Yay for San Pedro!

I'm currently in San Pedro, came in to town today to buy some gringa groceries (i.e. soy to make soy burgers, bagels, cream cheese) and pirated movies (Atonement, the new Batman, and Kite Runner for 5 bucks!) And am now comfortably seated in Espresso Americano, sipping some coffee and enjoying the very fast, very free internet.

On the bus to San Pedro today, I met an orthodontist that works in a clinic in the mountains of Quimistan. He and I were discussing the absolute disparity between rich and poor in Honduras. While I am incredibly lucky to live in a country that is developed enough that I have a cell phone, the internet, and if I really wanted, cable tv, that country only exists for a very small population here. The others, the campesinos, live without basic medical care, clean water, or electricity. This is something I have been struggling with lately, for many reasons. I have been asked to give some talks next week in Paso Viejo, an aldea on the border between Honduras and Guatemala (my municipality borders Guate) on personal hygiene and reproductive health/family planning. While I am happy to give these talks and do truly believe that everyone should be educated about birth control, condom use, the advantages of family planning, proper hygiene, etc., it is at times difficult for me to really believe that this information will change their quality of life. I am there to stress the use of family planning methods such as birth control pills, but our health center has been out of them for at least a month. I am supposed to encourage toothbrushing and clean drinking water, but many of the people I will be speaking with don't have the money to buy either. I guess I wonder if knowledge really is power, when the resources needed to put such knowledge into practice are so scarce. However, I will continue to soldier on, and hope it makes a difference for some.

On another note, I thought everyone might like a lesson on how to make tortillas (the easy way) and so am posting a how to guide:
You can start by A) growing, drying, and grinding your own corn, or you can go to your local super and pick up a bag of corn flour - you can see which one I have opted to go with here.
Add water,
Form the masa into little balls of dough,
and use your trusty tortilla make to mash them into tortillas. During the fateful tripped that included walking to Tegus, we spent an evening with a family that one of the other volunteers knew. I struck up a conversation with the abuelita (grandma) and told her that my tortilla making skills were incredibly lacking, and the I had been smashing the masa between two plates because I couldn't make them by hand. Before we left for the night, she gave me this tortilla maker to help me be a better Honduran cook. To be honest, I got a bit teary-eyed. And every time I use it (which is often) I think of her.
After masa has been smashed into a tortilla shape, transfer to a comal (piece of metal on stove) or in my case, a skillet, and cook. And the finished product:As you can see, I still need to work on my tortilla making a bit more, but I'd say I'm well on my way to becoming a fantastic Honduran cook.

Have a great weekend!