The sh.. is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. The sh.. is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Life is a little bananas here!
The weather has been bananas here the last few days. It’s been raining almost steadily for the last 64 hours. The elections and storm have pretty much shut down the island for the last few days. Rita who was supposed to come in on Thanksgiving Day has been delayed for 4 days! The planes won’t run and the ferries aren’t going in or out. Last I heard she found a fellow traveler and they are in a hotel in la Ceiba, she’s safe and sound but desperately wants to be here (Fou wants her back too J). The elections start Sunday, but no one is allowed to serve alcohol from Saturday until Monday morning that, along with the rain, has left West End looking like a ghost town. With all the rain the power went out again on Saturday nite with the rain pouring down right while I was watching Angels and Demons.
We also haven’t had bananas at the corner shop for last few days. I’ve learned that sometimes we get them in, but sometimes we don’t. The guy at the stand tells me “no hay” (there aren’t any) and when I ask why he says that the truck hasn’t come… hmmm. If I want bananas I have to stock up when they are in. Bananas rule here in Honduras, in more ways than one. Of course, to eat they are cheap and pretty delicious… although it might be because they are a perfect snack before and after a dive. Bananas are a big part of the politics too. Over the country’s history two companies have emerged that intertwine the US and Honduras (well Central America). Those two companies are Standard and United, ever heard of them? Oh maybe by their other names- Dole and Chiquita? The US has had a strong influence and paid close attention to our neighbors in the south because of the bananas and these companies.
Before I came, people would say are you sure you want to go to Honduras? Wasn’t there a political coup recently? Honduras has rewritten their constitution over 17 times since 1821, power has changed hands many times and may again with the election. I was talking to a friend recently, well, he was talking and I was doing the listening. He was talking about the riots in Tegucigalpa and how he had read about them from an eye-witness reporter who said that the news media, especially cnn had it all wrong. One group was protesting and there were more than what the media reported and they were calm and cleaned up after themselves. The other group was less calm, less people and didn’t clean up, in fact caused quite a mess and the media reported it all wrong. Bananas, right? Of course everyone has their side of the story, but where is the truth? Well, the truth is Honduras, especially Roatan, is hurting economically because the US tourists aren’t coming because of the news of the political situation and swine flu (I had the swine flu in Boulder and aside from sleeping for 5 days in a row, I think it was fine).
When I first went to the supermarket in Coxen Hole my taxi driver and I passed by two rallies for the presidential candidates. They were both very peaceful, music blaring and people dancing. Altho I did notice one had more people than the other the only difference between the two rallies to me were the colors of their signs… blue and red. Hopefully the elections will run smoothly for all parties involved.
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday instead of Thursday because it’s been a little crazy. First, Noelle was worried about the storm and the boats and wanted to have Rita come to the dinner. Noelle’s boat is docked at the Blue Marlin right now (it’s name is Moody Blues) and the shop boat Slimy Doris is there too (they sold Slippery Dick a few years ago). I wasn’t too blue that we didn’t celebrate on Thursday; it sure was slippery and slimy out. (Was that a bit of a stretch J? I’m super corny or maybe going bananas – I should stop now if I still want you guys to read my blog!) Anyway, Noelle hosted the feast. A few days before Robert, Massimo, Chase, Noelle and I had a field trip to Coxen Hole. It was a lot of errands, mine was to get pumpkin pie ingredients. No luck at the 2 supermarkets in Coxen Hole. The next day we ventured to French Harbor… the supermarket there was so great! They had pumpkin pie mix, but neither evaporated milk nor half of the spices required. I gave up and decided to just buy apple and blueberry pie from the supermarket bakery. Noelle cooked an amazing feast with Massimo and Chase’s help. The entire shop came- Uwe, Dorte, Lindey and his wife Norma and daughter Sophia, Massimo, Robert, Gabriel, Chase, and of course me.
There was lots of eating, drinking, laughing, and a little show called Little Britain. It was fun catching up with everyone and telling stories. Noelle told a funny story about one of the cruise ship divers we had a few days before. Apparently the guy was a hypnotist, his daughter was having trouble equalizing and with her sinuses. Her dad was going to help her through hypnotism. He kept telling her; “close your eyes and tell me where it hurts, but don’t touch it.” Chase loves Little Britain (well all the guys and Noelle do) and there’s a skit with a hypnotist who says “Look into my eyes, look into my eyes”. He of course said it to Noelle (Chase didn’t know he was a hypnotist by trade, he thought they were talking about hypnotism- maybe Chase was hypnotized). Noelle said she tried her hardest not to bust up laughing and stay professional. Lindey said he thought that the hypnotist was maybe hypnotizing Chase, but he didn’t remember the whole situation until we were talking about it on the nite of our dinner. Lindey said maybe he was hypnotized. Noelle said maybe he had hypnotized her too. Then Noelle told us how the hypnotist was trying to help himself with equalizing. He was tapping his head with his index and middle fingers on his forehead, sinuses and collarbones while repeating, “I will equalize, I can equalize, I will equalize, I can equalize.” While Noelle was showing us this over and over with us busting up, Chase says “I can equalize too”, he plugs his nose and blows out. Oh man, Dorte and I were crying from laughing at them. This shit is bananas.
With all the rain and socializing I haven’t finished my Rescue Diver. I have finished all the course work, but still need to do the scenarios in the water. Next week is going to be more bananas… as my friend Todd said, if the scenarios aren’t hard then you won’t know how to deal with it in real life. Oh shit!
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