Rapidito Mechanics – November 19

Spent a number of hours on public transport yesterday. The best mechanics of Rapidito riding are skills acquired over years of contortions and close contact with fellow passengers. Honduran Rapiditos have four and a half rows of seats behind the front seat. The three back ones hold four people and the one immediately by the door holds three. Behind the front seats is a ledge that holds three or four more people.

The trick to riding a Rapidito is to plan for a reasonably graceful exit. Years ago, in Kenya, I could squiggle out the rear window and hop to the ground in a trice. That ain’t going to happen anymore. So, you need to time your boarding so that you either in the very front with the driver (best choice – but closest to any collisions) or the front two seats in the back. However, if you are on the folding jump seat, you have to be prepared to get in and out and each stop to allow those in the back two rows a chance to leave. The ledge is nice in that you don’t have to get in and out. However, you are wedged in trying to fit knees and bags in between the same parts of the two people facing you. Rather intimate. If you were a teenager and caught in such a position by your dad at night you would be grounded for life. In six rides yesterday I captured two front seats, two jump seats and one ledge. The last was a boring front seat by the window. Both my bus trips had front seats with leg room and a good view.

The humidity is so high that the slightest cooling or additional moisture in the air causes fog and clouds. Yesterday every valley and ditch was shrouded in fog. The roadside lines of shanties covered with scraps of metal roofing or leftover plastic from discarded billboard signage were wrapped in soft white or totally hidden from view. So quickly do the poor become invisible again.

Bought a small package of processed sandwich meat on Saturday. It was the compressed extrusions from chicken processing mixed with some spices, cooked and sliced. The name on the package was Cargill. Interesting how far the tentacles of the company extend here. They control the seed, the chemicals, the storage, the conversion to animal feed, the growing operations, the processing plants and, now, the value added sales of ‘scraps’. Cheap enough packages but utilizing a former waste product. Each step means a bit of profit leaving the country and going to the pockets of foreign shareholders – none of whom are held responsible for any actions or consequences of company policies and practices here in Honduras.

Enough. When the lights go out you can see the fireflies. Power outages bring their own beauty to light.

Bryan