Culture
Roatán through Rose Colored Glasses
By Genny Ross-Barons
I do tend to view Roatán through rose colored glasses. When I was first told that I did, I was upset. I mean, after all, a “rose colored glasses” point of view is bad… right? I needed to know, so I did a little research. My indignant attitude was quickly transformed to one of pride. Yes, I dwell on everything positive about Roatán: I choose not to write stories, talk on the Roatán Vortex radio show, or post pictures that focus on negative aspects of Roatán. There is a bonus to my rose colored glasses outlook. A study by the University of Toronto posted results of their findings in Science Daily in 2009 that showed that people who wear rose colored glasses see more!
"The Alligators Were Scarier"
At night, they would sleep in the forests, which Angela noted were full of tree snakes and ground snakes. “I was so afraid of the snakes,” she told me, “but I was so tired and I didn’t have any choice, so I slept with the snakes.”
By Doña Bárbara
You don’t have to mingle in the Honduran-American community in the United States too long before you encounter someone who is here without benefit of the appropriate documents. Unlike the Europeans, Africans or Asians I’ve known who mostly overstayed their student or tourist visas, most undocumented Hondurans I’ve met seem to have come in through the back door. For the uninitiated, that door would be called Texas. I met one such immigrant this week, and while everyone has their own unique journey to share, what made Angela’s story unique to me was her youth. At 16, she is relatively close in age to one of my own daughters, and as we talked I couldn’t help but imagine my daughter going through the same experiences as Angela. In fact, I had a hard time imagining it at all.
Tears of Blood
Here in our village, we cried for the son all night and all day. The Miskito families love their children with a love that is almost unfathomable.
It was just past midnight when I was awakened by a loud noise that sounded like bombs exploding. I looked up at the sky and it was so illuminated that I thought that some people might be celebrating a religious event with fireworks, as is the case whenever there is a carnival dedicated to the Virgin Mary. But the explosions continued in rapid succession, as if all the rifles, grenades, and mortars in the local armory were being fired at once. I felt my heart pounding. I asked my daughter what she thought all the commotion could be. Very calmly, she said, "The two most powerful drug cartels in La Mosquitia are fighting for power and vengeance." My daughter explained that it was nothing new. "Here in this town, we are accustomed to hearing those noises. We can do nothing about it, though, because there is no justice in La Mosquitia," she said. "We just keep quiet, with the hope that God will save us before everything is destroyed."
Ricardo Agurcia Will Lecture on Maya in Washington
Renowned Maya civilization archaeologist Ricardo Agurcia of the Copán Association will lecture today at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC on the theme, "From Rosalila to Oropendola: Unearthing Maya Secrets at Copán, Honduras". The lecture, hosted by the Embassy of Honduras, is scheduled at 5:30 pm. On June 23, 1989, while directing tunnel excavations under Temple 16, at the center of the Copán Acropolis, Mr. Agurcia discovered a building that would surprise Maya scholars. He gave it the field name of "Rosalila". To date, this building represents the best example of Early Classic architecture and monumental art at Copán.
The Bats are Social in Honduras
Last week, I noticed that Lucero (one of our horses) had dried blood on his neck, and I took note that a vampire bat had visited. This normally is no big deal, but this bat kept returning every night to feed.
By Rodger Harrison
Just when you think you have seen it all, you realize you haven't. First, before I begin this story, you need to know that vampire bats are real and they do exist here in Central America, and as a rule they don't bite people. In fact, their natural food source is wild pigs, or large warm-blooded animals like cows and horses. Unlike the legendary vampires of old, vampire bats do not suck blood, and they are very social, as well as loving parents to their offspring. However, they do bite, and they do live entirely off blood that they lap up with their tongue after making a small cut with their front teeth.
