Robert in Honduras

April 2, 2009

Honduras beats Mexico 3 to 1

Last night was a very important football (soccer) game between Honduras and Mexico. I didnt watch a minute of it, but i knew how it was going at every stage!

If anything good was happening, everyone in town would start shouting gleefully and making lots of noise. Every time Honduras scored a goal the people would go crazy, fireworks would go off, people would run through the streets shouting ‘¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol!’.

After the match, when Honduras won, the whole town came out onto the streets. Cars drove around in a loop with people hanging out windows, sunroofs, climbing all over the cars, shouting, singing, waving flags, waving at the people in the houses, dancing, horns tooting non-stop. It was incredible. Incredible!

Why dont we celebrate without reservation in NZ like they do here?

I was talking with someone about the match this morning, she told me when things arent going well for Honduras, like there is a crisis, or petrol prices have just risen, or whatever to make people depressed, the government will often arrange a football match to take people’s minds off the sadness, so that even for just a day the people will be happy. Last nights game wasn’t one of those though, it was a qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup.

Click through to see a video of the celebrations.

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Campesinos protesting

The campesinos have taken over the Copán Ruins in protest against the government. The government has given the campesinos land to live on, in a shared fashion. There are about 30 people per block of land (a large piece of land). The problem is that the ownership of the land is in the name of all 30 people, not individual blocks per family. The campesinos would like to have the land in their own name so they can sell it if they want. From the other side though, one of the reasons for putting the land in the name of all 30 people is so they cant sell it. Unfortunately, what happens too often is if a family is given land under they own name, they sell it, use the money to buy some things (unfortunately, usually alcohol), then squat on someone else’s land. They build a little home out of sticks and mud on the land they dont own. The owners of the land cant do anything about it, and eventually the government buys the land from the owner and gives it to the squatters.

The reason for taking over the Ruins (they have blocked all entrances and are protecting them with machetes) is that its the main tourist attraction for this area, and a big deal for the government. In the past, if the government doesnt take notice of them taking over the Ruins, the campesinos have bought in old tyres, piled them up in the middle of the road so cars cant pass and set fire to them.

Im told to expect a helicopter to arrive at some point today with either a representative of the president, or the president himself. Probably to give them what they want.

March 30, 2009

Papaya bien grande

Papaya

Have you ever seen a papaya this big!? I think its even bigger than the photo makes it look. I chopped off about one fifth from one end and made two big jugs of papaya smoothie, and still had lots left over (from the one fifth) to eat. Now the rest of the papaya is in the fridge taking up almost a whole shelf.

There have been some stalls up the road where people who live in the mountains are selling fruit and vegetables for very good prices. The papaya in the market are about a quarter the size of these ones, and almost the same price.

March 27, 2009

Dust

I cannot believe how dusty everything is. The world of Copán is so dry right now, everything is dust.

March 23, 2009

Teacher needs to visit the hospital

Photo of me with the Profesora. Photo was taken last year.

UPDATE 26/03/09: Wow, over NZD$500 has been donated for the teacher now. I think this will be enough to cover her costs, and if anyone else wants to donate money, there are many things the kids in the orphanage need at the moment, so please feel free to donate to the same bank account and all the money will go towards the kids.

UPDATE 25/03/09: Thank you everyone who donated money, and so quickly! Over NZD$200 was donated which will be an enormous help for her. I will be withdrawing the money today and passing it along to her. I will also be talking to the lady who runs the orphanage to see if the teacher can have some time off very soon to go to the hospital.

One of the ladies who works at the orphanage has the role of teacher (profesora). To be honest, I only know her as Profesora as thats the word everyone uses when talking to her. She does mini-classes with the younger kids while the older ones are at school. She does arts and crafts with the kids. As part of her role, she has to spend the night with the kids a couple times per week. She lives about 20mins away by moto-taxi. Every day she has to spend L30 (about NZD$3) for the taxi rides to and from her house. She has a family to feed and look after. She only earns about L1,800 per month, which she has to spend about half on taxi rides. After buying food for her family she doesnt have much left for anything else.

She told me today that she has a problem where for the last 10 years she hasnt been able to taste anything. She only eats what she’s familiar with as she has no idea what the other foods should taste like. Along with not being able to taste her food, she gets infections around her stomach. At the moment alot of people in town have a cold because the weather is changing. She also has a cold which has made everything alot worse and she is suffering. I dont know many details and didnt want to ask too much about it. She asked me if there was anything I could do to help her get to the hospital. She needs to go to Chiquimula, which is about an hour away by bus (over the border in Guatemala). She cant afford to bring herself there, and she cant afford to take the time away from work. I dont know exactly how much it will cost to get there, or how much the hospital fees will be.

If you are willing and able to help even with a small amount, please deposit the money into the account using the details on this page. Please use the reference: Teacher. So I know what the money is for.

March 12, 2009

I buy my milk by the 0.9463 of a litre

Milk bag

…and you?

March 11, 2009

More photos of the apartment

I took some more photos of the apartment today and uploaded them. You can see them on flickr. The older photos are in there too.

March 9, 2009

A couple photos of the school

Brayan and Eduardo

The classroom

A Better World - Canada

There is a private Christian school in town (a few houses up from where I live), and 3 kids from the orphanage attend. A lovely fellow, who I’m yet to meet, from A Better World Canada donated money last year to construct some new classrooms. Two of the kids from the orphanage are in one of those classrooms.

March 7, 2009

New home for Hannah and Jean-Mari

Hannah and Jean-Mari moved out of the kids home yesterday and in with a host family. Its been a hassle since they arrived here about a month ago… they were supposed to be living with a host family from the start. Its not easy staying at the kids home, so I’m pleased and surprised they havent complained about it at all.

Massimo left on Wednesday. He has returned to Italy. One of the things he had arranged to do with his time here was replace the windows at the kids home. They were just meshing to protect from bugs, but there was no way to keep the wind out. Massimo paid to put in glass windows with meshing so they are still protected from the bugs when the windows are open. The window people came and measured all the windows twice, but when they brought all the new windows, none of them fit! So they took them all away and re-made them. Two days before Massimo left, they installed the new windows. They make quite a difference. The weather this past week has been quite cold, so its a good time to have windows that can be closed.

The kids are back into the routine of school now.
I’ve been sick this week with a fever and sweaty, shivery, sleepless nights. I got some medicine this morning so I’m hoping to sleep the whole night tonight.
Church with the kids in the morning.

March 6, 2009

Food photos

I have taken some photos of the food in my apartment here.

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