Photo used by permission La Gringa's Blogicito

Shout out to Honduras_Living

"Honduras Living is an unbiased (noncommercial) forum where people can find up to date information about immigrating to Honduras, residency procedures, hotels, restaurants, sites to visit, experiences, crime/safety, places to avoid, and life in Honduras in general. Additionally, the group's files and links sections will be very helpful to anyone wishing to learn more about living in Honduras." I had writer's block trying to express how helpful and informative HL is so I copied that from the welcome message on the group's homepage. Most of the members are originating from N. America or a few European and South Americans countries. The Honduran members seem to have lived outside of the country part of their lives. If this group were a tangible place on earth, it would be your favorite bar.

This group has helped my fiancee and I with the move to Honduras in numerous ways. We've posted countless inquiries that we wouldn't know where else to impose. This group has proved to be the most reliable source for accurate information in comparison to a consulate or embassy in the U.S. or locally. Members post about their hardships and remind you that it can always get worse, they also share the highlights of their lives here and remind you that Honduras is filled with beauty despite being one of the poorest countries in the Americas. The archives provide an extensive library of previous threads that may answer any of your Honduran born curiosities. You'll find cooking recipies, gardening tips, legal info, twitter like news updates, restaurant and hotel reviews and tons more. My only other sources for info before HL were this link to Canal 6's live streaming http://www.noti6.com/ and my mother. I did eventually begin reading the national newspapers but they are filled with inaccuracies. The latter wasn't so helpful considering she'd been back to Honduras in nearly 23 years and the former scared the life out of me with daily reports of kidnappings and violent crimes. This group is also well moderated to keep the folks in control and enable ease of browsing on terribly slow internet connections.

Since I don't contribute as much as I think I should, I've decided to give props with a label on my blog. I'll turn some of my HL posts into blog entries because I'm a lazy blogger like that. At some point, I'll also post some of my blogs in the group to give the Returning Catracho Report of things because I'm a lazy group member like that. I'm not really lazy, my HL post frequency is directly correlated to my work, no employment = lots of posts, employment = very little posts.

The first entry into this label will be a post questioning the cleaning and bathing procedures when you have doo doo water. I still don't know wxactly what was going on with the water, but named the condition after that came along with it. This incident occurred while residing on Tela, Atlantida. It's a nice place... To visit.

This is my post.
I thought I would just let the water run and it would clear up in a minute or two, but it's been nasty all day. Does this always happen after rainy days? How do people shower or wash clothes? Carlos M - Had to walk down the street for another 5 gallon


Response #1 It happens in a lot of places after a good rain. It can take 3-4 days to clear up. While it is like this you don't wash clothes and you either don't bathe or you get a large bottle of water and take a sponge bath. You can set up a rain barrel to catch clean water for hand washing some things. This is one of the trade-offs for living in paradise.

Response #2
I always imagined paradise haveing clean water.

Response #3
Or at least some water. We have none today. I knew I should have done the laundry yesterday. XX, at least the weather is paradisal today La Ceiba

This is what I meant about reminders that things can always get worse.

Response #4
Due to the rain, we went the entire month of October without running water. Wait thats a lie. They fixed the pipes once, on a Monday afternoon, (It had stopped raining for 2 or 3 days) and then Tuesday morning it began to rain again and we lost water by 9AM Tuesday morning. I think the entire month of October we had rain every day BUT those couple of days and a day or so at the beginning of the month. We didn't get running water back until November 3. At least I had a way to collect rain water for washing dishes and taking showers (ok bucket baths is probably a better term). The kids took showers in the rain, LOL. They loved it. The adventures of living in a 3rd world paradise, LOL.

Response #5
Build two pilas approx. chest high (as long as your over 5'5") first with a sloping bottom 4 feet at the bottom to 4 inches at the top (water level) go to a rocky stream and get 2" to 4" rocks with green slime on them. Keep them wet during transport. Put a drain in the bottom of the first pila for back flushing. Cruddy water goes into the deep end very slow (a diffuser would be nice) and Slowly moves to the shallow end through the rocks. Then into your second pila which is a slow sand bio-filter. then to your cistern. during really bad water times may need to clean the slow sand filter a couple of times a week but you will get water that is very low in turbidity...

Response #6 A simple little 5 micron filter takes care of that. It will be overwhelmed, then when the rain stops you change the filter the next day and it starts doing the job. Tela usually cuts off the water supply when it overflows the cistern filters on the mountain. When the water goes off, I usually cut all water to my house and leave the tap on for the garden (which is pre-filter) until I see it is working. When the brown gets to just a dirty tan, I start it back to the house. Usually no more than half a day without water.

Latarian Milton Remix - THANK YOU INTERNET!!!!

