Military Coup

I suppose somewhere in my educational history I have heard the term military coup, but I don’t think that I ever knew what it meant. Well, they say the best way to learn is first hand. I guess I am lucky to have that opportunity. I don’t think what has happened in Honduras is a true military coup, but I guess that is the closest word anyone can find to define what has happened. I first realized that something was up when I was in the city center and there were large groups of protestors and the newspapers were sporting big headlines that said the president wanted to end democracy. This was before the president disappeared and when he was trying to change the constitution. I think that the part about “ending democracy” was a little sensationalist, but I guess the president hasn’t been too popular in his term and changing the constitution would have allowed him to run for a second 4 year term, which doesn’t normally happen here as it does in the states.

The next time I was in the city center was the day the president was arrested and taken to Costa Rica. We were traveling back to the ranch from a weekend in La Tigra and didn’t have any choice but to go through the center. We had heard rumors of protests and mobs, but it was eerily silent and almost a ghost town when we walked through. This was a big difference from the usual bustling crowds, so there was definitely something up, just not what we had heard or expected. From that moment on, we have been prisoners on the ranch. They have advised everyone, Honduran and foreign, to stay where they are and they even have a curfew in the city. I have not left the ranch in 8 days and already I am getting cabin fever. It is also frustrating to be here, and so disconnected from what is going on in the outside world. We (the volunteers) have no TV or radio, so we are relying on what we can find on the internet and what we hear from family and friends. However, this was initially difficult considering “they” (no idea who “they” are) were shutting down the electricity, phones and internet for random periods of time throughout the day. That has stopped for now and hopefully forever. It is a little scary knowing that “they” can completely shut us off from the world whenever “they” want. Last week, there was no school because they didn’t think it was safe for the teachers to be traveling everyday to and from the ranch. I tried to do physical therapy with as many kids as I could in their hogars, but this was difficult considering I didn’t have any of my therapy resources and all of the other kids were running around or trying to participate. I spent most of the week “working” with the girls from my hogar. The best part was rolling out of bed around 9 each day to make it to hogar before 10. At 10, the girls had finished their chores and had to “chopear” in various parts of the ranch. Chopearing is cutting the grass with machetes. This was my first experience and, as I had been thinking, it was much more difficult than it looked. When the kids swing the machetes at the base of each blade of grass, there is a whirlwind of grass and weeds that swirls around them and the end result is a nice patch of trim grass. However, when I tried it, I clumsily swung the blade through the grass causing a nice breeze and ending with exactly what I started except maybe a fallen dandelion or two. Of course, my girls got a big kick out of watching me. They tried to instruct me, but I really didn’t improve at all during the week. All I managed to get out of it was a bunch of blisters on my hands and an arm that I couldn’t lift above 45 degrees (and this was only after 10-15 min of chopearing). Needless to say, we were all overjoyed to hear that classes would resume this week.

At this point, the president, is trying to get back into the country, but so far, he has been unsuccessful. Yesterday, the military covered the airport runway with vehicles so that he couldn’t land. The word today is that Obama has given him permission to land at a nearby US Military base. From what I have read and heard, the public opinion towards Americans has been declining throughout this ordeal due to the support that the US has been giving the unpopular president. I imagine that the opinion will plummet if he actually lands on the base. Here on the ranch everyone is very rational and nobody has expressed any anger towards us. However, some of the younger Pequenos that are in the city have not been so friendly or understanding. One of the volunteers, who has befriended some of the high school and university students, has been receiving some hate mail from them recently. None of it is violent, just requesting that we all return to where we came from. I really hope that it doesn’t come to that.

Adendum (8/16/09): I had my first close encounter with a violent mob on Wednesday. I was passing through the center of the city on my way back to the ranch from work and found a mob of people in the park protesting the government. I quickly changed my route to avoid the park and ran into a line of police and military in full riot gear. This was unsettling but better than the angry mob. I was trying to make my way around the center to get to the buses that would take me out of the city and had to avoid overturned news stands and broken glass that littered the streets from all of the store fronts that had been assulted with rocks. The streets were lined with curious people who were hiding in doorways and behind barred store fronts. All of a sudden everyone around me began running. I have no idea why or what we were running from, but I figured it was in my best interest to join the crowd and get away from whatever it was. Next to me was a woman running with an infant, crazy! I turned onto another street and was able to stop running and just watched curiously with the rest of the crowd. I was extremely worried that I was not going to be able to find transportation back to the bus stop to get back to the ranch, but thankfully, the minibuses were running and I got out of there as soon as possible. I am considering myself lucky for not having been there any earlier when all of the major violence happened. It was a good wake-up call for the actual political state that we are in and how fast dangerous things can happen.

