: (kids=good, when no firecrackers)
8. November, December plans: Panama and a visit from family

1. Cold in Honduras?
Who would have guessed? I certainly didnt expect to be cold in the tropics, but it's true. The last month it has been in the mid, and even low, 50s in my site. And it's grey and rainy. It's not going to snow, but having just gotten used to 8 months of 80 and 90 degree weather, the 50s have come as a big surprise. Plus, housing insullation isn't really a common thing here. But, it is actually a welcome change and it feels like fall back home. Give me cold over sweltering hot any time of the year, any latitude of the globe.

2. My computer is fixed
The Osteens step into action. Something broken? We know how to fix it. Something highly technical requiring many difficult steps to fix? Yeah, no problem. Father and son, handymen extraordinaire, save the day... okay, youre right, normally this statement would be highly sarcastic. This time, however, it's actually true. I must thank my father for sending me just what I needed to get my computer fixed and just in time. Best of all, for some amazing miracle or other, none of my memory was lost during the months my computer was experiencing the black screen of death. So, movies, pictures, and music have returned to my life, as well as word processing (hence the long blog entry this time around) and Excel and Powerpoint and Internet (on the sparse ocassions when I go somewhere that has WiFi) etc. And it feels good.

This is not the Peace Corps of the 60s. It is my humble opinion that people need computing abilities to be able to function productively in this century. Old people may disagree with me, but, you try living without a computer for a few months, all the while listening to various Honduran radio stations, and see how long you maintain your sanity. Okay, I didnt go insane without my computer, but I was close.

3. Firecrackers.
Some jerk came to my site and made a ton of money marketing firecrackers to every boy aged 5 to 15 in San Luis Planes. Yes, Im simply complaining right now, but these kids have gone crazy with blowing things up and my once peaceful site now perpetually sounds like a war zone. You'll just be sitting there, maybe with a spoonful of hot soup in your hand or maybe concentrating on translating a sentence for your writeup on the census you just finished, when BANG, BANG, BANG, there's a series of explosions just outside your house. Or maybe it's 6:30 in the morning. Or maybe it's 10:30 at night.

And, sure enough, when I asked one of the little buggerfaces why they were setting off so many firecrackers these days, he said it was because Christmas is getting closer. Obviously.

4. Business training (real work).
Yes, I am still chuggin along on my actual Peace Corps work too. My life's not all technological, climatic, firecracker drama. This past week, I finally imparted a full day's presentation to the members of my coffee coop to prepare them to revise their business plan. Not to brag too much about the experience, but I feel like it was a pretty big success. We shall see in November how our revision goes, but I have high hopes.

Also, Ive been working on a series of short classes to give to families in my town on all things personal finance. According to the results of the survey that I conducted, the average number of years studied amongst the people in my town is 4.3. This means that almost nobody knows what a budget is or how (or why) to save. And, for a town that is struggling with perpetual poverty, in a place whose economy (income) depends principally on a seasonal crop, I think that some basic financial know-how could be of some real use. Sure, I'm trying to make these sessions basic and practical, so that people will actually be able to get something out of them. The goal is to start in November and Ive got the support of the local Patronato, the town council, to help me get people convinced to show up.

5. Survey and Census results.
Ive now officially completed a survey and a census of San Luis Planes. In case you're interested, here are a few of the results of the survey. There are 1325 people living in my site and 309 separate families and 349 houses. Of the 309 families, 35 have 5 or more acres of farmland (apx 11%) meaning that they are the rich people in town.

There is pretty interesting data on ages, that is good news, I think (sorry about the crappy version of the chart):

Younger people study more and have less children. But there is still a lot of work to do, obviously.

100% of the population uses wood burning stoves which, at the base of a protected cloud forest, can be an environmental risk. Not to mention that some of these stoves aren't ventillated externally and thus all the smoke stays in the house causing a wide range of respiratory problems, especially for children. And the average number of children per family is 4.4. Some families, though, have as many as 11 children and some household have as many as 12 people living there.
41% of people burn their trash and another 41% simply throw it somewhere. 6% of families still don't have a latrine in their house and have to use "campo libre" (the open field... they go outside). In 51% of the households in San Luis Planes, the mother does not work outside of the house. 49% of the population has to travel outside of the town to buy food. Also, 49% has to travel outside of the town to buy medicine. 94% of the population depends on the buses. So that means that if something happens to the buses or to the roads, half of the population would have a hard time getting food and medicine.

6. Ecotourism Committee.

Notice the epiphyte growth, looking up inside the cloud forest.

The two other PC volunteers who live in my area, both volunteers working with the Protected Areas Management project (ie the environmental volunteers), formed a committee that promotes ecotourism in our three towns. By the time I arrived to site, it was already up and running and thus, I got to hop on board just after the hardest part had been tackled.

One of the offshoot pools by the trail in the park.

Ecotourism, of course, means that the people here have an opportunity to make money while protecting the national park. Win win. The committee is working on environmental education right now, giving a series of chats to each community on topics like local natural resources, environmentally-friendly waste management, and bird migration. Im working on the next session with a couple other members and we'll be talking about global warming and how it is likely to affect Central America and a few things that people here can do to help mitigate the problem. Of course, global warming has to be a myth made up by those crazed leftwing scientists because it's cold in Honduras right now. Heh.
In the future, the committee will be training guides and finding families that are willing to sell food and rent rooms to tourists. We'll also be working on marketing and transportation. The dream is to one day convert the committee into an NGO that strives to protect the forest while promoting ecotourism. Our community members seem, for the most part, energized and committed.

