Where do I start.... As you know, I was really apprehensive about the Pioneer Route for awhile there. My Spanish isn't the greatest not to mention I didn't have a clear view of just how "rustic" this whole experience was going to be. Once I got to the house of my host family I knew everything was going to be alright. The sister embraced me with a big hug and kiss and was so sincerely excited to see me that I felt like a long lost daughter coming home rather than a strange new house guest. Also there to welcome me was a friend from my English Congregation also serving on the route, another sister who is serving in sign language and the sister's teenage son. I took a quick once over of the new place: simple, dirt floors, a table and a few chairs. The three of us sisters on the route shared a room. It was small but larger than I had expected. I had a rope strung above my bed on which to hang my clothes. Most of my other items stayed in a suitcase under the bed. The elder in the group encouraged me to bring food since the closest grocery store is about an hour away by bus and most people only go grocery shopping once per month. We had no refrigerator so I brought mostly dry goods. There are also no vegetables in the area so I brought a huge box of all kinds of vegetables for all of us to eat over the next week. As the brothers from my old hall drove off, I looked around at my new home and couldn't wait to see what was in store.
The hog trying to make her way into the kitchen. She had 14 piglets a few months ago and is pregnant again. She and one of her piglets below still live at the house. The piglet is allowed to run through the house but mama is way too big!
The living room. Our house also doubled as the Kingdom Hall for the group so this is our literature counter.
Another view of the living room and the literature we had just received.
Kitchen
At first, the chickens would lay their eggs outside but then they started laying them in the kitchen and in other parts of the house. We had to find breakfast before we could cook it!
The outside stove. Usually used for cooking beans and other items that take a long time to cook.
Sink outside that we use to wash clothes. (Also used on occasion to kill chickens and scale freshly caught fish as I discovered on a few traumatic mornings). We fill the right side with water (about 4 of those paint buckets) and wash on the left side with the blue soap. I've gotten pretty strong from toting buckets of water :-) We would hang our clothes on the barbed wire fence around the house and they would usually dry in less than an hour from the heat.
Shower in the back yard. There is no roof so if you don't time things right during rainy season, you have to shower with cold rain pouring down on you :-( We get up really early so depending on which order we get in the shower, you get to bathe by moonlight or watch the sun come up.
You need to add an "encouraging" button on the reactions. That seems so rustic, but it sounds like you enjoyed yourself. My husband and I are thinking of doing a pioneer route when we come back to Honduras, but, like you, didn't really know what to think. Guess we better start working on our Spanish. Can't wait to hear the rest of your experiences.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely sign up for the route. It was soooo worth it!
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