Drum Roll!!!! Site announcement!!!

Sorry for keeping you all in suspense for such a long time, the last couple of weeks have been hectic, and we haven’t had much time to spend on the internet. First and foremost… WE GOT IT!!! The site we really wanted, and we will be spending the next two years living in the north coast of Honduras, in a town called La Ceiba.

La Ceiba is the third largest city of Honduras. The name originates from a huge Ceiba tree that was next to the beach providing shade to the workers at the dock and locals during the afternoon. As a coastal city, La Ceiba is very humid and hot and there is a lot of rain throughout the year. As far as Peace Corps experiences go, this is not the typical one. Rarely do PC volunteers live in big cities with all the amenities.

We will be living in a beautiful house that we will share with two other people. Max and I agree this is probably the nicest house we’ve ever lived in and very likely the nicest house in Peace Corps history. In it we have washer and dryer, a full kitchen, a bathtub, flushable toilets, and AC in our bedroom. There’s a patio and a terrace with 4 hammocks… I am laying in one while typing this entry. Max’s favorite amenity is the wireless broadband internet connection in the house!!! To give you an idea how unusual this is, a lot of our friends are going to small towns (aldeas) with no electricity and/or running water. For some of them, the nearest bus stop drops them and hour away walking from their town. Some will be living in adobe houses with no phone in the entire community, much less internet.

You could be living in the nicest place on earth and hate what you do and be very unhappy. It seems like that will not be our case. I will be working with the “Fundacion Cayos Cochinos” (The Hog Island Foundation). This is an organization that protects the coral reefs of a group of keys near La Ceiba. The focus of my job will be to work with the fishing communities on the coast to help them find sources of income that are in tune with the plan to protect the reef. There’s also a lot of work that goes on monitoring the reefs, animals, and plants on the keys and there will be times where I might be diving the reefs doing health checks with the biologists, counting pink boas, tracking turtle nesting cycles, etc. It is all like working for the discovery channel. My second project is to work with a vocational school for poor kids. It was founded with funds from USAID and is now having sustainability issues. My job will be mainly to help them define and implement a long term vision to ensure their sustainability, find sources of funds and define a marketing strategy to attract new students.

Max is assigned to work with the third largest financial cooperative in the country. His main focus will be to help them define their IT strategy, including the connectivity of their satellite offices. Since cooperatives are community-based non-profit organizations, the idea is that making it more efficient will enable them to serve the community better. His secondary project is with an organization of wood artisans that develop eco-friendly forestry practices. Max will help them open new markets, potentially to sell their products internationally. We’ve heard that they have already produced parts for Gibson Guitars in the U.S., but that they need help improving their internal processes and cycle time to be more efficient.

All and all, we are as happy as can be with our new home and jobs and can’t wait to get started. We are also a little anxious about the big job ahead… certainly a great adventure awaits us!!!