“You teach in Honduras? Isn’t that a state in Mexico or something?”
Entering my eighth month of living in Cofradía, Cortés, I like to think I’ve learned a little bit about this place, if only that “I’ll see you at 11:00” means 11:30 and that there is such a thing as a free lunch (and it comes with Pepsi). The sad truth, though, is that some of my friends and family have no idea where Honduras is (here’s a map for your convenience: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/central-america/). As the student strikes continue and Venezuela is featured more in the nightly news, a few people have emailed to check if I’m safe, if I’m anywhere near there. That isn’t to say that everyone I know skipped 10th grade geography. Most countries in Latin America get lumped together and labeled as “Somewhere South of Mexico.” Once you do find Honduras’s tiny position on the map, there’s a whole world of food, culture, people, music, and baleadas to discover—and some of it is really weird. With eight month’s experience in mind, here are Five (At Least Semi) Weird Things About Honduras:
1. Soap. It comes en polvo, or powdered and compressed in a plastic tub, which you dip your wet sponge into to wash dishes. It’s a little thing, and while I could probably find some Apricot Cinnamon Moisturizing Silky Smooth Anti-Bacterial Liquid Dawn at the super market in San Pedro, the soap here is a reminder after every meal that I am not in Missouri anymore.
2. Mototaxis AKA the bane of my Honduran existence. Sure, they’ll drive you to school for 50 cents or cart you around town for a little more, but they’re also always blaring a selection of the same five reggaeton songs (which I’ll admit I enjoy sometimes), honking their horns early on Sunday mornings, and nearly hitting you as you cross the street. Also unexpected are the decals of Disney characters and inspirational quotes on their canvas backs, considering the suave men that usually drive them.
3. Water. I’ve had potable water from a faucet once here, in the mountains above Cofradía. Here your options are bolsitas of water, bottles, and the large Agua Azul water coolers everyone has in their homes. While this difference might seem obvious (come on, Raven. Many developing countries struggle to provide potable drinking water), for someone who was raised on sweet, Missouri well water, it’s strange to pay more for water in a restaurant than a Pepsi or to think that the water at school might be my students’ only access to clean water that day. I keep my water bottle handy nowadays and don’t open my mouth in the shower.
4. Lempiras, the money named after the indigenous Lenca leader who fought the conquistadors. With a value of 20 lempiras to 1 US dollar, conversions are pretty easy to figure out, but the fact that I can buy a bus ticket for a three-hour trip to the beach or a nice fried chicken dinner for the same price is still confusing to me. One banana is usually 1 lempira, so I tend to think of my purchases in terms of how many bananas I could buy instead, and that helps.
5. We’ll call this Honduras’s off-the-radar status. Admittedly a small country squashed between Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Caribbean Sea, Honduras is still home to over 8 million people. And despite its infamous record-holding city, San Pedro Sula, the most dangerous one in the world (according to most Google searches), it still manages to stay out of our (the U.S.’s) news. I was surprised to learn that in 2009, the democratically-elected president, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted in a coup. A democratically-elected leader! In 2009! The U.S. loves democracy! We’re all about it! And yet I had never heard anything about it. While there’s so much talk about problems in the Middle East or the stereotypical idea of “starving children in Africa,” the unique situation of this country not too far below our own isn’t well-known, and it’s weird.
It’s only February, and there are four more months to figure out the rest of Honduras’s idiosyncrasies, though it’s doubtful that I’ll ever learn them all. For now, I’ll just say “Vaya pues,” appreciate the 10L rides to school when I’m late, the clean Agua Azul water I drink, and the fact that I am here in Honduras, learning all these weird things and sharing them with you.
