Nourish goes to Honduras

Reflecting on my trip so far and realizing how quickly it seems to be coming to an end, I realized that one thing has remained uniquely constant: my continuously growing respect for the many Honduran women I've met and befriended here in Jesus de Otoro and the surrounding communities.  At 9:20 pm I find myself a wilting gringa after a night of a little less sleep than usual and a full day of Cambio Climatico Linea Base interviews.  This however never seems to be the case with the women here, who posess an inner strength and work ethic unlike any I've ever seen.  Countless times I've been amazed how tirelessly these Hondurenas work, and the past weekend spent constructing the greenhouse in Ojo de Agua was no exception.  After a day of working on the greenhouse in Ojo de Agua followed by a lively "culture night" with the community, I could have slept in until almost noon.  However I was awoken by the sound of beans and tortillas cooking in the kitchen and the happy morning greetings of Dona Isi's large family at about 6:00 am.  I lay in my sleeping bag thinking about how even this morning was a late start for Dona Isi, who usually has to wake up at 4am, prepare breakfast for her family, and make the hour and a half journey (mostly walking on a steep mountain path) to the FIPAH office in Otoro.  Many of the women here wake up first in the morning to begin cooking (which is a much more substantial task when literally all of the food is prepare from scratch), take care of most of the house affairs, wait until everyone else is fed before eating, and are most often the last to go to sleep.  As I hopelessly try to keep up with these women I can only hope that some of their quiet strength will rub off, and after 5 weeks here I am only beginning to understand what it means to be a Hondureña.