They Have a Word for that already...

I took a break from a medical brigade in town this afternoon to hit up a free lunch offer. Who could ever turn one of those down?:) While I was hanging out with a handful of other foreign teachers at Marisol's house (Honduran director-type) we started talking about all sorts of different Copan things. We got onto the topic of drug lords and drug trafficking in the area. One of the ironic things that we got to talking about is how they refer to their trading of drugs. You see....they don't "sell" drugs. What they do is that they exchange the drugs for money. I started thinking....I think that there's a name for exchanging an object for money. It's called selling. Does it make it sound any better to say that you exchange drugs for money instead of saying that you sell them? I'm not really too sure about this one...maybe it's like a public image sort of thing. Don't want people to think that you're doing anything shady, right?

¡Me Va a Sacar los Frijoles!

He's so excited!
Originally uploaded by zassink

Yesterday was one of those days of extremely mixed emotions. My neighbor, Carlos José, had his sixth grade graduation, which is a really big deal here. It’s kind of like a high school graduation in the States, just cheesier (at least here in Copán). We went to one of the nicest hotels in Copán, Hotel Posada Real, in order to have the ceremony and dinner. Apparently the hotel is famous for not good food....and I’d say that it lived up to that. We had a super expensive dinner that I probably could have made better, and that’s saying something!:) The ceremony was alright, I really don’t see the big deal about graduating from sixth grade, because you’re only about half way through school in my opinion...never-the-less I played along and enjoyed the ceremony.
When we got home around 9:30 I was hanging out with my neighbors realizing that I might not see some of them for a really long time. They were planning on leaving early this morning (5:15am) for Tegucigalpa and the graduation of the oldest of the kids from high school. They don’t get back until after I leave for the States on the 27th. Only about half of them were planning on going, but they were all considering going (still last night they weren’t sure!). So as I said my “see you laters” last night I started to get really nostalgic thinking about all the things that we’ve done together. They have all been like brothers, sisters, and of course a mom to me. We’ve taken trips together, eaten dinner together on a regular basis, I’ve studied with Carlos José constantly, had our Sunday morning coffee hang outs, watched Caso Cerrado (it’s like a good version of Judge Judy), sat outside the house commenting on all the tourists passing by, they’ve even tried to get me a girlfriend here in Copán (unsuccessfully).:) So I’m saying goodbye at the time to María Beatris and her four year old son right before I go to bed. María and I are talking about all sorts of different memories and thanking each other for putting up with each other. Then I bend down to give Norman Roman (the four year old) a hug; I lift him up and give him a strong hug. As I set him back down he says (giggling), “Mister.... ¡me va a sacar los frijoles!” In other words, “Mister...You’re going to squeeze the beans out of me!” I got up this morning and found a note on my kitchen stove....all my neighbors left this morning! I’m left to fend for myself here in my house for the last week. I no longer have anybody to joke around with, to make fun of each other with, to comment about tourists with...nothing! This will be kind of a boring week I think...the good news is that there is a medical brigade that should keep me busy. I’m going to miss my neighbors though, beans and all.

My New Che

I used to think that Che Guevara was my favorite Latin American revolutionary but with the conclusion of the Confessions book and now looking into Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa things have changed. I've come to see Correa as one of the most unique revolutionaries in Latin America in the modern era. I ran across an interview with him shortly after he won the preliminary elections in April with over 50% of the vote (meaning that for the first time in 30 years there was no run-off election) in which he talks about his vision for Ecuador and South America in general. Here's my favorite quote from the interview. The whole interview can be found at:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1915/68/

"Competition is a concept that is already very debatable at the level of economic agents, but at the level of countries – fraternal countries – are you going to compete? It’s a complete absurdity. And how have they competed? Whoever mistreats the labor force most, whoever puts it in the most precarious position, because that is the only way to gain competitiveness. And we deteriorate the standard of living of our population and, above all, our working class. And the ones that most benefit from the cheapest products are the First World."

