Cusuna

Cusuna Weekend 

Our group spend the weekend in the Garifuna* village of Cusuna, one of the poorer villages in Honduras. They don’t even have electricity. This weekend was my favorite so far and was the first time I was truly happy here. We spent the days (after 11+ hours in a school bus) swimming in the sea with the locals, learning about the Garifuna culture, and sharing our culture in return. Here are just a few stories from this trip.

Sketchy (M)otel

By the time we started getting closer to the village, it was too dark to navigate on the steep, twisty-turny, water covered roads, so we stopped at this super shady motel. We were all so exhausted and hot and were looking forward to a good night’s sleep in our small rooms. The set up was a double bed and a twin bed- between four people. Because everyone turned on their air conditioners at the same time, we shorted out the fuse, leaving us in tiny saunas to sleep. Someone came around with fans for every room, but our room’s outlets didn’t work. After everyone in our room showered (sharing two towels), we got ready for bed- leaving the door open because otherwise it was completely miserable. One of us started to laugh at how completely ridiculous the night was turning out to be when a girl from another room came over saying they had frogs and cockroaches in their room so they were going to sleep outside. Which made us laugh even more. And then someone else came to tell us the air was working in their room, so we should try it. We tried to plug it in, and Heather prayed “God, please make it do something.” We plugged it in and a light came on! We were so excited. Then it started emitting this high pitch beeping noise and blinking lights at us. We finally just ended up lying on the sketchy sheets and falling asleep to the sounds of everyone else laughing at what a crazy night we were having.

Community Show

The community put on a show to show off their culture. There was dancing and singing- things that Dutch people can’t do. We all sat in a small school room and tons of little kids crowded around behind us watching the two shows- the dancing and the gringos. One little boy sat on my lap, clapping to the beats- a feat which I couldn’t quite master. The girls and boys could dance so well- even Pablo and a few others in our group got up and showed off their stuff. I didn’t really understand the words because it was in Garifuna, but it was still really cool to see.

Shoes

I thought I only brought four pairs of shoes to Honduras. But, I have four pairs of shoes more that some of the people in Cusuana. The majority of people wear the type of flip flops that you can get at old navy or Wal-Mart- plastic and cheap. Then, there were those who couldn’t afford even that and ran around their village barefoot, even though there was trash everywhere. Those who didn’t have shoes would come and watch us eat, but since we didn’t have enough to give to all of them, we couldn’t share. It was really heart-breaking to see then with their little fingers poking through the slits in the windows.

6-year-old mafias

One night I was just sitting on a log, reading my Bible and writing in my journal. These two six-year-old girls came up to me and demanded that I give them a dollar. I didn’t have a dollar, so they told me to give them my Bible and my journal. I told them that it wasn’t nice to go to people and demand things. They told me they would wait while I got a dollar. I then told them to go hit up the others.

Church

In order to get to church, we not only walked and took a bus, but we also took a couple huge lanchas*. It was really tippy, but it’s okay because we read from Jonah, just to be safe. Walking up the road, we could hear drums and singing. We walked in a did the “I’m gonna clap along and sway bach and forth because I don’t know what else I am supposed to do” dance. Then the women started pulling us all forward, and we all ended up sweating and dancing together for the same great God. We sang a couple songs in English/Spanish for them as well- some of which they knew in Spanish/Garifuna. The sermon was translated into Spanish from Garifuna for us, but by this point I was so tired I had a hard time telling which one was which. After the church service I was feeling a bit dizzy, and then a lot dizzy. Someone got me a chair, which we tried to move to the shade, but before we made it to some shady destination, I hit the dirt. The next thing I remember is that someone was giving me this gross candy and coconut water- which I hate. By this point a group of Garifunas had gathered and was watching me. Then the combination of feeling so dizzy and the coconut water made me sick, so I just threw up in front of all these people. I felt better and then we ate “espegheti”, my favorite food. After resting for a bit, we all walked to a gorgeous Catholic cathedral, took our boats back to our village and went swimming.

Beetle in my pants

The last night, after swimming again in the medusa*-filled sea, our group of 30 ate at an outdoor restaurant. After we were finished with our chicken or fish, we went and danced in the streets where a few guys were playing loud music. After a while of dancing, another girl and I had to go to the bathroom so we went in searching. We didn’t actually find a servicio*, but we did find a bush. When drove back to the houses we were staying at, and as I changed into my pajamas, a beetle fell out of my shorts- and it was still alive. Now I know, always check for bugs before you pee in someone’s backyard.

Return trip

The question that constantly kept going through my mind through this trip was, “Is this really happening?” Well, the return trip was no exception. First, we drank tang- the Honduraño equivalent to orange juice. We made a stop for bathrooms, and one girl got stuck in the bathroom for almost twenty minutes. Some men finally came and just broke down the door for her. We stopped for dinner at this really cute restaurant, which was relatively normal (and delicious). A few hours later, we stopped again for bathrooms. I started getting dizzy again, so I bought some juice. Just as we were about to get back on the bus, I realized that I was going to be sick. So, I ran back in with Pablo yelling “Estás bien?” No, I was not bien. I slept for twenty minutes on the bus, but then we got stuck in a traffic jam. At this point two other girls started throwing up. I had to get off the bus, and then I started throwing up on the side of the road. I got back on and couldn’t stop throwing up for the last hour of the bus ride. I started shaking and then I couldn’t feel my body, which was one of their weirdest sensations ever. People kept asking me things, but I didn’t know what language they were speaking and I just wanted to sleep. We finally got back and took a taxi to our houses, where I just went to sleep. I stopped throwing up, but then I got diarrhea around midnight. So, it was just a really long night for me. I am ready for a new day, but still, I had the best weekend. I am just so joyful that I got to have an amazing time learning about the Garifunas and the people in my group. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

A song that sums up the weekend- we sang it at church

Estoy Alegre (I’m joyful)

                ¿Porqué estás alegre? (Why are you joyful)

Estoy Alegre (I’m joyful)

                Cuénteme porque. (Tell me why)

Estoy Alegre (I’m joyful)

                ¿Porqué estás alegre? Eso quiero yo saber.(Why are you joyful? I want to know)

Voy a contarte. (I’m going to tell you)

                ¿Puedes contarme? (Can you tell me?)

La razón de estar algre es asi Haleluja Gloria (The reason to be happy is this)

Cristo un día me salvó y mi alma transformó (Christ saved me and transformed my spirit)

Y eso quiero algre estoy. (And for this I want to be happy).

               

Garifuna= a person of African ancestry who lives in a segregate community on the coast of Honduras.

Lanchas= large canoes, that are not really stable with twenty people.

Medusa= Jellyfish

Servicio= bathroom