Owner: La Gringa's Blogicito URL:http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 01:24:28 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Gardening and living in La Ceiba, Honduras. Neither are easy for this American woman. Site statistics:Click here
Hondurans work for free? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Teachers demanding pay in September, La Prensa, HondurasTeachersTeachers have been on strike on and off since I moved to Honduras in 2001. Although the government requires 200 days of classes per year (remember that these are only half-day classes for most public school students), students only have received between 150-175 class days in the past 5 years due to strikes.Right now some 1,000 teachers are complaining about not receiving their pay, some for a few months and some since the beginning of the year. El Jefe's brother went without his teacher pay for 6 months. Thankfully, he doesn't have a family to support.Latest word from the Department of Education is that they will be "ready to pay" on Tuesday, depending upon receiving a government payment of L.7,000,000,000 ($370,000,000 U.S.) DoctorsTwo thousand doctors are clamoring for their pay from the government. At the top of the list are 850 doctors hired by contract who haven't been paid for 5 months. Next in line are permanent
Future grandmother to give birth to quintuplets 1970-01-01 00:59:59 That is a translated headline from La Prensa today.The doctors at Hospital Mario Rivas are preparing for two cesarean birth
s in the next few days. There is nothing unusual about cesareans − based on the number of Honduran women I've met, I would guess that, at least here in the city of La Ceiba, cesarean births outnumber natural births by about 9 to 1! I don't understand the reason that the rate would be so high, except perhaps the first time is for the convenience (or pay) of the doctor and after the first cesarean, the rest have to be delivered that way. Out in the country babies are most often delivered by midwives. Anyway − What is so unusual about these two pregnancies? One mother is expecting triplets and the other is expecting quintuplets. What else is so unusual? After these births, each woman will be the mother of 12 children!"La afortunada," (the fortunate one), as the newspaper called her, who will have quintuplets, is shown in the photo below:Las Prensa, Honduras, Read more:Future
An old-fashioned shoot out 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I spent the day catching up on a week or more of newspapers. While I'm reading, I always think about what might be interesting (or shocking!) to you, but by the time I finish reading, I'm so depressed and I don't want to depress you, too, so I usually don't write about it.There was one article from yesterday's La Prensa that really shook me up, even though there are terrible stories like this every single day. I guess because a North American was involved it hit closer to home.A 39-year-old U.S. veteran in Comayagua, (a medium-sized town in Central Honduras) closed and locked his restaurant doors a little after midnight on Monday but left the parking lot gate open since he still had several customers inside, some doctors and some Americans, as well as two waiters. Three men came to the door a little later and were told that the restaurant was closed. One of the men became enraged, returned to his car where he retrieved a 9-mm pistol and a hammer. Witnesses told reporters that the
Five drown in Tela 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Beach at Tela, HondurasTela, like many of the north coast Honduran cities is aspiring to become a tourist mecca and has some big plans in the making for an ambitious tourism project. They see that as their only hope to improve the economy by providing jobs. Tela is a medium-sized city located about half way between San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba on the Caribbean sea. In a really tragic story the other day, the Honduran La Prensa reported that two vacationing teenage Honduran girls, their brother, a cousin, and a female friend of the family drown
off a public beach in Tela. Apparently one or more got caught in the undertow and the others drowned trying to rescue them.This area has a very strong undercurrent and in the past 6 months there have been 10 drownings in that exact spot. The danger is so well known that the local fishermen call that area "el cementerio de los muertos" (the cemetery of the dead). The municipalidad (city government) cannot afford to post lifeguards on this city be
La Gringa's newletter readers 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Apologies to the La Gringa
's Blogicito newsletter subscribers. Blogger burped yesterday and sent out several old, old articles in the daily newsletter.Hopefully Blogger has gotten over its indigestion and will resume sending out the feed for only the most current article(s).If you have any problems with your newsletter subscription, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Read more:readers
Let them eat cake 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The Minister of Education urging teachers to get loans so they won't have a bitter ChristmasOn December 2, I wrote about 1,000 Honduran teachers not being paid. At that time, the Minister of Education said that they "would be ready to pay" on Tuesday, December 5. They may have been ready, but they didn't pay the teachers on Tuesday, or the next Tuesday, and still haven't to date.This is what the Minister of Education (long time politician who has run for president several times) had to say. Translated from a December 16, 2006, La Prensa, Honduras, article:The minister Rafael Pineda Ponce told the teachers who complain about the late payment of salaries to ask for loans to pay for their Christmas season expenses.He gave this advice after asking the educators for understanding and patience. He said the teachers are going to jail for debts they had incurred prior to the late salary payments."When there is no money in the pocket and one has good character, he gets a loan. The tamales bo
Honduran telephone system to change 1970-01-01 00:59:59 We don't have regional telephone
