My good friend and fellow PCV, Susan, who is currently working as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader in Peru, traveled nearly an entire day to visit me in Honduras. After a delayed take-off in Mexico City due to a malfunctioning air mask, she finally landed in Honduras to find that there was an impending hurricane and that we would have to travel half-way across the country to a relocation point in the dusty and unremarkable town of Siguatepeque. She handled the news with grace, and a laugh particular to Susan that said, “Of course there’s a f---ing hurricane!” In the end, the storm turned into a tropical depression and, after a two-day stay in Siguatepeque, we returned to my site.

I was ever-so-slightly apprehensive that Susan would be bored by her stay in Honduras, namely because I didn’t make any plans to travel during her 10-day visit. Of course, I need not have worried, after two years spent together in Peru, endless combi rides and chats in the Pacora plaza, we could probably talk for years without getting bored. Numerous hours of her visit were spent playing Boggle, to which Susan quickly became addicted. My sister will be proud because Susan also became addicted to making candle holders out of aluminum cans and left me with a plethora that I’ll eventually have to explain to the neighbors. Also, we hiked the trail in the woods and braved the freezing cold water in the stream for a quick dip.

The day before she left we returned to San Pedro Sula to revel in the delights of the big city, mainly the Supermarket and Subway. I had no idea how amazing Subway sandwiches were until I went without eating one for three years. They even had cheddar cheese to put on them at the City Mall in San Pedro. Susan was particularly excited by the Honey Bunches of Oats available at the supermarket and her sole souvenirs were grocery items such as olive oil, pancake mix and parmesan cheese!

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One of the reasons I was hesitant to travel while Susan was here was because I just didn’t want to deal with anything like what I went through at the end of my parents’ trip. However, I also wanted to stay in site in case I needed to take care of anything for the latrine project. As I’ve discovered in the Peace Corps, if it’s not one thing, it’s always another. And, true to any PC project, the latrine project is no exception.

The municipality came through on the funding but, from the beginning they were unclear about when we would actually get the supplies. One day, the vice-mayor called to ask why we hadn’t picked up the supplies, which took me by surprise because I had no idea we were supposed to in the first place. Two days later he called to say that we couldn’t actually pick up the supplies. Nonetheless, everything worked more or less smoothly and yesterday the majority of the supplies were delivered to El Sauce.

On Thursday, six members of the project are going to participate in a training session to learn how to build the latrines. My neighbor, the sole builder in my town, will be leading the training. While he has been sporadically very helpful, often I feel like I’m talking to a controlling brick wall. Yesterday he informed me that we would need TWICE the amount of rebar than we asked for. Read, we asked for the amount that he specified when I specifically asked him to go over the materials list two months ago. He literally wanted to know who had told me to ask for only 2 bars per latrine. I was incredulous but unsurprised. He is constantly giving me what I assume to be accurate information and then, when I repeat it later he looks at me like I’m crazy and changes the number.

I’m crossing my fingers that all goes well. It’s difficult to keep track of all the things that might go wrong. The truck that hauls the sand might literally cause the road to collapse. The cement might go bad because it’s the rainy season. The project might not be complete before the coffee-picking season commences in November which would lead to a whole slew of problems. More than likely though everything will turn out more or less okay and I will have fretted my way through the project for nothing.