Honduran Culture

December 3^rd, 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.