December 3rd, 2011
Below is a list of things you might
not know about Honduras and Honduran culture, most of these things are fairly
opinionated and of course are simply my own opinion and by no means reflect every
single person, place, or experience in Honduras.
1.
You can not flush your toilet paper
down the toilet; instead you must put it in a garbage can next to the toilet.
2.
Almost all of the public
transportation is old school buses from the States that are usually on the
point of breaking down. These buses are usually packed with people at almost
all times and they are usually blasting one of two types of music A) Honduran “rap”
that just is basically a loud bass bumping up and down or B) any American pop
music from the 70s or 80s. Also, the bus is not ready to go until it is decked
out in all kinds of stickers, the type of sticker is not important just that
there are numerous stickers all over the inside and outside.
3.
Hondurans do not point with their
fingers when trying to point something out as this is seen as rude in Honduran
culture, instead they use their lips to make a kissy face with their lips doing
the pointing.
4.
Do Ra Me Fa So La Ti Do here in
Honduras is Do Ra Me Fa Sol La Si Do… I think. It is entirely possible that I
am just hearing this wrong.
5.
Honduran school children start each
day off with singing their national anthem.
6.
Hondurans mostly all wear “ropa americana”
aka clothes from the States that have been donated. Not uncommon at all to see
people wearing American Eagle, Aeropostale, or whatever other brand name you
can think of. It may very likely be a knockoff though.
7.
Coffee is HUGE here, especially in
the west of the country where I am located. Everyone around 3 in the afternoon
is ready to take a break and drink some coffee, and I mean everyone. I have
seen kids as young as one or two drinking coffee. As a non-coffee drinker I am
looked at oddly sometimes however every now and then I will give in and drink
some coffee and I have to say, it is growing on me but I suspect I really just
like the sweet bread that is served with it.
8.
There are two main political parties
here in Honduras, Liberales and Nacionalistas (I’ll let you guys do the
translating there…). It is common practice when a mayor wins election to throw
out every single employee of the office and hire all new workers of his own
political party. This means that the people who have just spent the last four
years learning how to do their job and are finally able to do some good for the
municipality are thrown out and in comes people who do not know what they are
doing. They spend the next four years learning what to do until they are thrown
out and the vicious cycle continues.
9.
Hondurans are incredibly bad
spellers (I spell much better than them in Spanish so that is telling you
something…). I have talked with a few Hondurans about this and they all seem to
agree that it is due to their poor education system, I also think it has
something to do with the language being so verbal and the people having limited
access to books and writing materials.
10.
Hondurans never seem to have
anything to write with, never.
11.
Many Hondurans have really nice day
planners which they carry with them to important meetings, only they do not use
them to plan their days. Instead they use it just like a notebook and
completely ignore each day. It is essentially a much more expensive and better
looking notebook
12.
While on a bus for public
transportation you will most likely encounter at least 4 or 5 people who get up
during the ride and try to sell something to the entire bus, they will try to
sell anything and everything. On top of that, there will be another 2 people
who come to preach the word of God. Maybe if you are lucky you will get a clown
that comes on the bus, tells some dirty jokes, and then collects money for
street children.
13.
Honduran water = Pepsi or Coke
14.
Plastic grocery bags are used to
transport just about anything.
15.
There is a culture here of littering,
almost everyone liters and if they do not the best way to get rid of the
garbage (because there is no collection system) is to burn it.
16.
Honduras is home to Roaton and the
Bay Islands which have been named the cheapest place in the world to get your
diving license and is said to have the second best reefs in the world.
17.
San Pedro Sula is said to be the industrial
capital of Honduras as opposed to the capital of Tegucigalpa. In San Pedro Sula
there are numerous murders every year, I have heard different reports and
numbers but most reports put it as the first or second most violent city in the
world with over 110 murders per every 100,000 people (I have heard between 106
and 154). Tegucigalpa is not much better and still has over 100 per 100,000 and
is within the top 5. Now the reasons for all of these murders are because of
the drugs and gangs that are rampant in Honduras. The drugs (cocaine) come up
from South America, through any means really but the sea route and air route
are most common, and they land in the east of the country in a very remote
region called Gracias a Dios. From there they unload it and transport it
through the northern part of the country through San Pedro Sula and up through
Guatemala and Mexico into the U.S.
*Please
do not fear for my safety, I am living in an incredibly safe area of Honduras
and last I checked the number of murders per 100,000 in Dulce Nombre is 0.*
18.
People that live in the more rural
parts of Honduras are usually very timid as they have never really been exposed
to more modern things and people. They give very weak handshakes, like total
dead fishes.
19.
Almost every Honduran knows the
numbers 1-10 in English and they will be very happy to show you
20.
The amount of salt, sugar, and oil
used in the Honduran kitchen is… wow.
21.
Almost every man over the age of 60
most likely walks around with a machete in one hand, no matter where they are
going. This also applies to Hondurans much younger as well.
22.
Security guards are everywhere in
Honduras, they guard businesses mostly and carry around rifles, AK-47s, and
shotguns. For example the bank in my site has three security guards that stand
watch every day with their guns. I have yet to see them do anything but stand
and hold up the walls from falling down.
23.
People who hold a college degree
(translated as being a licenciado) are referred to as such. For example I can
be called Lic. Jim Hanley, but thankfully I am not. However there are some people
that are very proud of that college degree (rightfully so I guess) and demand
that everyone call them Lic. Also, all teachers are referred to as Prof. ______
I myself have been called Prof. many times. Basically, it is just a sign of
respect and people who have a college degree or are teachers hold a lot of
respect from the community.
24.
It is not uncommon to see someone
sweeping the dirt outside of their house or store and then wetting it down as a
means of keeping the dust down.
25.
You can buy basically any liquid in
a bag here.
26.
Hondurans do not like to read, even
the librarian that I work with does not like to read
27.
Creativity is lacking here in
Honduras and I suspect that has to do with the rote learning system that is
implied in the school system. For example if you ask a class to draw a picture
of a community here in Honduras they will all draw extremely similar pictures,
like weirdly similar and it is like that for any picture really.
28.
The only use of turn signals that I have
ever seen in Honduras is if a car/truck/semi is going slow on the highway they
will put their turn signal on to let the people behind them that it is safe to
pass them. Actually a really cool and nice thing that is done here.
29.
Fireworks are common toys for kids
to play with, especially during the breaks from school.
30.
Machismo (being macho) is very
common in Honduras and catcalls are commonly given to just about any women from
young Hondurans.
31.
Hondurans are very particular about
their clothes and will most likely iron every single article of clothing before
wearing it.
32.
The U.S. has an army base located in
Honduras and has increased their presence in Honduras to try to help out with
the drug problem.
33.
Hondurans run on a different time
system, meaning that they are always at least 30 minutes late. That is not just
my opinion either, many Hondurans have told me the same thing and it is almost
a joke amongst them.
34.
Hondurans will and do pull out their
phone anywhere and whenever, I am talking during meetings mostly. I have seen
on many occasions someone answer their phone during a meeting, usually they
will try to duck down and talk a little softer to try to disguise it but it is
not fooling anyone. Also any phone call that is received gives the person free
reign to get up and leave the room to answer the call or answer in the meeting
as stated above. Texting and playing games are also very common to see in meetings.
While I realize that in the States phones are totally used during meetings etc.
but this is a much more obvious usage.
35.
At almost every meeting there will
always be a snack and refreshment for the participants after the meeting or
around 10 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon in it is a full day meeting. It
is a little bit like being young and having snack time but I am not complaining
at all.