area codes in Honduras. The entire country is area code 504, which shouldn't be a problem since we only have about 900,000 phone numbers. It would be half that number if it wasn't for the cell phone companies.Originally the numbering system started out pretty organized. A 7-digit La Ceiba number starts with 4, San Pedro 5, Tegucigalpa 2, and so on.When the first cell phone company came, all cell phone numbers started with 9. That was convenient to know, since most people will not return a call to a cell phone, knowing that it costs a little bit more. In fact, many companies have enabled call blocking to cell phone numbers so that they physically can't call customers who only have a cell phone.After several years, a second cell phone company was allowed to come in and they received the numbers starting with 3 and later the first cell phone company was also given numbers starting with 8. There is also one or more satellite phone companies. Some parts Read more:Honduran
Money, money, money, money 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The littlewoodenman blog has started a new feature, a series of articles called, "Ask Mateo." I had a good laugh reading yesterday's article about money. Everything he says is so true. It's one of those things that I've gotten used to and don't think about it any more.I use a debit card a lot, so I don't get a lot of change. Except for the grocery store, most things are priced in even lempira (monetary currency of Honduras) amounts anyway. I'm ashamed to say that I have forgotten the coin denominations. I mean that I don't recognize all of them and have to squint to read what they are. So to avoid embarrassment, I normally don't use coins. Before you start thinking that I'm bragging that I don't use change − remember that a one lempira bill is worth US $.0529, so a 20 centavo coin is only worth about a penny. If I had 5 lempiras of change in my wallet, it would still only be US $0.26. As Mateo pointed out, some places don't even give change and they don't want yours eithe
Touristy Tips for La Ceiba 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Pretty pool area, La Quinta Real Hotel, La Ceiba
, HondurasLa Gringa isn't here to advise tourists about what to see and do or where to stay in La Ceiba. A lot of tourist information is already available on the internet. But since lately I have been handing out some advice that isn't so easy to know about, I thought I would turn it into a blog article. Taxis Taking a taxi from the airport is very expensive (L.200-300) by La Ceiba standards. If you don't have too much luggage, you can walk down the drive to the main highway (a long block) and catch a taxi for much less (maybe L.40-60). Taxis are abundant − you never have to wait long. Another thing you should know is that during the daytime the standard taxi fare is 15 lempiras per person to go anywhere inside the central part of La Ceiba, not the 30, 40, 60, or 100 that the taxi drivers may tell you. As the price of gas has risen, what is considered the 'central part' of La Ceiba has shrunken and that is understandable. At n
Teachers will ask for a loan for Pinpon 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The teachers have made a decision. In the next few days they are are going to turn to the Secretary of State to ask for a loan for "Pinpon," Rafael Pineda Ponce's nickname from his Poder Ciudadano (Citizen Power) presidential campaign. (See background articles Let them eat cake and Hondurans work for free.)The following is (roughly) translated from La Prensa:President of the teacher's group, Sergio Rivera, qualifies the negligence of the government as una groserÃa (a rudeness?). He says the teachers don't have credit anywhere anymore, not even their corner pulperÃas (small neighborhood grocery stores).With this inhuman attitude the only thing the government will achieve is that the teachers will be obligated to take to the streets.Furthermore, Rivera considers it like a joke with bad taste that Minister of Education Pineda Ponce, who has lived on the state for almost all of his life, scoffs at the needs of the teachers to declare that those who are hungry and don't have food sh
One corrupt politician falls, maybe 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Forgive me while I revel in one Honduran corrupto's (corrupt politician's) downfall. At least it is beginning to look like it may be his downfall − but we've been fooled before.I wanted to get the pictures, but first the site was overloaded and then for some strange reason, all the links were broken. But where there is a will, there is a way, and finally I rooted out these photos. This is two week old news, but it will be new to most of you. The December 18, 2006 La Prensa headline read CAPTURED! This is the former mayor and a current regidor (city councilman) of San Pedro Sula, second largest city in Honduras: La Prensa, Honduras, December 18, 2006The photo caption reads, "The ex-mayor Kilgore threw himself under a table and began to cry when the agents neared to arrest him." He has been accused of outright stealing more than L. 1 million, bartering two properties that were supposed to be neighborhood green areas, obtaining a L. 20 million bank loan on behalf of the city when
The ax falls 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Remember the arrogant Minister of Education that I wrote about here and here? Honduran President Zelaya fired him, along with two other ministers. The president did a review of all of his ministers and rated these as failing. The head of the national telephone company which I wrote about here and numerous other places has been reassigned to another position. The new head of Hondutel explained that the organization should have three employees per phone line but currently has 15 employees per phone line!Today it was announced that seven other top managers in the Ministry of Education resigned in solidarity with Minister Pineda. That's probably for the best. La Prensa reported that "The phantoms of the fired ministers are beginning to frighten the employees of the affected departments." This is because the majority, if not all, of government employees are political appointees and serve at the whim of whomever is in power.In other news, the President of the National Congress fired 60 empl
Black Pepper 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Black pepper, Piper nigrumHave you ever seen peppercorns growing on the plant? Me neither. Cute, isn't it? If you have warm weather and 70 to 100 inches of rain per year, you can grow it, too.I'll have to tell you more about it later as I need to research it. Obviously I'm not doing too well so far. Look at the color of those leaves. And I really need to get it out of that plastic bag. Speaking of that, I've never seen plants sold in plastic bags until I moved to Honduras.
