Traveling in Honduras - La Ceiba and crime

                                                      Me in Copan. Below: a parrot now living there

Traveling in Honduras is wonderful. They have proper busses with a lot of space for my legs, and, although very worn out, the seats are wonderful. I think I will not have to catch a single chickenbus here! It is almost like traveling in Mexico, and the people working on the busses are taking care of their passengers and herding us almost like sheep so we will not miss the departure or get lost on the break. I particularily liked Diana Express that runs between San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba. La Ceiba is a big city with a population of ca. 178 300, and the first foreigners coming here was the Garifuna. Today on the bus was the first time I have ever heard the contructed language garifuna, and I had a feeling of beeing in Africa! Not that I know very much about Africal languages, but the Garifuna decend from black slaves, and I guess that the mens deep, husky voices makes me think of Africa. Many men in Honduras are quite attractive, I guess part of it is thanks to their exotic African blood. The Garifunas came here in 1810 from Trujilo, followed by waves of im migrants in 1828 that where fleeing the violence that broke out in Olancho and lasted 50 years. The Spanish did not show up until 1846, and in 1857 French settelers came. In 1872 this was officially a city, and it was called La Ceiba because of a huge Ceiba tree near the coast that was used by the community as a gathering place. The beloved tree, of more than a 100 years old, was cut down in 1917 to make room for a new customs house. There are a lot of Cuban and Arabic settlement here as well. In 1899 Dole Food Company came to the area, and so the making of Banana Republics began. Here in Honduras US fruit companies controle the infrastucture and economy in the North. They own the principal lands, globbing up as much land as they could, as quickly as they could, and the fondation was laid  for increased US involvement in the region with the Spanish-American war in 1898. Since then the fruit companies have been extremely powerful with rivaling companies allying themselves with competing political parties. A lot of missery has been caused by their acctions of bribery, repressive labor practices and use of extremely toxic pesticides on their products. Think of that when you eat a Dole banana! A law from 1962 was designed to redistribute unused land to poor farmers, but it was undermined by the USA fruit companies. And the president that signed the law Ramon Villeda Morales was removed by the military a year later! The health and environmental impact of the Banana barons from USA has been devastating for the country, as has the impact of Canadian silvermining further south.

I have already explored some of La ceiba. Since one of my problems is that my cloth are falling apart (they do not make good cloth any more), I went to find the local Mall here to see if I could find something to buy. I had been walking around for quite a while when I saw one center, but it was not the one I was seeking. I asked 2 women where the center I wanted was, and they told me that it is near, but warned me about walking alone. Take a taxi they said. Do not go alone there! While standing there thinking a car stopped to pick up the 2 women. They called me for getting in with them in their car. I know that women are potentially just as dangerous as men, but they were all nicely dressed with a quite nice car. They offered me a lift to the Mall, it took less than 5 min. to get there. The woman driving  is a lawer who acctually has a client from Norway. They made comments about the latest events in Norway and before I left them they told me to take a taxi back. Being in the situation of knowing how it is to be robbed, I was not about to ignore their advice. So after having bought (just) a dress and a t-shirt, in a mall with the biggest selection of beautiful garment I have seen, I ate some food, and because it was dark by the time I headed home to Banana Republic Guesthouse, and because of the warnings, I took a taxi the few blocks to my hostel. Yes, there is a LOT of nice cloth here. Women in Honduras dress less conservative than Guatemalan women, and it is easy to find colourful long, flowing carribian-style dresses like the one I bought. I can not help to think that if a city of less than 200 000 has this selection of beautiful garment, how is shopping in Tegucigalpa??

According to some the Mara Salvatucha is the most dangerous criminal gang in the Americas. It emerged in Los Angeles in the 1990s from the poor, though streets. A new immigrationlaw in USA had alien criminals departed rather than tried in the US court causing the gangs to take root in the bottomless pools of poor, disaffected youth in Central America. Today there are a 100 000 members between Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), many of its members El Salvadoran children of refugees that were fleeing the USA sponsored civil war in El Salvador, and Mara (M-18), its rival. In Honduras 30 000 young people are thought to be gangmembers (I will write about sextrafficing of Honduras in a later blog). The maramembers are known for their tatoos and their gruesomme attacs with machetes. Mostley the gangs attac each other, but in 2004 there was an assault on a public bus outside San Pedro Sula. 28 people were killed. Former president Ricardo Maduro adopted a hash anti-crime policy known as Mano Dura (hard hand) that made the prisons overflow with prisoners, and so in 2003 a fire at a prison in Honduras killed 68 suspected gangmembers, but investigation showed that at least 59 had been shot by the guards. In 2004 another 104 suspected gangmembers were killed in another prisonfire, the guards of the prison stood by watching. Something similar to military death squads formed by off-dury officers and private security guards has killed more than 2000 children and young adults between 1998 and 2004. That means, in fact, that the goverment is more dangerous than the gangs. In 2009 a military coup has changed the face of Hnduras forever, but the pople here are strong, and you do not hear them complain, or see them live only half a life. They are not smiling quite as much as the Guatemaltecs, but they are not giving up on looking forward, and taking small steps towards a better future. I have just come to realize how much Honduras has to offer in natural wonders. Huge national parks, rainforests, beaches and magnificent islands, and a rich culture. The infrastucture of tourism is not very developed and tourists rarely go beyond Bay Islands where the largest tract of rainforest this side of the Amazon lies. And I was surprized to read that a lot of critters are living very well here. It acctually equals Costa Rica with its flora and fauna and it is so much cheaper!