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Published: July 11th 2009
(This is froma few days ago, since I am drinking gin today, I should probably get busy with another)
Well we can’t say that we weren’t warned. We were told that taking this vacation during a time political upheaval would probably lead to us being eye to eye with some unsavory elements, and boy was that an understatement. We ended up standing next to one of the most horribly corrupt, power hungry, and half witted politicians on earth before we even landed in Honduras. Yup, within 3 hours of takeoff we were having our photo taken with C Ray Nagin.
Made sense, though…the day started out ugly. We took the AeroMexico’s very first flight out of New Orleans, and when New Orleans incompetence meets Mexican laziness (or is that vice versa - it’s hard to know, but either way quite ugly) well things did not get moving fast. The counter folks misplaced our passports, didn’t give us both parts of our tickets, and kept us waiting 20 minutes after all the other passengers had boarded before letting us head us out to the insanely long security line right as the flight was due to takeoff. Due to Lycia’s brains and the airline trying not to look bad as Fox 8 news was filming, they held the flight and we were on.
We were in Mexico City trying to figure out where our bags were when Lycia said “There’s Nathan” Nathan being our friend from Massachusetts that we were going to meet up with for some Honduran coup travel. I looked for him to no avail when I realized that Lycia had been saying “There’s Nagin” What? New Orleans most incompetent and coup worthy politician himself within 5 feet of me, probably heading in the same direction as us for some advice on how to use violence and guns to keep his corrupt ass in power…Not sure what I was going to do I decided to try something I rarely attempt, politeness. “Sr. Nagin, Much Gusto. Mexico es contento por su visitar” He looked at me worried…What handler let this Spanish peasant approach me speaking that backward language his eyes pleaded? He squirmed a few seconds before I gave it up “Nah, I’m from the 8th ward. Can we have a photo?”
He was so pleasant I forgot I wanted to chase him out of our city with a pitchfork (and decided not to deliver the line ‘Glad you are in Mexico, best thing you’ve done for the city since you got locked up in China” I was so smitten I even lied and told him I liked him so much I’d vote for him a 3rd time if the law would allow me. I’m pretty sure I never voted for him even once. As we walked away I knew that would be the highlight of our 2 week vacation, and I was right for at least 3 hours, at least. His head security guy seemed to not know how to work a camera. That was a nice bonus.
We landed in San Pedro Sula, where in a combination of decadence and fear we had pre-arranged for a taxi driver to hold a sign with my name and whisk us away from unseemly rioters up to the semi less dangerous north coast. We get through customs and see our chauffer being filmed by Honduran TV…the sign with my name centered in the spotlight. The other folks on our flight who previously thought I was a dirty, loudmouthed American bastard seemed impressed…and amazingly it got cooler. The camera turned to me and the reporter asked me a question. Understanding Spanish has its upside, but I’m not much of a listener anyhow so I decided to answer the question I imagined he asked me.
Like the cripple whose adrenaline gets pumping and he can suddenly lift a car to save a baby, my defunct Spanish skills came together in a way they never have before. I explained that we were from a fucked up city that depended on tourists, so we can’t make the nice people of Honduras suffer due to problems of politics, we are all just people after all. Well, I said that with the grammar of a retarded monkey struggling with sign language. The TV people loved it though, and if anyhow was watching channel 10 in San Pedro Sula, well you owe me a beer for the entertainment.
The 5 of us get in the Taxi (Nathan and Jess’s plane flight was changed at the last second, luckily they were dumped in San Pedro Sula and met up with us after a few hours in the airport bar) not knowing what to expect, besides the fact that everyone we know who knew nothing about the situation except what they caught from a few minutes of CNN said we would surely die. Thousands on the streets, military everywhere, roadblocks, maybe some danger…that’s what we were expecting. What we learned is that actually coup countries are like regular countries except the rum is cheaper $4 a bottle) and the papusas tastier. The road from San Pedro to La Ceiba had the typical mules. tractors, bicyclists carrying babies, and cars careening out of control that you would expect from a Central American highway…all normal so far, but the trip is young.
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Barbara Munch Seppala
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PICTURES???
Please post pictures!!! I want to see you and Nagin. :)