Lanee and I traveled with eight people in a van with two tour guides. We went to an open air farmers market, a craft market, a village, and a local school. There are 890 students and 22 teachers in the school we visited. They have no electricity (so no fans, heater, calculator, computer, projectors, running water...etc.). There are no text books or school lunches. A starting teacher is paid $8,000 US dollars per year. They do have an outhouse for the men and the women. The school library has recently received a set of encyclopedias printed in 1980. If each student checked out two books from the library the shelves would be empty. There is no glass in the window so a cool breeze is appreciated in this tropical climate. The students come to school with one folder containing paper and pencil (no lockers needed). The chalk boards and chalk are still the primary way of teaching. Most students walk to school and there are no buses. Over 95 percent of the people have no washing machine, refrigerator, television, computer, or cell phone.
Eight families live at the village we visited. They still prepare meals and do work as a village. This village makes extra income from a bed and breakfast house where one family could come and stay in the village. They guest facilities have solar panels used for charging a battery so you could have light in the evening. But overall it was about the same as the school...not much on American standards for living.