Read more:Black
, Pepper
, Black Pepper
Our first guayaba 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Guayaba fruit, Psidium guajava Linn.We had our first guayaba (guava) the other day. It wasn't what I expected but it was good, sweet and juicy. It measured about 5 inches (13 cm.). Our neighbor gave us the tree about three years ago and it spent the first year in a gallon pot until our yard was ready for planting.At that time our neighbor also gave us a guayaba from his tree. It was hard and white inside with a taste somewhat like a tangy apple. The seeds were dangerously hard. They could easily break a tooth. That's why this one wasn't what I expected.Like mangos, guayabas can be eaten unripe. Here in Honduras, that is usually with vinegar, salt, and pepper. Since we didn't even know we had this guayaba until it fell off the tree, we ate this one ripe. It was soft and pink inside, sweet, and tasted . . . . well, tropical. We ate the skin and the seeds, which in the ripe fruit, were soft and hardly noticeable, kind of like tomato seeds.Guayaba, Latin name Psidium guajava Linn., is
It's a black water day in the neighborhood 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Sigh.... You are probably wondering what the heck I mean by that. It's not a euphemism or Honduran or Texan lingo. What I mean is that we have black water
coming out of our faucets and filling our toilets. Literally, black water. It looks like coffee that has been left on the burner for 16 hours or like used motor oil when it hasn't been changed for 6 months. This is not trick photography!Somewhere, somehow, sometime this morning, the water was turned off in the neighborhood. When the water recommenced, the force of the water rushing through the empty pipes or the neighborhood tank dislodged all the black goo that lines the tank and pipes and pushed it all into our household system. I found out in the second worst possible way. I was still half asleep, washing my face with my eyes closed. When I opened them, I discovered the black water pouring out of the faucet. That is what I had been washing my face with. What is the worst possible way? Discover it after you've been brushin
Sickly chicky update 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This is Carmen. Isn't that just the sweetest little chicky face you've ever seen?Some kind-hearted person asked for an update on her. I haven't written anything because there hasn't been much new to say. She still doesn't want to eat or drink but I manage to get a little down her a few times a day. She only weighs 14 oz. (400 gr.) and Conchita is at least 18 oz. (510 gr.).I dip her beak into the electrolyte water about 10 times a day. She'll usually drink the first time or two but after that she just flings the water all over me. I'm still giving her the antibiotic.We are keeping her inside in a cardboard box. In the mornings we can hear her scratching around a little but mostly she just stays very still. I'm starting to wonder if she has a broken bone. There isn't anything visible that I can see nor are there any symptoms of diseases.I feel a little more hopeful in that she's keeping her eyes open more often now. Tonight even though she struggled with me, she did eat quite a
Ramón is the Man 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Weighing in at about 18 ounces (510 grams), Ramón somehow has the idea that he's the boss of everyone.VIDEO DAY!This is my first video with my new camera and I think it's the best yet. Enjoy!P.S. In the process of making this movie, I played the video about 20 times. Each time Ramón heard himself crowing on the video, he answered by crowing! El Jefe can't decide if he wants to strangle Ramón or me.
