Travelling to Tegucilgalpa – again - Dec. 12

Another three day trip this week. I took the slow bus to San Pedro Sula. An interesting trip, and amazingly enough, not really that much slower. Slow and steady does, in fact, do as well as stop and sprint. The slow bus features more entertainment value than the express bus. Preachers and patent medicine sellers jump on at various stops, give their spiel and then hop off at the next stop ... to be replaced by the next live advertising service. Sellers with little bags of coconut milk (complete with floating chunk of coconut meat), chocolate flavoured rice drink, oranges, water and fried plantain slices throng the bus at major intersections. The slower pace lets you see the scenery and the vultures with wings spread to catch the sun mark each spot where an unlucky dog or what not has ended its days in the ditch. You, do, of course, catch some of the smells at that speed as well.

We picked up a car in downtown San Pedro Sula and headed out. Amazingly, there was virtually no traffic and we just sailed to our first stop. We picked up Carolina and Chepe and rolled along. Travelling during daylight hours is nicer than in the dark. We were in Comayagua for supper. We were directed to the city square to find supper. A yearly fair/celebration of sorts was in progress and the city square was teeming with activity. Food sellers were selling pinchos – pieces of meat on a stick, tortillas and so forth. Mimes and clowns entertained crowds of people and hucksters were selling lights and doodads. A huge, artificial Christmas tree was set up in front of the Cathedral. For those us from historically young places like Alberta, it is so awe inspiring to be in a place which is so set in history. The Cathedral was finished in 1711 and has one of the three oldest functioning clocks in the world. The Hall of Justice on the opposite side of the square is more than a hundred years older than the cathedral.

We settled for a Chinese restaurant. Mysteries of life question. How do all Chinese restaurants manage to have food that looks and tastes exactly the same? Are there Chinese restaurant cooking factories that turn out these restaurant menus? I chuckled at the reaction of my fellow travellers. It must have been one of the first times they had met a Chinese person and they were busy commenting on the shape of eyes and so forth. One forgets that every culture finds other cultures interesting and unusual.

Travelling through the city of Tegucigalpa was much easier this time now that we have done it once before. Not a single wrong turn. That really saves a lot of time.

We met with many of the Educatodos people and had a good meeting. They were quite positive and hope to have us set up and running by February 1. We budged a bit on the date and that gives them more time. I hope it can actually happen. We will have our own stuff ready just in case. The head of the group, Esmirna, was able to chat after the meeting for awhile. She was good at using simple Spanish so I could understand and she understood my simple English. We got along just fine with a minimum of translation pauses. During my presentation, Manuel had used the word Permaculture in his translating and they hadn’t heard that word. I downloaded a copy of my book on to her computer so she can see what we are talking about. Will see. The point is that she will at least have an idea that we are somewhat knowledgeable about life in other parts of the world.

We then went to the Ministry of Education offices. That was an interesting drive. A myriad of one way streets that never seemed to quite get there. We would come to the critical street only to find it blocked by street vendors and long lines of clothes and goods. We managed to find a parking spot within a few blocks and walked the rest of the way. Then the game of musical offices began. The good news was that every office knew of our project and knew that it had been approved. So ... when can we start? Right? But, they saw our faces, knew we were working on things and that is about all we can do for now.
Rather than stopping at Comayagua for the night, we continued to Siguatepeca. Almost a mistake. Another fair was happening there the next day so all the inns were full. Joseph and Mary did not have the luxury of a car to check out hotels. Number 9 was our lucky number and we were soon registered. Because it wasn’t as close to the city centre, it was actually cheaper and nicer than the first ones we looked at. So, good deal all around. Our room had four beds set up in Snow White Dwarf fashion. In just a few minutes this sleepy miner was busy sawing shoring.

Yesterday we were up for an early breakfast – baleadas (yeah). Chepe and Carolina had a new dish to me. Fried plantains (the sugar in the fruit caramelizes during the frying process) served with heavy, salted cream and shredded cheese. Looked interesting. Will try it some time.

We stopped at a tree seed centre (always a treat for me – drool at all the neat types of trees there are to grow and utilize) and bought a package of Moringa seeds. Will try and get them distributed next week so that they are in the ground shortly. They don’t have a long shelf life so need to be planted in the next two or three weeks to have any viability.

Further down the road we stopped to check the hotel registration for some dentists coming in January. The hotel is right by Lake Yajoa and looks nice. It was super busy but Manuel got everything straightened out.

Next stop was to see a plantain plantation (sounds catchy doesn’t it?). The road looked much too difficult for our car. It was raining – gently – so we left the car on the main road and began picking our way through muddy tracks. The five minute walk (information from a local person) turned into ten. Fortunately, a man caught up with us and directed us to the house where project people lived. He was able to tell us about it at the same time as we walked.

The project leaders came to see us and showed us around some of the fields where they have planted plantains. They are doing very well and the returns from the plantains are truly amazing. A football field of plantains would give you double the salary of a teacher at a bilingual school in San Pedro Sula. They had originally started with a drip irrigation system for fertilizing the plants. There subsequent plantings didn’t have the system. Not sure that it was necessary because they weren’t using the system to water the plants. Pedro, a donkey and two barrels of liquid fertilizer could do the same thing without nearly as much maintenance.

Thoroughly soaked we got back to the car. I grabbed a dry shirt from my suitcase and Chepe and Manuel grabbed towels from theirs. The heater worked well in the car and we were warm.

After dropping off Chepe and Carolina near their homes (can’t drive to their homes in muddy weather) Manuel and I stopped at my house to change into dry things. I then took him to my favourite place, Locos Tacos, to show him the Cincronisada dish (tortillas, ham and cheese melted together). We are wondering about using local dishes for the dental group when they come so that they have a variety of tasty, simple local food. Manuel thought that this would fit the bill nicely.

Back to San Pedro Sula in plenty of time to return the car. It turned out to be even cheaper than expected – good news. Then rapito and bus back to Santa Cruz. My special bus, Divine Women, was ready to take me home. The rain meant fewer passengers so fewer stops. One of the passengers was a young man who is semi-paralyzed. School buses are not user friendly for people like him. But, the turnboy picked him up and made sure he was comfortable and secure in a seat (of course, are you ever comfortable in a school bus seat?). At the stop, they hustled out, got the wheelchair ready and then came in and carried him off and got him seated safely. When you see the way in which the turnboys shout and abuse passengers it is such an pleasant surprise to see the way in which the have such careful consideration for those who really need it.

Heavy rain after I arrived home so it was nice to sit and listen to it on the tin roof. Still raining the next day and so cold and damp. But ... electricity is own, internet is working and the room is dry. Great stuff.

Bryan