Adventures in Copan

Copan is one of the departments that borders my department of Santa Barbara; it is located to the South West of where I’m at, about an hour bus ride west from San Marcos. Although it is really close it is quite different (much cooler and wetter) and was relatively unknown to me. This last week we had a workshop for “Yo Tambien Merezco” in Santa Rosa de Copan, which, according to most volunteers, is there favorite/best city in Honduras. It isn’t a big city it has everything that you need, it is pretty, has stores, a market, nightlife, paved streets, and great food while still having Peace Corps budget prices. This workshop had the benefit of being in the city as opposed to previous ones that were in the outskirts, this meant that during breaks, lunch, and at night we could actually go out and do stuff instead of being confined to a conference center. The workshop was a great success, I feel like my counterpart, a 6th grade teacher, is really interested in implementing it in site, also people had a lot of fun and made good friendships. This was also the first time that I had met any of the new H-17 volunteers, all very interesting in their own ways. Other highlights of the workshop were great food, eating 10 pieces of cake in one day, buying a phone, discussing future projects with my boss/other volunteers and finding a random Christmas store with trees, lights, Santa Clauses and everything. The workshop was a quick Wednesday afternoon through Saturday morning trip.
Halloween is one of the biggest Peace Corps events of the year and it is always celebrated in Las Ruinas de Copan, a small town famous for their Mayan Ruins and a hotspot for tourists in Honduras. The thing about having Halloween be such a big deal is that for the rest of the year Volunteers are constantly planning and working on costumes. In the past 8 months I don’t know how many ideas I have gone through, but somehow John and I, by the time we were at the workshop still hadn’t really decided about what we wanted to be. We had almost given up and gone with a simple backup plan, Mormons, when all of a sudden we got the chance to spice it up a notch. For the last month we had joked around about being colegio (high school) girls. All students in Honduras wear uniforms so everyone knows what students look like, people had been talking about being high school students for Halloween, but we decided to kick it up a notch and play the gender card along with it. The problem was that asking to borrow a uniform (uniform top, high socks, and a pleated skirt) is a little bit awkward for male volunteers to do. Fortune shined it{s face upon us when, in Santa Rosa, while wandering around the market, we found a vendor that sold school uniforms. With the help of a female volunteer we managed to buy uniforms for $10, well worth it.
Saturday night in Las Ruinas was the night of the big party, a series of dance parties at bars around town. John and I shamelessly donned our uniforms and walked through the central park to the bar. We knew instantly that our costumes were a success, people stared, shocked initially and then started shouting out piropos (catcalls) and laughing hysterically…turns out two over six foot tall gringos in skirts aren’t the most common sights in Honduras. Throughout the night we got many sexually charged comments and even a few pinches and squeezes, fortunately neither of us cared or were worried, but I completely understand how uncomfortable actual girls would feel while wearing skirts…lots of funny stories that I’m not going to write down. It ended up being a very amusing and late night, one that won’t be forgotten by me or the local Hondurans for some time to come.