Where is your rock? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The first time a maid asked me that, I thought that piedra (rock) must be a colloquialism for something else. "Rock ... rock ... rock?" I thought to myself. "What could that stand for? She's in the kitchen, she's cooking. It must be a name for some kind of kitchen tool."I finally had to say that I was sorry, I didn't understand, and I went to ask El Jefe. It turns out that rock means rock. So I went outside and found a nice flat rock that fit my hand comfortably. I washed it up and rinsed it well. Here's my rock!It turns out that a rock is a handy kitchen tool. It can be used for tenderizing meat or caracol (conch), flattening chicken breasts, grinding spices, smashing garlic, giving a tap on the lid of a hard-to-open jar, and probably other things I haven't thought of yet. Because of the slight curve, it doesn't take much effort to rock it back and forth to crush things.You could go out and buy $50 or so of kitchen gadgets to do those things. In fact, you could get this meat te
Why are oranges orange? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Many of us are used to seeing those lovely bright orange oranges in the grocery stores. Here in Honduras and in other tropical areas, the oranges and lemons are usually green. In fact, by the time they start showing a little color, they are often past their prime. Why is that? Oranges are actually a sub-tropical tree that was introduced to the American tropics around 1500 by Christopher Columbus among others. The fruit does not continue to ripen after picking so it must be left on the tree until ripe. The natural orange color of Citrus sinensis (sweet orange) is brought on by cooler temperatures. Since most eating oranges in the US are grown in Florida or California, they receive a bit more cool weather than they get here in Honduras. So if you are growing oranges in cooler climates, the peel will probably become orange, if you are growing them in the tropics, most varieties will stay green when ripe. It's not only temperature, though. All sorts of dastardly things are done to
Bad dogs 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Clockwise, Chloe, Zoe, and Joey Don't let that picture fool you. These are some very bad dogs. Yesterday I made some black-eyed pea soup* and corn bread. Not the quick corn bread, but a yeast bread corn bread which takes almost four hours to make. I made three mini-loaves from the recipe. One was for dinner and the other two were going into the freezer. Today we had the soup again for lunch. Since we only had a little bread left over from last night, I went to the freezer to pull out another mini loaf. No corn bread in the freezer. "What a minute," I think to myself. "I don't remember putting those other two loaves in the freezer." I remembered leaving them resting on a towel to cool before I put them away. I looked everywhere. I went outside to ask El Jefe if he had put the bread away last night. Nope, never saw it. Chloe the Rotten Rottweiler must have pulled the loaves down for a snack. I checked the floor and not a crumb was to be seen, so apparently they like corn bread wit
La Gringa's obsessions 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Ha ha! Tricked you again with that catchy title, didn't I?I ♥ Google (most of the time)I'm obsessed with Google. I love to see the searches that people make that lead them to my blog. It gives me ideas about what to write about. But lately I've been getting a lot of hits from people, umm, shall we say, "looking for love in all the wrong places."I can't tell you exactly − and you probably don't want to know anyway − because if I spell out what they are looking for, Google will add it to their database and then I'll get even more of those perverts visiting.I have been racking my brain to try to figure out why Google is sending them to my blogicito. I finally figured it out: I made the mistake of being a little too explicit about chicken facts and used the s_x word. Jeesh! Is that all it takes?Here is another search from today that I can't quite figure out, but it is funny:"robberies done with a shovel in 2007"I'm just trying to picture that....?I ♥ TechnoratiI'm also obs Read more:Gringa
More Americanization of Honduras 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I've written a lot about plastic bags in Honduras
. I have never seen so many plastic bags anywhere in all my life.While plastic bags do take up less space in the landfill than most other kinds of containers, a whole lot of them end up in the streets, sewers, rivers and ocean instead, often with a load of trash inside.Some of the plastic bags used for food or drinks are probably not 'food-safe' bags. I have no way of knowing for sure, but some of them have a very strong chemical odor which permeates the food if it is left in the bag too long.Plastic bags are so overused. Sometimes when unpacking my groceries, I find items in their own separate bags, which are together inside another bag, which is combined with other bags inside a big bag! A big trip to the grocery store can easily result in a month's supply of assorted size trash can liners. I can't buy an orange without someone insisting that it has to be in a plastic bag.I used to take my canvas shopping bags with me but they cau
A sickly chicky 1970-01-01 00:59:59 CarmenBoth Conchita and Carmen have been acting mopey and not eating much since they went broody. I take them out of their respective nesting areas several times a day and try to feed them a little. They have both stopped laying eggs. I began to notice that Carmen would just sort of lay wherever I put her and she wasn't eating at all that I could see. Saturday, I left her by the food and a little later noticed she was still where I left her, but not eating. I went to get her and saw that fire ants were carrying the food away. The ants were on Carmen, too, and she wasn't even trying to get away. Then I became really worried! If you don't know about fire ants, consider yourself lucky. They give a painful sting and can even kill if an animal gets enough stings. Carmen has had another problem for a few days. She has been holding one eye closed most of the time. I've looked and looked and I can't see anything wrong with her eye. It's not swollen, it's not red, there is no discharg
