Curfew in Honduras

The political crisis continues here in Tela.    Tuesday was an interesting day as the curfew went all day until 6pm.  We've never seen the streets so quiet, only an occasional taxi and a few people on bikes passed by.   It was quite eery, not even any loud music.   Our school was closed so we had a day's rest which we didn't really want.   We saw one ute drive up the street with several policemen standing up in the back with their rifles, just making sure that everyone was doing the right thing.

At 2pm we ventured out on our bikes for a 20 minute ride to the nearest ATM.   It was nice having the whole road to ourselves, even the horse and carts had stopped work for the day.   Many of the bike riders on the street greeted us, it was a friendly trip.   Even the boys were obeying the law and not playing soccer, we saw a group of them huddled under some trees next to the playing field while a few others ventured  into the centre with their kites.  

We decided not to go swimming on the beach as we thought we might be targets for attack with very few people around.   Altogether it was quite a boring day but I spent a lot of time reading Spanish newspapers on line which of course was good for building up my vocabulary and Glenn wrote up some lesson plans for school.

Cows in the Street

We were entertained when these cows took advantage of the curfew and the empty streets and chewed at the hisbiscus hedge along our fence and continued their way down the highway. 

At 7pm when it had cooled down, soccer had resumed in the field next door.   The sounds of the cheering etc made a welcome change to the silence of the day.

Wednesday, this morning the curfew still continued because a crowd of Zelayist supporters created havoc in the shops in Tegucigalpa last night, looting supermarkets and petrol stations, and throwing stones in the streets.    However, at 11 am the curfew was stopped again so that people could stock up at the supermarkets and draw money out of the banks.     A local bus drove past our door with the driver blasting the horn to let everyone know he was back in action.    We had a phone call from Vanessa to let us know the school would still be closed even though the curfew was over, in case there were any more problems in Teguc.

                                                              The road to the beach.

We  made the most of the rest of the day by going for a 20 minute ride on our bikes along a very rough road for a swim at a  new beach we'd discovered last weekend. The water was only 28`C, in case anyone was wondering about the temperature.   Glenn and I were the only swimmers in the water apart from one young boy in the water and no-one on the beach.   It was so nice!  

                                                                    Grissy's Hotel

After the swim, we called in at Grissy's hotel just off from the beach and had a very interesting time talking to a delightful family of African- Jamaican, Hondurans from New York.   The grandfather had lived in New York for 33 years and had only returned to Honduras last year to set up the hotel.   His daughter and son-in-law had their wedding at the hotel last Sunday which they'd celebrated with 50 family and friends, mostly from New York.   When we arrived, they were waiting around for the airports to open again before they could fly back to New York.     We  will certainly return to that beach and Grissy's Hotel next weekend.

It now looks as though tomorrow we'll be back to normal and off to school again while the rest of the world tries to solve the problems of the Honduran political crisis.    But one ever knows, things could change completely overnight!

Political Problems today!

I was sitting at a little desk outside my classroom at 3.30 this afternoon, minding my own business and trying to think of something to do while my class had a Spanish lesson.   The Grade 3 teacher, Feisal came up to me with a very worried look on his face and told me in English that Zelaya, the ex-president of Honduras was back in the country.   Apparently today he'd crossed the border of Honduras from Guatemala in a car and is now residing comfortably in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.  The present president, Micheletti was being extra cautious and to avoid any riots etc called a curfew for the whole country to start at 4pm.   

The school director who takes her job very seriously, was going into each classroom explaining the situation  to  the children telling them they all had to go home at 4 pm, the school was being closed.   At this stage I still wasn't sure of what was really happening as I received most of the news in garbled Spanish and was feeling a little anxious myself.   One of my boys, Alexis, was running around saying 'he didn't want to die,'  some were looking a little worried and others were just ignoring the whole situation.   One of Glenn's students was doing a very serious rendition of Buddist meditation, squatting on the floor with his eyes closed and his hands stretched out in front of him.  He was joined by Alexis.

I turned to see a Grade 3 student being carried to a chair outside her classroom ( away from the very efficient fans in the classroom) where she was shoved upright while the director fanned her face with the nearest exercise book.   The child looked as though she was going to pass out at any moment and her heart and lungs were working on overtime.   Glenn finally went over to the crowd that had gathered around her and quietly suggested she should be lying on the floor with her legs elevated . Fortunately someone actually listened to him and took her back into the classroom  where she was layed on the floor according to Glenn's first aid suggestions.   The little girl was having a panic attack caused by the hysteria of the children.

Gradually the children were taken off to their respective homes leaving the staff apart from those who'd already left in a panic, sitting outside, relaxing and chatting about their lives etc and at 10 to 5 we were allowed to go home.   Just before we left, the owner of the school, Graciela, was asking how I was.  'Is everything good? ' she said  I told her I was a little worried about the political situation.    She is a candidate for the same political party as the ousted president and is hoping to be elected next November.   'Oh don't worry about that. Nothing will happen in lovely little Tela, it's all only happening in Tegucigalpa, 4 hours by car!  Tela is peaceful she said.'

I was feeling totally confused by now, especially with the school being closed.   I thought that it must have been an emergency situation. We listened to the news later in the safety of our home with our outside gate and doors locked.  The TV announcer talked about a phone-in newspoll that had been conducted by the television channel vote to see if the Honduran people supported Zelaya being back in the country or not and 85% of the people are against him being here.  

It's now 8.30pm and everything's going on as normal, traffic is going past our house, a soccer match ( much more important than politics and curfews)  is playing on the oval next door and Glenn is asleep in the chair.

Nothing changes in Honduras and that's why we love being here!