When we first thought of moving the Conference on Honduras from Washington, DC to Copan Ruinas in 2003, the idea was to “test the waters” and see how easy (or difficult) it would be to stage the event in Honduras.

After having completed three consecutive conferences in Washington without any problems, we were concerned with the prospects of trying to organize the conference from afar (I live in Washington and my partners, Jerry and Sandra Thompson of Special Missions Foundation, live in a small town in Texas).

We knew a few people in Copan Ruinas, and we had a vague feeling that the town was the right place to hold the conference in Honduras. But that was it, really. In March 2003, I took my first trip to Copan Ruinas. My Hedman-Alas bus left Comayaguela around 6 am, and I arrived in Copan Ruinas shortly after noon. I walked down the cobblestone streets toward the central plaza and checked into the Plaza Copan hotel, next to the Catholic Church.

My first goal was to find Carin Steen, a local artist from Holland. I had been communicating with Carin by e-mail, and I felt perhaps she could be our point of contact in Copan Ruinas for the conference. I knew her studio was located in a building called “Casa de Todo” (House of Everything), and so I asked around and eventually found my way to an orange and blue, Spanish-tile building on the corner. I found Carin.

Through Carin, I also found two other cool ladies named Sandra Guerra and Flavia Cueva. Sandra was the owner of the Casa de Todo, which not only provided space for Carin’s studio but was also a gift shop, restaurant, tourism information center, laundromat, copy center, book exchange, and cybercafe. Flavia was the owner of Hacienda San Lucas, which is one of the
most serene and beautiful bed & breakfast
lodge/restaurants in the world.

All four of us ended up having lunch at Doña Albita’s Llama del Bosque restaurant. It is there that I felt reassured that Copan Ruinas was the perfect place for the conference.

The thing I have learned that has been the most helpful to projecthonduras.com in Honduras has been that any foreign group who wishes to have a presence in the country should have a Honduran “counterpart”. I learned this from my friend Kathy Tschiegg, who is the director of CAMO in Santa Rosa de Copan. Kathy gave a one-day Workshop on Sustainable Programs at the Conference on Honduras 2004.

I did not know what a counterpart was in 2003. I just knew that we needed someone “on the ground” if we hoped to put on a conference with a bare minimum number of headaches.

 

Now that we have successfully completed two Conferences on Honduras in Copan Ruinas, it has become quite clear
that there is no way we could have done it without a counterpart in Copan Ruinas. The details of staging an annual event for more than 250 people in Honduras are numerous.

We have to rent audio and translation equipment. We have to hire simultaneous translators. We have to rent tables, chairs, and tablecloths. We have to hire a caterer for the luncheons. We have to plan a reception. We have to rent tents. We have to assist conferees with their ground transportation and lodging reservations. We have to hire watchmen and people to
clean the bathrooms. We have to arrange for a backup power generator. We have to arrange to have coffee, water, and snacks. We have to coordinate with contributing supporters. We have to coordinate with
the local government and business community. We have to do the accounting for the money that was spent. I could go on and on.

Most importantly, though, we have to do all of this in a manner that is consistent with the local history, customs and relationships. We have to ensure that we
are welcomed guests in Copan Ruinas. The instant that the Conference on Honduras becomes the source of
problems for the community… that is when we know that we’ve done something wrong that needs to be resolved openly, graciously, and quickly.

I will tell you sincerely that there is no way we could do all of this without my dear friend Sandra Guerra of Casa de Todo. It is Sandra who has emerged as “la directora” of the Conference on Honduras in Copan Ruinas. Sandra is the consummate businesswoman, and she is also a native of Copan Ruinas. She is our counterpart in Copan Ruinas, and Casa de Todo is homebase for the Conference on Honduras… for as long as they’ll have us. Thank you Sandra, and thank you Copan Ruinas.

Marco Cáceres

July 18, 2005