¿Y cómo?

Let me tell you a little bit about the phrase "y cómo." Y cómo literally means “and how,” but it’s not at all used in the same manner as it’s sometimes used in English (which is more of an upbeat exclamation). Y cómo is the question people ask after talking about a bad or hopeless situation, and I find it quite representative of the resigned mentality of many people who live here. Example: a woman tells me she has an awful pain in her knees, but ¿y cómo? i.e. what can I do? I can’t afford going to the health center, and even if I could they’d probably just misdiagnose me and send me off with a bag full of expired medicine. Another example: the bus fare to Taulabé has risen from 13Lps to a whopping 20Lps in only 6 months. But ¿y cómo? i.e. nobody’s going to say anything about it, and the community certainly won’t organize to meet with the bus owner, so we’ll just have to deal with the higher price.

Last example: when I came back to San José on the bus I was shocked to find the condition of the main road has been rendered nearly impassible. We’re in the beginning of the rainy season, which means a lot of rain especially for us in the Lake area. Added to this the widespread deforestation and you’ve got soil that easily erodes. Rivers crest, rocks tumble, trees and power lines fall. Add the fact that repairs to roads take an incredibly long time to happen, if at all, and you’ve got some terrible road conditions that will likely remain for the long-term. We passed about 3 points in the road where I really didn’t think we’d make it without blowing a tire or breaking down. I sat there as we crawled at a snail’s pace, fording streams and driving over logs and branches, and my natural American inclination to get upset started to rise up in me. I’ve been here over 18 months so you’d think this wouldn’t happen anymore, but I don’t know, it’s always been programmed in me to be bothered by delays, or bad road conditions, or I guess fording rivers in a minibus. I started to think of standard phrases that I would here so often in D.C. during my hellish commute if ever there were a delay: “You’ve got to be kidding me,” “For the love of God,” “Unbelievable,” “Oh COME OOOOOOOOONNNNN.” Then the “y cómo” phrase popped in my head and I immediately calmed down. I can see why Hondurans can seem so complacent. It really is a huge weight off your mind when you just shrug your shoulders about everything. I mean, it would’ve been such a waste of energy had I actually gotten mad about a bus ride I had to be on. What would my other options have been? It’s the only road into San José and the only bus that goes there. Yeah, the ride was slow, and irritating, and a little dangerous, but what could I do? ¿Y cómo? I can see why the phrase is so popular.

So I turned to the old man sitting next to me and we both said the other incredibly popular Honduran phrase, “Qué barbaridad, (what barbarity!!!)” then sat back and took a snooze. I dreamed of the beautifully paved streets of the States, and potholes that are quickly filled… and of sitting in traffic on the beltway with thousands of angry motorists honking their horns and trying to vie for a spot to drive in the emergency lane. In the end, as great as it´d be to live in a country where things are efficient and make sense, I think there is something to be said for y cómo.

Business Simulation, Yorito

I was away for a week at a friend’s site (called Yorito but might as well be called the Edge of the Universe, as it is really far) doing a business simulation with about 20 high school kids—essentially what I tried to do in my high school, and failed in achieving. I would say this time around it was much more organized and received much more support from students and teachers, and as a result it was a real success. Pictures are below. I´m not sure why this is underlined.

Independence!

September 15 is celebrated in all 5 Central American countries as their Independence Day, i.e. the day when the Confederation of Central American states broke apart and formed their own sovereign nations with basically the same flag design and same love of rice and beans. I did something really dumb and bought triple A batteries for my camera instead of double A, meaning I have no pictures from the Sept. 15 independence day celebrations in San José. I´ll try to describe it as best I can in a few fun anecdotes:

1. Every year Honduras comes out with a phrase to embody the Sept.15 celebration for that year. This year´s phrase was "Formando Ciudadanos(as) para Engrandecer Honduras," which is TOTALLY translated as "Forming Citizens to Embiggen Honduras." I LOVE IT!!

2. I was late for the parade. Granted I was waiting on one of the municipality employees, but still, an American arriving late for a Honduran parade, now THAT´S irony for you.

3. Nelson the town crazy (crazy because he´s epileptic....?!) decided to make his way through the crowd and up to the head of the parade, trying to grab the Honduran flag from the mayor and making quite a fuss. Ahh the patriotic spirit was alive and well in the heart of Nelson the town crazy guy!

4. The parade concluded in the parque central, where the civic acts began including poetry readings, dramas, and folkloric dances-- the dance troupe from the school was by far the worst, no offense but it was really awful. The kids were yelling at each other, hats and scarves were flying off and getting trampled on, they were running into each other and even the parents were laughing at them. It was a scene, man.

5. The final act was a dramatization of the death of Francisco Morazán, the Simón Bolívar of Central America who fought for a united Central America and was shot in the end. The high schoolers rode into the park on horses, the soldiers loyal to Morazán stabbed themselves in the heart, the son was crying, and in the end the kid portraying Morazán actually had a packet of fake blood that he squirted on himself when facing the firing squad. Everyone was riveted, and they had a good laugh. It was actually the best part of Independence day, in my opinion. Hurray for Honduran theater!

Overall it was shorter, more organized and generally better than last year. Sad to think it´ll be my last independence day in San José... perhaps next year they´ll "embiggen" the events even more :)

:(

I'm in Tegucigalpa getting tested for Giardia and other various parasites until Thursday. I came down from San Jose for the sole purpose of watching the Sex and the City movie which just came out here. However I soon developed a fever and diarrhea and nausea and the other usual symptoms that have plagued me literally for the past 18 months, and I couldn't watch the movie. Hopefully this litany of tests will finally show me what I have-- I'm getting pretty tired of this. After being here I totally can relate to the phrase "When you have your health, you have everything." Honestly, when you're ill, nothing else matters.

On the plus side I get to watch as much cable TV as my little heart desires. It's a real plus!!!