A Gringa No Brasil

Part of the Peace Corps policy is that volunteers have to live with a host family for at least the first two months of their service. This is to help with their language acquisition and community integration. I told myself that I would be moving out as soon as my first two months were up because my language level is already up to par, and thanks to having training in the same site, my community integration was well on its way too. However, I forgot to take into account the fact that housing might not be available when I wanted to move. I never thought that would be a possibility because Cantarranas is a fairly large community in comparison to many of the other volunteer sites, and the majority of PCVs live on their own. Well ever since November I've been looking for independent housing, and while I will be moving next month, it's only a temporary fix.

Over the past few months I've had a lot of real estate ups and downs. There are no realtors in Cantarranas and no ways to advertise places for rent. It's a small town, and everything is done by word of mouth. So I talked to everyone I knew, told them what I was looking for and my budget, and hoped that they would get back to me with good news. What I got instead were places that didn't meet Peace Corps regulations or were too expensive or too far away from the center for me to safely walk there after dark. I also found a bunch of homes that are far too large for one person. Canta has a lot of old Spanish colonial style houses with high ceilings, courtyards, and way too many rooms for me to handle (and pay for) by myself. Every time someone told me about another place that was up for rent, I would get my hopes up, but a chat with the landlord or a visit to the house always set me back at square one.

It was frustrating not being able to have my independence and my own space, but I get along really well with my host family so I didn't mind too much. Also, my host siblings had school vacation from November until about a week ago so they've mostly been in Tegucigalpa with extended family, which definitely makes the house a lot more peaceful. However, this past month I've really been pressured to find a new place. At the end of January, my host mom had another baby, which is adorable and cute and all that good stuff, but it also means that the house is a bit more crowded now. She went to Tegucigalpa to have the baby delivered in a hospital and was there with family until yesterday when she arrived back in Cantarranas with the newborn and her two older kids. My host great grandmother (Mamaita) is still in Teguz, but will be home next week.

They haven't asked me to leave or told me that I should move out, but the house only has two bedrooms - one for me and one for the five members of my host family. So obviously it would be more comfortable for everyone if I move it. About a month ago, I was finally told about an apartment that was being renovated and would be a good fit for me. I was stoked to say the least, especially since the landlord told me it would be ready for February and was within my budget. Well February rolled around, and in true Honduran fashion, the repairs were way behind schedule. I visited again the other day and found out that the apartment probably wouldn't be ready for March either. Boo.

So in the mean time, I was lucky to find a small bedroom/bathroom combo that's a couple blocks away from my host family. No kitchen means I'll still be going over to their place to cook and eat, but it's a step in the right direction. I'll be moving in there at the start of March (once I get back from vacation in Roatan with the family and Neka!). Hopefully the other apartment will be ready by April, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime I put in a plea to Peace Corps staff for a bigger housing budget so that I might be able to afford something else should this place fall through. Fingers crossed!