Home, sweet home, in Talanga, Honduras!

From Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, my friend Alexis and I hitch-hiked an hour or more to the east to get to my beloved town of Talanga. I met Alexis at the beginning of my travels and we had already criss-crossed a couple of times. Now she was close to meeting up with her boyfriend in Peru, but decided that Talanga would be her last stop in Honduras before heading south to Nicaragua. How could she possibly pass up the fabled town that I lived in as a Peace Corps volunteer! It was Alexis' first visit to Talanga, and for me it was my first time back in almost six years. It seemed like ages since I had been back and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the reception I received after so long was truly amazing. Besides that, Talanga was looking good, well, better. It was never a pretty town. In fact, I proudly claimed, that my town that I loved so much, was actually THE ugliest town in Honduras. Most of my fellow Peace Corps volunteers tended to agree with me, but there were some close competitors. Yes Dave, I'm referring to Moreceli!

The center of Talanga is off the main road, a little more than a mile away from the turn off which was a familiar industrial scene – a Gas station surrounded by mechanics shops, taxis, and vendors selling their goods to the all of the buses traveling to and from the capital. From the turn off we began walking towards the center, hitching the final leg, and right away I spotted a couple I knew. Their names had escaped me as so many others would, but we recognized each other and it was a happy reunion. Alexis did a beautiful job of in stepping in to introduce herself so I could get the names down again. It was Don Beto and Dona Cartegena – of course! They took us into the center of town showed of the partially paved main street, then dropped us right off in front of my Honduran family's new house.













For the entire two years that I spent in Talanga I lived with Carlos and Melida, and their son Denilson. Over those two years they took me in as part of the family and I was arriving just in time to celebrate Denilson's 10th birthday, he was less than half that age when I left. It was great to see him as well as his little sister, Alexa, who I was seeing for the first time; she was born after I left Honduras. It was so great to see all of them and be there for Denilson's birthday. It was also fun to step in and take part in one of the best birthday parties traditions in Honduras – getting the birthday boy to bite into the cake, then pushing his face into it! Of course, the honors naturally fell to me being the “older brother.” Ha.












Melida, Alexa, and me

















Denilson and me












Carlos and me












The party!















Later, after the cake was polished off and the party was over, Carlos was closely listening to the national news about the teachers strike and latest negotiations. Both he and Melida are teachers and the government hasn't paid the teachers salaries in over 5 months. For some reason Melida hasn't been affected but Carlos and thousands of other teachers across the country have been. For the last two weeks the teachers have been striking and finally the president and legislators were making progress to secure a loan to pay the teachers their owed wages.

After the national news there is the local news in Talanga that the community can call into and express their opinions about current issues. Being a respected teacher in the community Carlos called in to clarify some of the latest developments with the stike. The anchor on the news, Ivan, was a guy I knew very well when I worked for the Municipality of Talanga. Six years ago Ivan was the vice mayor when the red party was in power. After Carlos was done talking about the teachers strike and latest negotiations he told Ivan that he had a friend that wanted to say hello. It was so a trip to be talking to Ivan over the phone and seeing him on TV as he lit up and gave a big welcome to me back to Talanga. After that almost everyone knew I was back in town.














The next Morning Alexis and I started making the rounds through town. It was a truly amazing day. I thought of certain people that I would see again but there were so many others that came out of the woodwork. We couldn't walk 50 feet down the street without somebody yelling out “Bearny” or “Bernardo.” We visited and chatted the whole day with shopkeepers, street kids, neighbors, and even ran into Ivan. Later we visited Chon, the old mail lady who taught me all of the dirty words in Spanish; Then Rudy, my old mayor. It was under him that I started working my two years with Talanga municipality. It was an exhausting, but beautiful day.
















Pati and her new Herbalife scam center!... Me shilling for her














Ivan and me

















Ivan and Dona Amanda, in her shop that I used live near












Delmer and his Honduran camera smile












Delmer and his real smile












That's better

















Delmer's mom plucking a chicken












In front of delmer's house












Delmer's sister and her children













Chon de Victor and her daughter in their shop













The church and the sweet old lady who takes care of it. I never knew her name but she was always very sweet to me.
































Oswand working the licuado shop and food stand.











Blanca and me. She was the one who kept me well fed and laughing in Talanga.












Blanca and Oswand



















Chon and me













Alejandro, Chon's grandson and me talking. He's such a bright kid!













Rudy and me












The local mariachi crew at Dona Rosa's bar, right next to where I used to live! After a long day of visiting it was good to have a beer!


































The following day I hitch-hiked with Alexis along the back road shortcut between Talanga and the Road to Nicaragua, which didn't have regular buses. Otherwise she would have had to go back to Teguc., get through the city and nearly double back. It made sense to go that way, but more than that we had a fun adventure riding down the dusty back roads of Honduras. On our way there we saw lots of classic Honduran scenes – small roadside stands, guys on donkeys and ox carts, banana and sugarcane fields, whole families riding in the backs of trucks, and even the little town of Cantaranas. Before we left we fueled up on pancakes and did a little visiting as we were leaving town. Angela, who I worked with at the municipality had a kid after I left and he was already a little hellion. He came out flexing and we somehow ended up wrestling. Ha.












