The final installment of the pila series. It’s done! Pictured below is Koali tackling our first load last weekend. It was a heroic effort, one aided by our neighbors drier when the afternoon rain came a little earlier and harder than expected. I washed the laundry today, and other than a few strange looks from the neighbors (laundry seems to solely women’s work in Honduras still) it went well.
On our way to breakfast this past weekend I bumped into an old college friend outside the bank. Strange to run into fellow Oberlin graduate here, in a small town in Honduras. We spent the afternoon drinking iced coffee and reminiscing about Oberlin, our time at Tisch, and traveling in Central America. Miguel is on his way to Chile, traveling via land. He’s planning on making a movie about mining with his dad down there. Sadly, he had a schedule to keep and wasn’t able to spend the night or visit our school. Several hours after initially seeing him, he hopped on another bus heading south.
(This post was written by my co-conspirator, Koali)
I like bananas, but don’t love them. Often when I wanted Dorritos, juice, or candy as a kid, my mom (health conscious person that she was) offered bananas as an alternative. We grew tiny tart apple bananas, sweet bluish green ice cream bananas, and cooking bananas in our yard. When none were ripe on our property some could be found in the yard of our neighbor. If I complained about eating bananas, a banana smoothie or banana ice-cream (frozen bananas run through the food processor) were offered as alternatives. My relationship with bananas is a long and tenuous one.
As you all know, Honduras’s relationship and history with bananas is longer, more complex, and pained then my own. Export and production of bananas by the U.S. began in the late 1800s and since then the U.S. has continued to exploit the country economically and otherwise. Honduras embraces “free trade” much more than some of its neighbors. Here’s how the Honduran Department of Tourism magazine we picked up described it free trade zones: “companies [can] operate under a free trade zone status, [and experience benefits] such as tax-free imports and exports of raw materials…These companies are also excluded from paying income and municipal taxes, and have the possibility of repatriating 100% of their revenue” (Destination Honduras, 2006).
Despite the large numbers of bananas that are exported from Honduras, they are still cheap, highly available, and consumed frequently and in every imaginable form here (unlike the cigars which apparently are almost all exported). Often they are cooked green and served as a savory snack or accompaniment to a meal.
Some savory preparations we’ve tried:
The sweet preparations are equally delicious:
Our “All-Banana” snack collection for our bus trip home from Tela. No, this was not by choice or design. Featured: banana chips, banana bread, and the source fruit itself.
Our slow moving but diligent brick layer installs a drain for our pila, while we play with the neighborhood kids.
Thanks to the Honduran school calendar, which apparently has more school holidays than any other country, we had this Monday and Tuesday off (for Independence Day and Teacher’s Day respectively). So after our first two grueling weeks of teaching it was time for a trip to the beach.
Tela is a beautiful Caribbean beach town with ten times the population of Copan. It’s roughly 5 hours by bus from Copan, providing your bus doesn’t get a flat tire on route (as ours did). Once there, however, it’s delightful. The buildings are painted in bright pastels, the people are a diverse group of Spanish, indigenous, and African decent, and the whole town is built right next to a big beautiful beach.
Tela has an interesting colonial history. It’s an old banana company town and used to house the offices of Standard Fruit, the exporters of Chiquita bananas. It’s also smack in the middle of several Garifuna villages. The Garifuna are a people of African decent who were enslaved by the British in the 1700’s on the island of St. Vincent. The Garifuna fiercely resisted slavery and eventually the British deported 5,000 of them to the now Honduran island of Roatan. The 2,000 people who survived became todays Garifuna, who now number in the hundred thousands and who’s culture has been identified by the United Nations as a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.” More about the Garifuna can be found at Garifuna.org.
Koali and I stopped trying to pretend we weren’t tourists and visited the top sites of Tela, including Central America’s largest botanical garden and Punta Sal, a beautiful national park. We braved vicious mosquitos, ate a bunch of fried fish and had lots fresh liquados (smoothies). And we snorkeled and swam in the Caribbean, which was warmer than I thought ocean water would ever be.
We also produced an amazing 50 second documentary titled “Ants!” shot in Tela. Stay tuned.
The view from our kitchen area:
Dear Lou of Random Order,
Thank you for teaching me how to make your delicious iced coffee. Since arriving in Honduras I´ve realized:
Thanks to Lou and the recent aquisition of a plastic pitcher I´m now enjoying home made iced coffee regularly, apparently with 67% less acidity. While you can buy a brand name Toddy maker (see previous link), it’s simple to do without. Take a pitcher of cold water, spoon in ground coffee (erring on the generous side), and let it sit for 12 hours. Then, filter your coffee and store in the fridge. Serve post-siesta over ice, milk, and some simple syrup.
The hurricane has passed, the sun is shinning, and people are smiling again in Copan. While the rivers rose quickly and were apparently washing over one of the main bridges at one point, no one was hurt in town. Folks on the Nicaraguan coast were sadly not so lucky.
It was back to normal at school today, with the day beginning with marching practice in preparation for Honduran Independence Day. Celebrated on this coming Friday, Mayatan School will take it to the streets with our drums squad and our adorable plaid pants/skirts uniforms. With Independence Day, marching practice, two days off for the hurricane, and Children’s Day (Monday) coming up we haven’t done all that much actual teaching yet. I, however, will take all the planning time I can get.
Hurricane Felix has hit the Honduran coast today, but has been downgraded from Category 5 status to “a much more modest tropical storm.” Copan Ruinas, where we are living, is thankfully inland in Western Honduras, so we won’t be bearing the brunt of the storm. Local teachers have told us not to worry, although apparently we should stock up on milk and bread which usually comes from San Pedro Sula. I only learned of Felix’s approach yesterday and found out tonight that my family has been up all hours googling it’s approach. It is strange to be so involved yet so out of the loop.
Everything is quite here in Copan right now but we’re expecting heavy rain tomorrow (and perhaps no school). I’ll post again tomorrow power allowing.