So come down and visit the cloud forest, see some tucans.

7. Work in the school.

The school year here will end in less than a month and doesn't start up again until the end of February. Almost all of the kids here help their families harvest coffee starting in November. So after the teachers' strike that lasted almost a month, I wasn't left with a whole lot of time to get things accomplished in the school this school year. Lots of my work there will start next school year.

My journalism group is down to two (perhaps three) weeks before we are done. They've done a good job so far and have been enthusiastic about getting to use the computers to type up their articles. Teaching them how to revise their articles has been the most challenging. Many of them didn't even know what "revise" meant. But, we've been working hard and I think we'll be proud of our final product. They'll be up for sale once they're printed. So while you're coming down to visit the cloud forest to help out our ecotourism committee, you can buy a local paper too.

This coming week, a Health volunteer from a town nearby will be coming in to help the two other volunteers here and me give an HIV/AIDS awareness chat to the 6th-9th graders of the school in my site. We all had practice giving such sessions during training, so it should be a piece of pastel. They are really well written sessions and I think the kids end up getting a lot out of them. We'll even be doing banana-condom demonstrations.

I think that after mulling it over for a long time, Ive decided to start giving English classes to the adults of the community at large. I tried starting English classes for the teachers of my school here, but it never worked out, they never showed up. So I was hesitant to try again with a new audience. And some PC volunteers are against the idea all together, claiming that teaching English only extends American imperialism or that we're only training people here to become illegal immigrants in the US. But personally, Im of the opinion that learning a language is good for the brain and, like it or not, learning English opens the doors for success here in Honduras. So there. I may also be starting English classes directly to the school kids next school year-- but we shall have to see about that because Im not really trying to become a school teacher (too many headaches for me).

Finally, now that our principal here finally consented to installing the 15 computers that were delivered last year, I have a shiny new computer lab to work with. I'll be starting computer classes to the teachers beginning next school year that they'll be passing on to the kids. Internet is the next step.

8. November and December Plans.

Im headed to Panama City, Panama the first week in November. Then at the end of the month, Im planning to visit friends in the Department of Olancho (which, as Hondurans love to brag, is bigger than the entire country of El Salvador) for Thanksgiving. Im excitidely expecting visitors for a week in early December. Then, some of my PC friends and I have been talking about renting an island in the Carribean for Christmas. Apparently it's quite an affordable thing to do these days. Rent and entire island. Who knew?

So that's all from me my Internet readers. Hope your eyes didn't fall out from having to read so much. I send my best from here.

Still in Training

Hello. I’ve got a short and sweet blog entry this week! (For me, that is.)

1. Adaptation
2. Visiting Local Businesses
3. Bonfire, Cave Paintings

1. Adapting to Honduran culture. I just wanted to talk about ways that I think I am adapting slowly but surely to the Honduran lifestyle. Sure I’m still wet under the ears considering all the time I’ve got left here, but lots of things that were weird to me nine weeks ago are just part of my daily routine nowadays.

First is the food. I am completely used to and content with eating beans, rice, plantains, eggs and tortillas on a daily basis. They fill you up and I like the way they all taste together—at first it was weird mixing the sweetness of the plantains with everything else, but now it just feels normal.

Second, I’m learning how to live with and around kids. Sure, not every Honduran family has lots of kids, but many do; kids seem to be everywhere (something like nearly 50% of Honduras’ population is younger than 30!) Being an only child, I don’t really have too much experience living with young kids. But I think that my younger host siblings and I are getting along great and it’s actually been fun. We play lots of games (soccer, basketball, badminton, card games, who can make the weirdest face etc). I also get to help out with homework and English sometimes. If they start making trouble, I let the parents handle it. Win win. Also, the 17 year old host brother has become one of my best friends here in Ojojona and has been a big help with getting accustomed to the culture.

I don’t think twice about taking a cold bucket shower or flushing the toilet using a bucket. It’s inconvenient getting running water every four days, but it’s not the end of the world.

Finally, for the most part, I’m used to the weather. I still get hot, but I just don’t notice it as much. Besides, it makes my cold showers feel all the better.

2. Business Visits. As far as what I’ve been doing, we’ve been visiting lots of local businesses including a potter way up in the hills overlooking Ojojona, artisan shops in the main plaza, a tilapia farm 45 minutes into the woods on a very bumpy road, and a local cheese producer. The last made me a little nauseous, but the farm was really cool. I like how they’re making it a point to show us all aspects of typical Honduran businesses.

3. Bonfire and Cave Painting Adventure. Last weekend one of my follow volunteers had a bonfire in his back yard and we played guitar and had a good time. It’s nice to relax with on the weekend with fellow trainees. They will be a great support in the future both in terms of technical help and motivation.
Also, this past Sunday, eleven of us went on a real Honduran adventure, hiking into the woods in search of caves with wall paintings/carvings. We got a little lost because of bad directions, but it was a blast. It reminded me of Indiana Jones. We finally found the caves with the help of a local kid who lived around there. The paintings were neat, but sadly people had graffiti-ed the rest of the caves (see pic if it loads—which it probably won’t, based on my track record here). The whole thing took about five hours all together. De todos modos, it was awesome to get out into nature.

Tomorrow we’ve got our last technical interviews with our training directors in which we’re going to discuss possible sites/work.

Okay, those are this week’s thoughts. Hope everyone’s doing well in America.