Names are something that drives me really mad here. The kids have at least 3 different names. Normally 2  first names and 2 surnames. Now, sometimes they are called with the 1st first name, sometimes with the 2nd first name, sometimes with the surnames and if there are kids having the same first name (e.g. Juan) the surnames are used to call them. Or a combination. Now, so far I only talked about the real names. But there are dozens of nicknames. Pure confusion – at least for me.

By the way, my nicknames are Ricky Martin (which exhilarates people a lot when they hear it for the first time) and Martín Pescador (I like that one!).

What else? My flight is supposed to be next Tuesday and people tell me I should be positive, that the airport will be open and things will be alright. I started to believe it. But now I heard that some freaks built a blockade on the road that leads from the rancho to Tegucigalpa.

Ben told me to join him on Saturday for taking photos from the demonstrations in Tegus but right now I am feeling a little sick. So I borrowed him my magic tele-lens and he took some awesome shots! He was just on the phone with a guy from the CNN and I am positive we might see some of his shots there soon!!

© fotos by Benjamin Katz

As announced in the last post I had a little excursion to the next town called Talanga. This isn’t really what I would call a fun city; so I was happy that Pili accompanied me. Getting there was a bit tricky. Usually there are a lot of buses passing by but right now it seems that the drivers are afraid. So almost no public transportation. And also few cars for to hitchhike. But we were lucky enough to find a nice family that was interested in gringos and took us directly to the center. It seemed that the whole city was under water. There are a couple of concrete roads but still everything was wet and muddy. Anyway, we managed to find a bank and a supermarket and we made it home too.

As for the situation here I felt a lot of uncertainty among the people. This military coup is a shame but on the other side the majority of Hondurans does not want Zelaya, the ex-president, back. So for now there is a lot of police and army everywhere controlling cars and people. Also I watched some news in a Honduran TV-channel and the atmosphere in the big cities San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa seems to evolve to be more dramatic.

From my European point of view all this weapons and guns are still scary but in a way I almost got used to them. It is just so common that there is a guard in every store with a pump-gun. Or you might sit in a restaurant in Teguz and there is the security service for the money entering: one guy with a pump-gun, another with an machine gun and the third with a carbine. Plus pistols of course! And than there are the “tools” Hondurans seem to carry everywhere: machetes. Imagine half of the people walking around with little swords!

Most of you might have heard that we have some trouble going on here in Honduras. It isn’t easy to be up to date and to know who is having which intentions and what might happen next. I am sorry to say that but Honduran press is rubbish. The more I am reading foreign online newspapers the more I am enthusiastic about the BBC. And El País of Spain.

good article on the BBC.

Today I will go to the next town Talanga for to cash my check’s and buy some stuff. It is not really recommended to leave the Ranch right now but I am not even sure if the Talangans have heard that there was a coup. Probably they still obey the king of Spain

The Rancho is somewhat in the countryside and almost 40 km away from Honduras’ capital Tegucigalpa but right now everybody here is alerted as there happened to be a coup. The military took over the power and sent the president into exile. Right now there is no public transportation, cell phones do almost not work and it is highly unrecommended going to the city (shoot … I need tooth paste!) at the moment.

Yesterday I was spending the day with my boys and we worked at the “granja” (farm) removing cow shit and putting it into bags. Delicious! Good chance to take photos anyway.

only two for today:

1. My MacBook Pro is pretty dead. I still can access the hard drive but there is no optical signal. It seems to be damaged graphics card. And I read that the nVidia 8600GT had a lot of these problems. I thought about bringing my computer to some store in Tegucigalpa but in the end I dismissed the idea. I just don’t trust the Honduran stores. I will be in Germany in 3 weeks and I will wait that long. There is a store with a really good service in Leipzig and they already told me they could repair the computer in the given time. Anyway it really sucks not to have the computer now as I am preparing everything for the workshop in Germany. But I found the Apple G4 with 400 MHz – that is my machine for the meantime. Welcome back in 1998 or so!
2. I just read this BBC article about the Honduran army boss being sacked and talked to my swiss office mate who is living here (Honduras & El Salvador) for about 20 years. There might be some crashes this weekend! The president is initiating a referendum and its all about power. It is hard to see through this jungle and I really doubt that Honduras is ready for Democracy but we’ll see what happens. I suppose there might be some fights. And I guess the president was a little scared of a military coup.

Lost Dogs is the title of a Pearl Jam record. Something between Best Of and songs that are too good to be forgotten: “Last Kiss”, “Dirty Frank”, “Yellow Ledbetter” … sweet! Now, I take a lot of pictures here. And a lot are crap, some are decent and some are pretty good. However, there are some that are not great but too nice to be forgotten. Here are some Lost Dogs.

1. Baseball is one of my new favorite sports! I am a terrible batter but a decent pitcher. And I have a team: the Minnesota Twins … it is the only team I know by the way
2. The guy is a tío who found this big turtle and saved it from the kids.
3. These days we have a lot of rain here and I am in love with this clouds and the sound a thunderstorm is making during the night.
4. (as 3.)
5. This is scene at one of the markets in Tegucigalpa. Carrying a camera is not really wise but definitely worth.
6. (as 5.)
7. Buying piglets at a nearby farm. Hard to catch!!
8. A typical Friday scene in the life of volunteers here: Flor de Caña (the bottle of rum), somebody cooking or preparing fruit smoothies, one guy playing haggie-sack.

Lately I had a quite traumatic experience. While being on vacations in Utila Pili left me her turtle Tomate for taking care of a couple of days. Now, the home of this little thing is rather sad: a tupperware container, approximately 10 cm high and filled with 3 cm of water and a flat stone. I also put some leaves in and Tomate loves to hide underneath those. One of these days I am coming back home in the evening having the intention to give la tortuguita its dinner. No Tomate in there!! Btw, the tupperware stood on a chair for to have better sunlight during the day. Well than, I grab the flashlight and start a hunt in all places of my room (which is small). Nothing! In my helplessness I am taking the turtles’ home and consult my buddy Ben: “Am I totally of the wall?!” He is having the idea that it might have been the cat. Bother! Pili is going to kill me. Or leave me. Or will first leave me and then kill me! So I am heading back to my room, inflamed with rage. Jeez, what the heck is that … the light is off, a power blackout. Oh no, not that! One last-ditch attempt rescue operation. Removing the beds, tables, nightstand. And what do we have over there in the darkest corner covered in bobbles and dirt? Tomate! You might imagine that I had a strong desire to grumble at the turtle for quite a while. Still not yet Tomate has told me how he/she (who nows?) escaped from the tupperware and how he/she got off the chair. I suppose that this takes some effort for such a tiny animal. But maybe Tomate has had accomplices. I bet on the cockroaches.