Confessions of an EHM

I just got finished reading one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. It’s called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and presents a very different look upon the world. I highly recommend it for anybody interested in globalization, world politics, corporations, economics, etc. Now...time for a little background:
When I came to Honduras two years ago I started to get a little different twist on all the news articles that I was reading here in Honduras. I started to form a truly unique perspective on world leaders hailed by the US press or shamed by them. Latin America has a recent upswing of leftist leaders throughout the region including Chávez in Venezuela, Morales in Bolivia, Correa in Ecuador, Noriega in Nicaragua, Zelaya in Honduras, Funes in El Salvador, etc. I started to ask myself over the past two years, is it possible that in the US we are missing something? Why is there a sudden swing to the left here and is it a bad thing? All these figures are certainly painted in a bad light in the US. True, Chávez might be slightly crazy, and Morales has made some bizarre moves. None-the-less, there must be something to these leaders who keep getting elected (maybe it’s just corruption and I’m outta line here). Then I read in a Spanish paper several months back that Correa decided to stop paying back the national debt. About half the national income was put towards paying off past debts incurred through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, etc. and he decided that they were mostly illegal and refused to pay them back. Correa was a man educated in Belgium and the US, fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Quechua (indigenous language in Ecuador), he has his PHD in economics from University of Illinois! This man is not crazy or dumb or even out of touch with reality a little bit. So why does he make this claim? Well, recent articles I read said that the country was forced into default on their loans in 2000 and large corporations and oil companies quickly swooped in buying bonds and taking control of the country. So Correa said that since they were forced into default the move was illegal and he’s paying back 35 cents on the dollar for all bonds bought after they went default. What is going on?!
So this is my state of mind when my friend Ty (who has been here 2 years with me) tells me that I should read Confessions of an EHM as it ties into a lot of Latin America, especially Ecuador. I was itching to read the book and as soon as he gave it to me I began to eat it up. The author, John Perkins, talks about his work as an EHM. In short he would go into a country and proclaim that with the economic growth that they will experience on a certain project they will be able to pay back the debt incurred from the loan to build it. They would help with the expectation that they would use US corporations to build the projects. His statistics would all be inflated. For example, instead of a consistent 6-8 percent increase in electrical use he might predict a 17-20 percent increase per year because the economy is prime for a boom! Of course this wasn’t true, but the country would buy into it and take the loan, use US corporations to complete the project, and then be in debt to the World Bank, IMF, etc. Since the growth would not be what was predicted (surprise) the country would not be able to pay back it’s loans. Thus the country would be in debt still, but would now owe more than just money to the corporations...they’d owe loyalty to the US. Granted, this is 250 pages summarized in a paragraph, so it’s ok if you don’t follow all this.
I got to thinking about Ecuador in all this. Is it possible that Correa is not so off his rocker? Is it possible that the government was taken advantage of and used in order for monetary value but also for a personal interest? A simple look at statistics can help take a look at this. From 1970 to 2000 Ecuador experienced some dramatic shifts. The “official” poverty level grew from 50 to 70 percent. The under or unemployed grew from 15 to 70 percent. Public debt increased from $240 million to $16 billion. National resources devoted to the poorest declined from 20 percent to 6 percent. So think about it, is Ecuador in a better position today than it was 30 years ago? Oh sure, the country has some vast oil reserves and is becoming an exporter of oil, but at what cost? Most of the oil is located under the Amazon and is only harvested at the expense of local tribes who are either exploited or ousted.
So as I sit here in my last two weeks in Honduras I ask myself what this all means. Is what I just read really true? Is this really happening? I can’t fully grasp my mind around all that is running through my head. There is so much corruption in the world and I don’t exclude the US in any of this. I wish that there were some way to wave a magical wand and just make socialism work across the globe. Instill in all of us a greater sense of altruism and selflessness that would lead to the elimination of poverty and hunger. For now I just sit here thinking....where do we even begin?

Pulhapanzak and Yojoa

Pulhapanzak
Originally uploaded by zassink

This weekend David, Cody, and myself decided to get out for one last weekend adventure. We had heard all sorts of good things about a local Honduran lake and waterfall. On Saturday we left for Lake Yojoa with plans to check out all the spots around the lake (caves, national park, cloud forest, waterfall, etc.). We spent the morning on Saturday traveling to Parque Nacional Cerro Azul (Blue Mountain National Park). We got there late afternoon and decided to take a little walk to a viewpoint that looks out over the lake. When we got to the viewpoint (hiking from about 750 meters up to 1100 meters) we decided to just go ahead and finish the loop of 7 or so kilometers instead of going back the way we came cause that would just be boring. So we hiked up another 100 meters or so before reaching a bend that went around the mountain and we went down the other side past another waterfall and hiked all over the place. We were hungry, tired, and exhausted by the time we got to the end and were all severely disillusioned to find out dinner would not be ready for another 45 minutes. We survived though....then we spent the better part of Sunday just working on changing hotels, looking for a new one, and then getting settled in. Sunday was basically a wasted day in which we ended up at the D & D Brewery/Bed and Breakfast, which we’d heard lots of good things about. It turned out to be a big dud. Apparently the wife (Honduran) ran off the husband (American/owner) and now the hotel doesn’t really have a good owner. The owner is known for his homemade beer and soda, neither of which they had of course. The food was marginal and expensive, and to top it all off the beds were the most uncomfortable ones in all of Honduras I think.
Then today we decided to hit up Pulhapanzak (Poo-lah-pawn-sock) on our way back to San Pedro and then Copan. The waterfall was a smash hit! It’s 44 meters tall and is extremely impressive. We paid for a guide to take us down behind the waterfall and do some cliff jumping as well off to the side. I had a lot of fun at the waterfall and would highly recommend it to anybody in the area...if you ever come to Honduras.:) The only down side of today was when we hiked behind the waterfall they told us to wear shoes for the safety of our feet. Of course I only took one pair of shoes, which means that I made the whole bus ride back to Copan in soaking wet shoes. Not the most exciting part of the trip (being on the bus for four hours with wet shoes), but well worth it.

Three Things I Learned Today

Hi-Yah!
Originally uploaded by zassink

We took a bus this morning to El Sapote, a place about 13 kilometers from Copan. We got off the bus in the middle of nowhere, hiked across a valley, over a stream, and up a mountain. Soon we were looking out over the whole valley. It was a great exploration...not so much a hike. We went about 3 miles on our hike, but the majority of that was finding a way into the jungle. Once inside the going was so slow we covered about a mile or 2 at the most in a couple hours of hacking, climbing, and slipping. I learned a lot of things today while on the hike....Here are three of the things that I learned:
1) Tall grass makes the going tough....but not impossible. With a little bit of ingenuity you can get through any grassy situation. I just took out the machete and sliced a path through the tall grass.
2) Rainforests have no paths....we were exploring and exploring and kept thinking, "follow that path up the hill!" Then as David so astutely would point out..."I don't think that's a path, I think it's a runoff for rain water." He was always right about that as we tried following a stream but found no path in the jungle.
3) Few things dry in the rainforest...the bottom of my pant legs got wet at the start of the hike when trying to get into the jungle through the grass...and they never dried out. I think that the majority of uncovered forest floor was just mud. I don't think that very many things ever dry out fully in the rainforest.