Posts labeled as THANK YOU INTERNET will highlight my appreciation for the internet making this world flat


Read this first!
http://returningcatrachoreport.blogspot.com/2009/06/latarian-milton-thank-you-internet.html

I hate people who spread emails with viral videos, but I love the internet for exposing the world to things like this. Maybe I shouldn't think that the video on the link above is funny, I realize I have a twisted sense of humor. This video though, is freakin hilarious even if you didn't see the first. Again, this was remixed from his first of four encounters with the authorities and the media. They even chopped and screwed this at the end, classic.

So... Why were you deported and what gang were you in?

El Heraldo image

People aren't shy about asking these questions here in Honduras. If you're a returning Catracho you're either a deportee or crazy. After dengue, 2 armed robberies, a brief stay in a cell , and a few near-drowning experiences, I have to agree with my mother and label myself as crazy. I haven't seen any media coverage of "crazy" returning Catrachos so most people assume that everyone coming back has been deported, especially if you're young. In the defense of ignorance; La Prensa recently reported that 27,000 Hondurans have been deported from the U.S. in the first seven months of 2009 and the ICE doesn't try to deport people for "nuthin", unless you're Elian Gonzales. 58,000 Hondurans had their American dreams deflated last year. After seeing the numbers, I can understand why so many people impose these questions. Despite my understanding, it's still offensive.

I've had people ask me, "Why were you deported?" before asking my name, some people try to be smooth about it; they'll ask where I "was" before moving here. I may be exaggerating, but it feels like they're asking what jail I was in before being released for deportation. I was grilled about deportation at a job interview, once hired, I was expected to submit proof of non-deportation. Do you want page 193 from my journal or pictures of me at the airport without handcuffs? How would one go about proving a voluntary return to Honduras? I was thrilled to work there..... A "friend", more like acquaintance, finally asked about deportation after months of knowing me and was relieved to learn I had not been deported. She let out a sigh of relieve and said, "O.K. good, because my friend and I were wondering about that."

The other big question on the tip of everyone's tongue when meeting a returning Catracho is, "What gang were you in?" I met a lady running a dive shop in Roatan, after introducing ourselves and exchanging stories about where we're from, she said in her Texan (more like Tex-Mex) accent "Alright, take off the shirt and show me all them gang tattoos" All I could do is smile in return. She explained how she has met a bunch of deportees and yada, yada, yada, I wasn't listening much after the tattoo comment. I finished my cappuccino and "peaced out." I've since had great conversations with this lady and she even helped me find a house to rent.

My last boss asked me about being in gangs, or my little brother being in gangs or little cousins being in gangs. I thought to myself, "Tony?" When referring to where I come from he always says, "The east side of L.A. somewhere." The actual statement is funny, but the way he says it with his palms facing up, head tucked into his shoulders and a bewildered look on his face is hilarious! I doubt he's been there, I didn't even spend much time there. What movie is he getting that stereotype from? Born in East L.A. or A Million to Juan, both great movies by the way.

Did Dave Chapelle get asked crazy questions like this when he went to Africa? I guess he did, bad comparison, sorry. I'm always tempted to fulfill people's curiosity and answer with , "Yeah I got deported! I killed a man, no, two! [then I would proceed to bark in the person's face a la DMX. Yes, bark.]"

In further defense of people asking these questions, I have sometimes let myself go since my return to the motherland and sometimes look like this now. But still... That look's more like a sick bum than a criminal.El Heraldo image

HIstory in the making, or not... Cuarta Urna

These are tumultuous times for politics in Honduras. We are currently toying with the idea of re-writing the constitution. MZ is trying to re-write some articles that aren't supposed to be re-written. In other words; it is illegal to re-write these sacred articles, they're the foundation for the constitution. The referendum voting is scheduled to take place on June 28th, 2009. Since it's been deemed illegal by Congress, the military and police have refused to participate in the referendum that will determine whether the Cuarta Urna, or forth ballot box (the first three ballot boxes are for Presidential, Congress, and Municipal elections), will be present in this November's elections. Now we have a stand off between the President vrs. Congress and the military. Can you say Coup d'etat? With the absence of the Honduran military and police, Mel and Chavez have decided to bring in the Venezuelan military to "keep order". He is attempting to make these changes so he can stay in office for another term and continue his alliance with Chavez, the Venezuelan president, and the other ALBA (Alternativa Bolivariana para Los Pueblos de Nuestra America or Bolivian Alternative for the Americas or whatever it's called now) nations; Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and the new members as of June 24th, Ecuador, Dominica, Saint Vincent and Grenadine, Antigua and Barbuda. Some of these leaders have already succeeded in changing their constitutions and extend their term in office. I'm excited about the potentially historic changes in Honduras, but I'm also concerned for the well being of Hondurans. If a Coup does occur, the majority of citizens would suffer due to a shortage of food, stoppage of transportation, lack of medical attention and supplies. I'm also concerned about the state of the nation after the takeover. Who would be in charge? What will their interests be? Should I launch a campaign?