Born in the USA

Growing up in the United States is a privilege that we are all aware of, but only in the sense that we have been told our entire lives. The reality is that we have no understanding of how lucky we are. Spending the last 6 months in Honduras has made me very aware of the luxuries and opportunities that we take advantage of in the US. This is something that I was even more aware of upon returning to the states for a visit.

I arrived in Miami and my 4 hour layover turned in to a 6 hour layover due to thunderstorms. However, I was perfectly content enjoying the “luxuries” of the airport and didn’t mind the extra time at all. I passed the time freely (only in the sense of availability, not in the sense of money since I had to pay a pretty penny for the time) surfing the internet, drinking American beer and using the bathroom where I could throw the toilet paper into the toilet rather than an overflowing stinky trash can. I was in American made heaven. The strangest thing that I encountered in the airport was being in a public place where everyone around me was speaking English. This was made even more confusing by the fact that many of those people where Latin American. I repeatedly spoke to the bartender and woman serving food in Spanish, which I think confused them more than me.

When I finally arrived in Chicago, I sunk into the big, beautiful, comfortable guest bed of my friend, Divya, who was putting me up for the weekend. I don’t think I have ever slept so well in my life. This amazing comfort continued with each bed throughout my one week stay and that includes the night spent on the couch of my old Chicago apartment. It was amazing to have the room to spread out my arms and legs, roll over and reposition my body without getting stuck between any wooden slats below the mattress.

The culture shock that I experienced during my first few days in the states was much greater than I had anticipated. I believe this had to do with the fact that my first weekend was luxurious even for my pre-Honduras middle class American standards. I kicked off the trip with a visit to my old Chicago salon, which is located on the Gold Coast neighborhood. As most people know, this is one of the best and most expensive areas of downtown, so walking around that part of the city was a huge change from the dirty streets of Tegucigalpa. I took the CTA bus with a whole new appreciation for public transportation. I was so comfortable during this bus ride because I had my very own seat where nobody was touching or invading my personal space. Also, when it was time for me to get off the bus, I freely stood up and walked through the empty isle and down the stairs. It was such a pleasant experience compared to the buses of Central America.

I filled the rest of my vacation days trying to experience everything that I had been missing from the states. This included eating all of the foods that I love that aren’t available in Honduras. I had hummus, sushi, Starbucks, Thai food, a veggie burger, good beer and wine and much more. I would venture to say that I gained a good 5 pounds throughout the week. Strangely, my stomach wasn’t a big fan of all of the “good” food I was feeding it. I was fairly uncomfortable all week. Of course, as soon as I returned to the familiar beans and rice diet, my stomach was fine. How strange it is to experience exactly the opposite thing as when I first arrived in Honduras. I also spent some time (not as much as I would have liked) laying on my parents couch (luxury at its best) catching up on all of my favorite TV shows. I have to admit I don’t think I was really missing anything there, but just the act of watching TV any time I wanted was great. I did some shopping, which isn’t the best activity for someone who makes $100 a month. However, I really wanted to get some things for my girls that they couldn’t get in Honduras. I ended up buying one of every teeny bopper magazine that I could find. It turned out to be the best gift I could have gotten them. The hogar is now covered with posters of The Jonas Brothers, Zac Efron, Rhianna and many more.

It was a great trip and I really enjoyed seeing everyone. However, returning to Honduras was really difficult. I had to readjust to the living conditions and way of life all over again, but this time it was more difficult because I didn’t have the excitement of being in a new place and starting a new adventure. It was just coming back to life as usual here on the ranch. I spent the first week in a mild depression and easily got frustrated with the dirtiness and lack of technology. (It was made worse by the fact that our washing machine was not working and I had to wash my clothes by hand.) Each week has been a little easier and by now I have adjusted and am happy to be here again.