So Where Are We?

A very quick snapshot of the country for those of you scratching your head as to where and what Honduras is.  Honduras is smack-dab in the middle of Central America, bordered on the NW by Guatemala, SW by El Salvador, SE by Nicaragua, the Pacific to the south and the Caribbean to the north.  By the way, you can click on any and all photos to enlarge them for a better view.

 

Honduras is divided into 18 departments, or states, that are home to 8 million people.  There are roughly 1 million Hondurans living overseas, primarily in the USA and Spain (20% of the country's economy is made up by remittances sent home by family members living abroad).  The primary business clusters are agri-business (coffee, bananas are the 2 biggest exports), forestry (I've never seen so many pine trees in my life), and tourism (once home to the mighty Mayans).  

The country has seen two recent setbacks, one caused by nature, the other by man.  In 1998, Hurricane Mitch wiped out 50% of the country's infrastructure.  Close to 6,000 people were killed and the country was set back by 30 years, helping make it the 3rd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  In 2009, the country had a constitutional crisis, which resulted in a military coup that ousted then President Mel Zelaya, which resulted in an international backlash due to the illegality of the coup.  It seems that the country has pretty much moved on from both instances and is looking forward to a better future.

Above is a map showing the 4 training sites.  The main PC training center is located in Zarabanda, very close to Valle de Angeles.  The other circles indicate the Field Based Training sites for Business (Yuscaran), Water and Sanitation (El Paraiso), and Health (Villa de San Antonio).

The Peace Corps has been in Honduras for 49 years.  Currently, there are roughly 170 PC Volunteers here, placed throughout the country, working in 6 project areas.  Besides the 3 already mentioned, there are also folks working in Youth Development, Municipal Development, and Protected Area Management.  We all go through the same 11 weeks of training (besides the obvious technical stuff) and we all take the same oath to the United States government to work for two years towards a) meeting Honduras' need for trained men and women in our respective fields, b) in promoting a better understanding of Americans on the part of Hondurans, and c) in promoting a better understanding of Hondurans on the part of Americans.