Angela and me












Angela's son Angel, that's funny right there, and his guns
















Angel still flexing












One, two, three!... Still got it












The Talanga cementary heading out of town












Here the families take turns digging the grave, or just watch













Ox cart of firewood











On the dusty road out of Talanga!























Detouring into Cataranas














Back on the road again and riding with families















Once we made it where there was reliable transportation we parted ways and I was hitch-hiking solo back to Talanga. I saw more great scenes that brought me back to the randomness that you can count on in Honduras. My first ride was in a pickup with a bunch of other people. Along the way we passed a family that was carting their laundry down the road to wash in the river. The second and long last ride was thankfully in the cab of a cattle truck. It began pouring down shortly after I got into the truck, so I had a dry ride and a good conversation all the way back to Talanga. My truck driving friend was part of a five truck caravan traveling eight hours from Catacamas to El Paraiso and back again the same day. All five truck left empty at one o'clock in the morning to make the long trip to El Paraiso to pick up special grainfed cattle and bring them back to the specialized slaughterhouse and meat packing facility in Catacamas. From there the top quality beef would be frozen and sent another eight hours to Puerto Cortez where it would then be shipped to the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, and a few other countries. In one day the modern slaughterhouse would process 300 cattle. With all of the talk about the environment and reducing the use of fossil fuels you have to question this particular model of meat production. All of the resources that go into the creating the grains to feed the cattle, then of course, shipping them all over the world has to add up.


















On the way back I saw the funniest sight of the day, and there were already several to choose from. In the back of a pick up were two refrigerators with two guys sitting in the back getting soaked from the rain, and another guy sitting inside one of the cases bone dry. Ahh Honduras!
















The rest of my time in Talanga was spent visiting more and avoiding the rain which came down everyday. I took a number of photos of life in Talanga, usually when there was a break from the rain. Highlights were seeing the political rallies, watching the volunteers in Talanga teach baseball, and hiking up to the mountain that overlooks Talanga.













Hauling sand from the river to mix with concrete












The main street in Talanga is now half paved but has no sewers to capture sediment following down the street. The street is futily being swept anyway. sometime they even sweep the dirt streets themselves. hummmm.












Mainstreet Talanga!












Don Muncho and me in front of his cooperative












Helping to guard the bank












The municipality where I used to work!












The park in progress














At first blush I was impressed with the new playground, but wondered why it wasn't being used. Of course it was locked on a late Saturday morning. Ahh, Honduras.

















When I inspected the lock a couple of kids asked If I would open the gate and wanted to have their picture taken. You have to love the pose.
















Turning the corner from the Municipality and the park down the street that I used to live on.












My house was the second one down on the right












Neighbor kids from around the house that are no longer kids













It was just by chance but as I was passing my old house there was a armed forces parade marching through. Surprise.















The Talanga Muicipal Market














Fresh meat pulling up to the market













The "Ceiba" tree












Pick up soccer game by the Ceiba tree













Visiting with Dona Esperanza and her family














Rudy, the ex-mayor and my ex-boss in front of his truck parts shop

Political rallies are in full swing now for the November elections and they are not easily missed. Politics run pretty deep here. I saw a number of full on advertising as well as meetings, rallies and caravans. They also have the red party blue party thing going on as you can see from the photos.




















The current mayor of Talanga is the son of a long time congressman of the Talanga district. He drives a 2007 Hummer. Cooruption, naaa, none of that around here. Drug related activities naaa, none of that around here. I'm sure the hummer is on thirty year lease or something. Actually I was hitch-hiking the other day to Teguc and saw his hummer coming. I put My hands like I knew him and he stoped to give me a lift to the capital. I knew him before he was a mayor, and it was a sweet ride, but still - a 2007 Hummer in Talanga. Yeahhhhh.












One one of my nights in Talanga I went to the "Chica Jeans" runway competition and following dance. That was fun. Actually Carlos was even one of the judges. That's him on the left, all blurry.












Other night time entertainment consisted of "futbalito", or mini soccer. They played in the park and had a great turn out each night.













You have to love "futbolito" fans that wear teeshirts like this!












Hitching a ride on a police truck out of town














Coming back on a full,full bus from Teguc. They are old school buses. This one had two people standing side by side the whole way back. They had trouble closing the door.














Don Roberto!



















The current Peace Corps volunteer in Talanga, Laura, works with youth development instead of the municipality, and one of her projects is a baseball program. There are some other volunteers from the Catholic church that help out. They were all very cool and we ended up having a fun party one of my nights in Talanga.

















Rain, rain, rain! It rained everyday for the whole two weeks that I spent in Talanga. They had some flooding but not as bad as other parts of Honduras.































Hiking to Mountain above Talanga














Cows going to slaughter