Honduras Update 2012

On the fifth of December, 1988, I made my first mission trip to Honduras. The team worked on a school bus, converting it to a mobile medical clinic. Karl Moody and I ran a dental clinic…fixing teeth, pulling teeth, and making dentures. Since that time, I’ve made perhaps twenty return trips toHonduras. We drilled wells, pulled teeth, spread the gospel, and made many friends there. I’ve never felt threatened. In the communities where I worked, I felt that the natives were caring for me.

I was planning a trip back this spring. That has changed. The U.S.made a decision this week to pull 158 Peace Corps volunteers out ofHondurasin January for safety reasons. A recent U.N. report said Honduras had the highest homicide rates in the world in 2010 with 82 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.GuatemalaandMexicoalso have high homicide rates.

I’m told that gang members come to the States and learn how gangs operate in Los Angeles. They get arrested and deported taking the “new gang technology” home with them.

I could have taught the gang members some humbleness by pulling their teeth without anesthetic; however, now, I won’t get the chance. I don’t plan to go back!

The place to exchange money is still the airport in Honduras. The official exchange rate is 19.05 Lmps. to the dollar. I received 18.5 at the airport with no waiting. The only trouble is the big bills they give. Not just any mom and pop grocery will change a 500 lmp bill (about $30)

  Taxis? It’s not just New York and Miami that have taxi rip offs! I wanted to leave the hotel in San Pedro Sula at four a.m. for the airport. The night clerk assured me the cab would be there at three to wait for me. On schedule, the bellman knocked on my door at 3:30 a.m. The cab was waiting. I have a rule of bargaining with the driver or at least finding what the fee for the ride will be. This time, I was feeling secure and didn’t ask.

On one occasion, we arrived at the toll booth, on the way to the airport and the driver had to get toll fare from me. This driver had his own money.

 

We arrived at the airport. I asked   fare was. His answer: “Six hundred .” That’s thirty-six dollars. I normally pay ten or twelve dollars.

The drivers have three price levels; the native prices, their cheapest; The negotiated tourist price; and the one they charge gringos who don’t ask. I didn’t ask. I told him, “You’re a thief. That’s too much!”

   His answer was, “I had to get out of bed with my wife to come haul you to the airport in the middle of the night. Nothing is too much.”

 

Maybe he had a point. I had the money and paid him. What else could I do?

  

I had a stop over in El Salvador this trip. The body search there was the most thorough I’ve received, stateside or in foreign countries. The searches make me feel more secure when I board a plane.

  

In Miami, the new body scanners are in use. They told me to remove my money and run it through the scanner. I refused by pretending I didn’t understand them. They ran me through a metal scanner. It beeped. They scanned me with a metal detector and found the plates and screws in my leg. That’s the first time those things have beeped. One guy with two artificial hips had a time.

 

 Honduras Question Answered July 19,2008 

A friend who knew I’d traveled to Honduras many times, called last week(JUly 10,2008). She was going to Honduras and had heard many horror stories about the country. She was going on an Elderhostel event with her 13-year-old grand daughter.My advice, “You’ll be looked after so completely that you won’t be able to get into trouble.”

 Her first night was to be in the Grand Sula in San Pedro Sula. That’s about as American as Atlanta. They even have the restaurant menu in English alongside the Spanish. Most of the girls speak English as they waitress.

 Secondly, she called about money exchange. “Change it at the airport with one of the guys who has about$10,000 in his hand.” They give a better rate than the banks and don’t check the serial numbers on each bill.”

 Should the vendors of money be on break, the park across from the Grand Sula oft-times has ten to twenty money changers. The Grand Sula will change money but not at the good rate the money changers give.

 Next question: “What is the exchange rate?”

 It’s difficult to give the exact exchange rate from the USA. Just barter a bit for the best rate. It’s usually around 18 to the dollar.

 Honduras is just like living in Miami or Los Angles. I’m certain Edlerhostle will take  better care of you than a tour guide state side.

 Have a great trip. I know you will.

While in the Lake Yajoa area of Honduras, be sure to eat fish plates and stop by Pena Blanca to shop. It’s not an American shopping mall; However, it’s not a tourist trap either. One might make a good find that not all tourist get for themselves.
ALWAYS CARRY A CORKSCREW
In February 2007, while concluding my mission work in Honduras, I was given a small bottle of wine, a product of Honduras. Not really certain if I could carry the product in my luggage, I decided to sample it the night before flying out. There was no corkscrew in the Hotel La Paz room (a $20 bargain room, clean, cool, comfortable and small) which was O.K. since I needed to go to the front desk for ice anyway. The front desk didn’t have a corkscrew and conferred with the guard on the door, who deferred to the waiting taxi in front. The guard, clerk, and taxi driver returned to me thinking the bottle’s neck would have to be sawed to retrieve the cork!During the conversation a street person arrived and told the other three to accompany him and they’d get the bottle open. All three left, leaving me rolling with laughter, minding the hotel, with a glass of ice. The longer the wait, the funnier it became. After 22 minutes the entourage returned having removed the cork with an instrument akin to a small spoon, leaving only a small piece in the neck which I pushed down in the bottle with my pencil. The four assistants and another street person presented cups from the water cooler for a sample leaving me the last bit in the bottle which was filled with cork fragments and sediment. The wine exhibited a smoked fruit taste with an overshadowing of cork. Note: I’ll be returning to Honduras in August of 2007 and already have a corkscrew in my checked luggage.For those with a more luxurious taste in hotels, the Grand Sula is an American type hotel which has an American restaurant complete with fries and hamburgers The Clarion, only a few blocks away is the total luxury entry while the Hotel Ejectutivo is mid-priced (about $50) Why leave home if you intend to watch CNN, savor the air conditioning, and eat American food?

July 2, 2008

Changing money in San Pedro Sula is done at the airport or in the park across from the Grand Sula Hotel. Men with thousands in Limperas and dollars offer a much better exchange rate than the banks and are much more convenient. Sonetimes they charge a fee. Other times they include the fee in the exchange rate. For those unaccustomed to money dealings in a foreign country, it is a little scary.However, the exchange is done in the open. Count after the changers and don’t flash your whole bankroll since someone else may be watching.

 

 

 

  

  

 April 2008 Sunday in San Pedro Sula 

Food is served hot all day long at the Mercado just like you like it. Sunday in San Pedro is a good day for “street food.” All the cooks have their tents and grills in the blocked street allowing one to mix and match foods from more than one vendor and eat at tables there. It’s worth the trip and time.
Internet is a boon to the world and to Honduras. In some of the internet cafes, long distance phone calls may be make all over the world. Rates to China are about four cents per minute, while the USA may be called for two or three cents a minute.
The transportation in Honduras is unequalled in other countries. Buses range in quality from “ragged out” school buses brought down from the USA to luxurious Mercedes and GM Buses manufactured for Greyhound. The fees charged are in part according to the quality of the ride. In Siguetepeque, the local buses cost five or six limperas. They announce their approach with a horn blast that is heard for blocks. On one occasion the teachers were on strike which resulted in a roadblock, precluding buses from Tegus getting to San Pedro on time. This caused us to take a second rate bus which costs about $1.65 to San Pedro. Sixty miles short of San Pedro, but after the mountain, the bus made a desperate pscht, pscht, pscht, sound indicating it had expired. We quickly offloaded our bags and gained position for the next bus along. All 64 of its seats were occupied; however we were granted standing room (Paid by the first bus driver) and made the new bus station in San Pedro Sula, on time and in fashion. Even short treks, up and down a hill, may only cost fifteen cents, making car possession unnecessary!