Rules to Follow

Last month I unfortunately had to attend another funeral, my husbands cousins- who was murdered in Tegus. Funerals are not something I think anyone enjoys, and that would include me. In Honduras I have attended more funerals than I would ever think possible for living in a country a relatively short time. This time around the experience was more personal- and because of it there anywhere more rules to follow, a culture to abide by.

In Honduras funerals happen the day after, or the day of, there is no pretty make-up to hide anything, the family dresses the deceased, the family moves the body. When you are the family of the deceased you don't wear bright colors, red is the worst. In Tegus we used a funeral home, the house of his family was too small. Funerals are literally a time of mourning, there is no speeches or pamphlets. People are there to see the body, and mourn. If you knew the person, you go, simple as that.

The person that is at the center of the morning, the person that the people come to visit, is the mother. I have always found this curious, as it does not matter if the person is married, the mother is the center. This is what I have seen. My husband tells me because in most cases the wife is not the only significant other the husband has/had.

The cousin worked here at the store and was close to his family here in Juti, because of this the store is in morning also. We do not play music, and we have a black bow above the business to show we are in mourning.

I will not wear red clothes for a few months, go to the theater, or play music. I have been told that it is suppose to be followed for about 6 months.

The Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead in Honduras is a day, not of parades and parties- but a day to visit the graves of families to clean the graves, and remember. Graveyards as you can see above are a little less organized, but not limited to those without money. The gravestones vary from nothing, to small house with locked doors. The rich lay next to the poor, but no one seems to mind. In a country thats culture surrounds its self with family, I always wonder what the the people deep inside the ground did, not to have flowers put on their graves.

The People of Mel

Today is a day that shows what the people of Mel are like.
This morning the husband of a Congress woman was kidnapped- she supports Micheletti. They just found the husbands car and blood in it.
Then just now at 8:15p.m. the news man of Olancho (anchor and the whole show) was shot. He supports Micheletti.
How do I know that it is Mel supporters? Because it is Olancho and In Olancho, and specifically Juticalpa everyone knows everyone.

The cheating ways

One part of Honduran culture that I will never understand- nor agree with is the cheating. Honduran men, I will admit, are not completely to blame, the women are a part of it also.
In Honduran culture cheating on your wife or girlfriend is acceptable, not necessarily encouraged, but acceptable.

I will give an example (true story, names changed)
Juan has a girlfriend that his family knows, Maria, and he will bring Maria to family events, and she is considered Juans main girlfriend. Juan, if asked, will say his girlfriend is Maria, but he has other girlfriends, some are aware of Maria's existence- some are not.
This is very common, if not the norm. Juan, I would even say, is pretty low key compared to some people I know.

I have seen countless examples of men that are married, with children, have complete other families with a girlfriend, and while the girlfriend and the wife would never talk to each other, the other persons existence is well known.

I don't believe that it's right to put all the blame on the men (the act yes, the flirting- no)
My husband and I married legally in the US and then had a huge wedding here- everyone that knows my husband knows that he is married to me, the gringa.

The fact that he is married does not defer girls from somehow getting his number and texting him and or calling him. Some girls I have decided fish for guys just text random numbers till they get someone to flirt with them, but most of the time the girls know the guy. As a women I find this infuriating, but always I wonder what do these girls want, a boyfriend, money, a husband?

Ironic

There is a pharmacy in town that name translates to "The Immaculate Conception Pharmacy." They sell birth control.
Does anyone find that ironic, besides me?

La Sarca

The people here in Olancho have different ways of approaching me, or referring to me. The most obvious one of course is the gringa, or gringita. I do occasionally get asked if I am Honduran, which I think more because the accent of my Spanish- not so much the grammar.
The one that always gets a good laugh out of my husbands family and the employees here at the store is when people call me sarca. Sarca translates to clear eyes, mostly referring albinos. There is a lady that always comes by and when she leaves, she calls out to me "adios, sarca!" the employees always chuckle at her. By calling me sarca she is saying I am Honduran, the idea is just plain silly to them. I just smile back "adios!"

Collecting the Loot

Here at the store we have a fenced off area of the parking lot that is the designated garbage area. This area fills up in about a week and a half with the help of the market owners, and the neighbors. The men at the store have the wonderful task of loading up this garbage and taking it to the dump out of town. As you can imagine this is not a pleasant task.
So yesterday as normal they took the garbage to the every so pleasant smelling dump- but this time they came back with stuff. It seems that someone had dumped perfectly good things at the dump. They brought back wall clocks, calculators, and a few toys.
Let me take a quick side trip...
In Honduras people will buy pretty much anything, I have sold toys that are more that just broken, people sell clothes with holes in them, buckets that are broken- It is only sold for a few lempiras, but still it sells.
The stuff the employees brought back was good. The calculators were in the little boxes, and worked, the wall clock were not broken, and worked the toy even had a battery and worked! I was confused, almost as much as they were. The stuff was not from the store, so they did not steal it, but why would someone throw away good stuff?

My husband thought about it, and the only thing he could come up with that made sense- the Zelayist. When the people for Zelaya and broke into all those stores and stole everything, well we think they dumped the stuff they did not want, or did not want to be caught with at the dump outside of Juticalpa. Just a guess, but lets be honest here- who throws away anything that is not really garbage in Honduras?