Pick Super Bowl Outcome, Win Honduras Weekly Ad
Kick off time for Super Bowl 45 between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers is at 6:30 pm US Eastern. The oddsmakers have the 3-time Super Bowl champion Packers as the favorites to win over the 6-time winner Steelers. In honor of the game and for the sake of a little self-promotion on our part, Honduras Weekly will give away a Bronze Sponsor full banner advertisement (with hyperlink) to any business or organization working in Honduras or involved in projects related to Honduras that comes closest to predicting the outcome of the game. The free ad will be positioned on the right-hand column of every page of the newspaper for a year. All you have to do is e-mail your pick for the winner, along with a final score, to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it prior to the start of the game. Include your name and the name of your company or group, plus a website address. That's it. Spread the word, and good luck. (2/6/11) (image courtesy Internet)
Postgame Note: The winner of the free ad contest is Steve Malone of Healthy Horizons for Children & Families of Niagara Falls (Ontario), Canada. Steve correctly picked the Green Bay Packers over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Several others also went with the Packers, but Steve's score of 27-19 had the closest point spread to the final score of 31-25. (2/7/11)
Roatán and About: Zolitor Ain't So Dumb
By Don Pearly
One can sometimes get the pulse of Roatán Island by tapping into the local chat sites where mainly the expats vent. Oh, there are some actual authentic locals now and again, but for the most part it is the newbies or the oldie regulars doing the chatting. This week’s big news is a frontal attack on the country's Customs Agency. What can I say... are they really out of control? To me it seems they are actually completely “in control”, just as they have been for many years. The bosses come and the bosses go but the mordida is always there. Mordidas are the "little bites" they graciously accept to make things a bit easier on us financially. The really bad part comes when our friends at Customs get mad at us for complaining, which only encourages them to make our lives a living hell by creating more red tape to make it more problematic to get our items through, or simply losing our valuables altogether.
Homage to Doña Martina
To a Honduran woman who shows with a unique elegance how all work should be done; with an enthusiasm for doing it well, and with a smile and a kind word.
By Guillermo Anderson
"You can come in my dear... it's clean," she said to me with a smile, as I was entering the bathroom of the gas station where I'd stopped just outside the town of La Entrada (Copán). It was the first time that I'd met Mrs. Martina Maldonado, who was in charge of cleaning and tidying up the bathrooms. It's a pleasure to go into a fresh public bathroom with an attendant who is helpful to children who enter with their parents. Her smile and caring are sincere, and if she happens to recognize someone she'll make a comment about how it seemed like only yesterday that their child had been a baby and "my how much he's grown". Martina personifies in every way the word "homemaker". She does not rest, and you see her walking from one side to another with a small bucket of water and a mop.
Roatán and About: Pushing Pumpkins Seeds
By Don Pearly
In the United States -- or Estados Unidos to those of you learning Spanish -- there is a huge amount of respect paid to men with beautiful women on their arm. You might, on occasion, catch a passing male secretly eyeballing a lovely lady, but usually extremely discretely, so as not to embarrass or antagonize anyone. In Central and South America, however, you will witness a modestly dressed eight-month pregnant woman pushing a stroller with twins aboard, while carrying a new-born baby, walking alongside her six-foot two-inch halfback husband, yet receiving suggestive remarks (or snake-like hissing sounds) from passing men. It is like the escort is absolutely invisible, and he treats the attention as if he is totally deaf and blind. If you don’t handle it like that, you will doom yourself to being in a constant state of turmoil and will most assuredly end up getting into a few fights over the course of your life.
Book Review: The Good Coup
Cáceres valiantly urges his compatriots to the negotiating table. He genuinely believes in the power of honest dialogue. But how can Hondurans talk to one another -- let alone engage in rational political discourse -- when one side invents its own facts and the other is denied the right to contest them?
By W. E. Gutman
The Good Coup: The Overthrow of Manuel Zelaya in Honduras is above all a good read. Fast-paced and sprightly, Honduras Weekly editor Marco Cáceres's new book offers a clear, concise and often witty overview of the dynamics and events, attitudes and perceptions that preceded, played out and followed former President Manuel Zelaya's unceremonious expulsion. The author has a fine eye for detail and the reflexes of a quick-sketch artist. His commentaries brim with insights and observations the mainstream media did not bother to articulate. Honduran-born Cáceres also shows a keen appreciation for the subtleties and maddening contradictions that epitomize his native country. As he examines the ideological paradoxes and absurdities that cleave this, the third poorest nation in the hemisphere, he pleads for "awareness" "compassion" and the "truth of others." Conceding that these virtues exist in less than homeopathic doses, he argues that truth is relative.