Ugly Betty wins 1970-01-01 00:59:59 America FerreraAmerica Ferrera, Honduran-American star of the TV show Ugly Betty
, won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Comedy series tonight. Although she was born and raised in California, America is putting Honduras on the map. This is her TV character, Betty
Read more:Ugly Betty
Cost of living in La Ceiba 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Houses in ResidencÃal Las Colinas - expensiveI'm probably not going to live up to that title. For those who are interested, I thought I would just give you some idea of what it costs to live here in La Ceiba
.Just keep in mind that your absolute needs are probably different from mine. If I asked one person how much it costs to live in Dallas, Texas, he might tell me $2,000 per month. If I ask another, he might tell me $20,000 per month.Clay house on the highway - inexpensiveAll prices are translated from lempiras to U.S. dollars, except internet and cell phone which are billed in U.S. dollars.UtilitiesElectric - Our electric bill runs about $95 per month and we rarely use the air conditioning. We do have an electric stove and electric dryer because those rusty propane tanks scare the dickens out of me.Gas - Piped in natural gas service is not available. We haven't refilled our propane tank lately, but it probably costs somewhere around $11-13.Water - This depends on which colonia (ne
Hummingbird on a Heliconia 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Hummingbird on Heliconia latispatha, We see so many hummingbirds this time of year but catching them with the camera is difficult. El Jefe was able to take this photo a few weeks ago with the old camera. I love the colors of this iridescent jewel-colored one in the photo.One once buzzed around my head and even though the camera was in my hand, I couldn't get it turned on fast enough. They often hover around the Etlingera Elatior right outside my estudio (studio) window for a minute or more, but when I open the screen to get a shot, they fly away.Etlingera elatior, (Bastón de la Reina) a favorite of hummingbirdsThis year I've seen two unusual types that I haven't seen before around the Etlingera. Both had curved beaks. One had a short curved beak and was as small as my thumb. The other had a very long arched beak and was quite a bit larger. They were both more brownish.I won't hazard a guess to try to identify the one in the top picture. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Read more:Hummingbird
Japanese spam again 1970-01-01 00:59:59 My blog is being inundated by Japanese
Chinese spam comments today. I had to turn on the darn captchas for commenters, which I hate. I'll turn them back off in a day or two and see what happens. My email is full of Japanese spam as well. It has been coming for months now. La Gringa receives about 50 Japanese spam for each English spam.During the month of December, La Gringa received 45 spam messages. It started out slow with notification that I had won the Euromillion lottery on the 6th. The next day, I received a Portugese and a Japanese spam. No more spam for a full nine days and then .... BAM! I received 41 spam messages, all in Japanese, and one message whose subject was "Hey bro wats up" and the first line was "do you know I make a couple hundred dollars doing online ....." I did get a chuckle from the "Hey bro" part.So, out of 45 spam, I can only read two of them (but I didn't). What is going on with that? Do they think that I will be so curious that I will click on a link, o
It's a contest! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 What is it?The first person to guess right will win a prize. I'll send you something Honduran. It won't be as big as a Honduran mahogany dining room set or as small as a Honduran plastic bag (even though they are great), but I'll try to find something the winner would like.Rules: The answer must be exact! No partial answers. One guess only, please.If no one guesses correctly by Sunday, I'll post another picture so you can try again.
Carmen the chicken eats from a spoon 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Carmen eating from a spoonI have been feeding Carmen by hand for a week. One time I made the mash too soupy for me to pick it up and put in her mouth so I tried holding the spoon under her beak and she started eating. Hooray for that! It is very hard to feed a chicken who doesn't want to eat.Carmen is definitely improving. She looks fat in the video but it's just the way she is standing and holding her tail down. She's really still only feathers and bones. She walks around a little, although shakily, and is eating a lot now.The video is sloppy − I was trying to feed her, take the video, and keep her from falling off the table all at the same time.
Read more:Carmen
Grocery store secret police 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I promised I'd tell you about this. Grocery
stores and other medium to large stores will usually have an armed guard or two at the entrance, but what I didn't know at first was that some of them also have 'secret police' inside dressed like customers.Their job is to watch out for shoplifters or people who might eat something in the store or drink a coke and then leave the can and not pay for it. Well, they aren't really secret police. They are more like undercover guards, but I think of them as secret police. They just sort of hang around the store trying to watch people without looking too suspicious. It just so happened that El Jefe knew a couple of people who had these jobs − that's how I found out about it. Once I noticed a man who seemed to be at the end of every aisle I went down. He didn't have a cart or a basket, and he was beginning to make me nervous. When El Jefe came to pick me up, I mentioned it and pointed the man out. El Jefe said, "Oh, he's the secret guar
Recommend Site To A Friend
