Welcome to Danlí

Our Field Based Training (FBT) town is called Danlí in the region of El Paraíso. It is a town of about 68,000 within the city limits and about 170,000 in the entire municipal area – a somewhat large city by Honduran standards. The city rests in a valley surrounded by green mountains. The climate is fairly hot, but there’s always a refreshing rain in the afternoons or evenings during this rainy season.

We liked the city as soon as we got here. The roads are paved, there are side walks, not nearly as many stray dogs around town, and most houses are well cared for and painted. There’s a very large Catholic church in the center of town with a pretty park in front. Danlicenses (as the people of Danlí are known) enjoy afternoons of relaxation sitting in the park. This was all nice change from the fast pace in Siguatepeque. Also, it is very apparent that the people of Danlí are more educated and more cultured than the other we have visited. This gives the town an almost cosmopolitan feel.

Our host family are simple, polite, and lovable people. Nohemy, our host mother, is a retired school teacher and a tireless head of family that works hard to take care of every member. You will always find her doing something around the house. Her Mom and Dad, The Valladareses, live in the house too. Mr. Vallarades is 81 and spends his day sitting in a chair at the gate of the house greeting people. He is well known and well liked around town. However, he seems to be loosing some of his mental faculties and often makes comments unrelated to the conversation at hand. One morning he told us how he wasn’t able to sleep all night because he was worried about Max and I being out in the streets and how, now that we live in his house, we are like family to him. We explained kindly that we had been home all night playing cards with his granddaughter. His wife is a beautiful grandmother that works hard making bread and cookies to sell in the local cafeterias and pulperias (corner stores). In her eighties, she is still working very hard, generating income for the household. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her resting. Both Nohemy and her Mom spend a lot of their time and energy caring for the men in the house.

Also in the house lives Kathya, Nohemy´s 16 year old daughter. Like most teenagers, she’s busy with school, friends, and having fun. There’s also a 20 year old cousin that sits all day in only his boxers, watching TV. We don’t really know what he does or why he lives there, but one thing is certain, he´s always first in line when it is time to eat. It’s been “interesting” to see how the women in the house always eat last, and from whatever is left after the men have eaten.

Our favorite person in the house is Nohemy’s 6 year old daughter, Ela Diosmira Valladares, but we’ll tell you about her in another posting.