Kevin´s Visit

In 1966 Kevin & Ellen and their 8 kids moved to South Korea and Kevin, my grandfather, became the first director of the South Korean Peace Corps. Forty-two years later he arrived in Honduras to check up on his Peace Corps Volunteer granddaughter.

He almost didn’t make it out of Cleveland, because apparently there was a huge blizzard (and he temporarily misplaced his passport). In the end he found his passport, got a taxi to the airport in the middle of the night and flew out of Cleveland at the crack of dawn and arrived safely in Tegucigalpa, Honduras around noon. I met him at the airport and from there we checked into the Maya Hotel (which is very fancy for a Peace Corps Volunteer). We took a walk to the Central Park to see the cathedral and had an ice cream cone from McDonalds (the first of many). Then Kevin took a nap and I went to the Peace Corps office to take advantage of free internet and air conditioning. That night we had dinner with Trudy Jaycox, the director of the PC in Honduras. Kevin and Trudy shared lots of stories about the old days and compared how it used to be. Things have definitely changed over the past 50 years (there are definitely more rules now, Kevin would never be able to get away with what he did back in the day).
Trudy, Kevin & I

The next day we headed back to my site in Santa Barbara to hang out for the week. Kevin was able to see where I live, eat in all the best restaurants in town (there are about 3), meet my counterparts, attend boring meetings in Spanish, see the view from the castle, wait around a lot and most importantly spend quality time with his granddaughter.

I was really excited that Kevin would be able to see the work I do and the people I work with since my parents didn’t really get to see me in action when they came to visit because it was during the holidays and we traveled so we were out of my site most of the time. The first day we went to El Pinal, an Agua Pura community where we have installed filters. The two health promoters for Agua Pura were holding a community agents training all day long to teach community members about the filters. Obviously the training was in Spanish, so it was a little boring for Kevin (actually we were both falling asleep during it), so we decided to explore the community. We just started walking along the road and found the kindergarten and stopped in to say hi to the teacher. Then as we were passing by a house three heads popped out of the door and watched us as we walked by, so we decided to go talk to them. That is one of the things I love about Honduras, you can just go into a perfect strangers house and sit down and have a conversation.

Blanca Rosa, her grandson and Kevin

Later on we passed by another house that was holding a cooking class and invited ourselves in to see what they were up to. A woman from INFOP (Honduran Professional Development Institute) was leading cooking classes that included various uses of soy products. On thing that really impressed me was the use of soy flour in the tortillas. Generally the tortillas are made of corn and water and fill the belly but are not very nutritious, so adding soy to them doesn’t change the flavor but adds protein. At the end of the day we went to visit another woman’s house who owned a coffee farm and tons of animals, so Kevin was able to ask all sorts of questions about coffee production and sales.


I had also set up a Men’s Health Workshop to facilitate while Kevin was in town because it is one of the most fun and interactive projects that I work on (which means that even though it is in Spanish it would still be entertaining). We arrived in the community and at first nobody showed up…We realized we had the wrong time, we were an hour early, so we waited. Then another hour passed by and still nobody showed up…Then it came out that the person who was supposed to remind everybody about the meeting forgot and therefore nobody showed up. Later on we found out that there was an important futbol game, so we think that also had something to do with it. So, then we decided to call it a day and go home, but then the truck that was supposed to pick us up had to do something else, so we had to wait some more…Well, I wanted Kevin to see me what my life is like here, and that he did…lots of waiting and tons of miscommunication.

That night we had dinner with five of the volunteers from around the Santa Barbara area. I think it was fun for Kevin to hear stories about what each of them does and their opinions about Peace Corps. After dinner we of course went for ice cream (the second cone of the day for Kevin & I) and talked until past 9 pm.

We also hiked (in a taxi) up to the castle that overlooks Santa Barbara.
Kevin overlooking Santa Barbara

Everybody in Santa Barbara was very impressed to meet my grandfather and thought it was wonderful that he was brave enough to come down and visit me. They all asked how old he was (that is not rude here) and were so amazed at how strong and energetic he was.

Friday morning we went to Copan Ruinas to check out the Mayan ruins. This time it took us just under 3 hours to get there, compared to the 7 hours it took to get there with my parents because we hired a car and driver (that is definitely the way to go). We checked into the Hacienda San Lucas, which is an incredible B&B overlooking the town of Copan (Kevin loved it!). We went and did a quick tour of the ruins, napped in the hammocks and then had dinner (the most amazing Honduran food I have ever had) at the Hacienda with Christine, an Agua Pura volunteer who lives in Copan.

Kevin at Copan Ruinas

Doing what Peace Corps volunteers do best...(that is a joke).

The next day we slept in until 9 am, it was so nice! We had a leisurely breakfast and then went to Luna Jaguar, a natural hot springs in the mountains outside of Copan. We started out with a tour of the hot springs, which consisted of walking in hot and cold water to open up the pours, having a very natural mud mask, sitting in a “sauna” which was built over a small waterfall (the water comes out of the mountain at 85 degrees Celsius so just the steam is enough to heat the sauna naturally) and finishing it off by sitting first in a hot tub and then in a freezing cold tub.
At the second station our guide told me to get into a murky pond and then go over to the rock in the middle of it and stick my hand underneath it to dig up some mud and rub it all over my face. Meanwhile she and Kevin just watched and I’m sure they were thoroughly amused because I was freaking out the whole time and it took a while for me to stick my hand under a rock in murky water (the guide kept reassuring me that there was nothing in the water except mud…)
This is the cold tub…it was really cold.

Then we were free to swim in the two pools that were filled with water from the hot springs, and were thus hot, which on an incredibly hot day were not the most refreshing thing, so I went and laid in the river and then we headed back to Copan.

We finished the night with another wonderful dinner at the Hacienda and then left for the airport in San Pedro Sula first thing the next morning for Kevin’s flight. Overall it was a wonderful trip and I was so proud to have my grandfather here.
Kevin & I at Hacienda San Lucas our last night in Copan Ruinas