I bet you didn't know there was a coup d'etat (golpe de estado) in Honduras today! That's because the US media is barely covering it. Here is the New York Times coverage, and the coverage was much better on CNN.com, but you really had to look for it and finally it was a headline on Fox News
So basically this is what is going on, from my understanding: The President of Honduras, Mr. Zelaya, wants to be able to be elected for another term, but the constitutional law in Honduras only allows for one 4 year term. There was supposed referendum held today in Honduras to measure the popular support for this change. The Supreme Court of Honduras ruled that the referendum was illegal. Last week President Zelaya fired the head of the military because he refused to aid in conducting the vote. There was some unrest and the airport was shut down for a day.
This morning the military kidnapped the Zelaya and sent him to Costa Rica. Supposedly the ambassadors of Nicaragua and Venezuela were also kidnapped, but that is unconfirmed at this moment. The coup was a drastic way for the judiciary branch to enforce their ruling that the vote was illegal and Zelaya was breaking the law by going forward with the vote. From what I can understand from the press conference that is on right now, Zelaya will be coming to Managua tomorrow with President Arias to meet, GREAT!
The Congress in Honduras just read a bogus letter of resignation from Zelaya and it seemed that the majority of the Congress voted to accept it. This is yet to be confirmed.
I have been meaning to write about the political situation in Central America for a couple days now and share my thoughts and then this happens! I will write more soon about the dangerous bedfellows here in CA and how it connects with Iran.
I just found a video on CNN, it looks like they are finally picking up the story! (We will forgive the former ambassador for mispronouncing coup)
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Avocado Update
So I mentioned in a previous post that I was so excited to have spotted an avocado tree in a neighbor's yard. Now imagine my reaction when the landlord pointed out that their was an avocado tree in our front yard! I cant believe we never noticed it, it is directly to the left as you walk out the gate, but up on a higher piece of land. There was even a huge, huge avocado hanging low.
Ivan and I kept our eyes on it, and no one seemed to be picking any off the tree. So one lazy sunday Ivan and I went out to harvest some avocados. Ivan was armed with a very long piece of lumber with a bent nail at the end (to pull the avocados down) and I, with a basket with a pillow inside covered by a towel (to pad the landing of the sweet, sweet avocados).
Well, things did not go very well at the beginning, as it turns out I am only a natural-born avocado eater, and not a NB avocado picker! The avocados are huge, hard and fast falling and I was afraid they were going to break my glasses :( I mean it is a very vulnerable position to be in, looking up, trying to catch a big, heavy object falling through leafy branches and you have about .002 seconds to make sure it will land in the basket that is only inches from your face! So anyway, I missed many falling avocados, I think I caught only one! We took video of the event, unfortunately I missed capturing my big "catch", but I did however capture something much more entertaining! Please be advised that Ivan takes the sport of avocado catching very seriously and he was not very happy with my performance, however, I have not yet been traded for a more talented avocado catcher (which he could probably grab any guy off the street).
Despite the slow start, we ended up with many of the creamy, mild and delicious fruit we call avocados and enjoyed sharing them with friends and family. I hope avocado season never ends, as I could easily get used to having one with every meal!
It has been close to a year since I moved here, so I have experienced almost all the fruit seasons. Here is a list of the ones I have in my yard:
1) limes (always seem to be ready to pick)
2) nancite (not one of my favorites, smells like old cheese)
3) marañon (which is the fruit of cashews and the nut actually grows on the outside)
4) mangoes
5) avocados
Life is pretty good as far as fresh fruit goes. Speaking of which, I had a dream the other night about picking strawberries. My subconscious knows it is almost time, too bad I will be visiting home just a little too late for it.
Ivan and I kept our eyes on it, and no one seemed to be picking any off the tree. So one lazy sunday Ivan and I went out to harvest some avocados. Ivan was armed with a very long piece of lumber with a bent nail at the end (to pull the avocados down) and I, with a basket with a pillow inside covered by a towel (to pad the landing of the sweet, sweet avocados).
Well, things did not go very well at the beginning, as it turns out I am only a natural-born avocado eater, and not a NB avocado picker! The avocados are huge, hard and fast falling and I was afraid they were going to break my glasses :( I mean it is a very vulnerable position to be in, looking up, trying to catch a big, heavy object falling through leafy branches and you have about .002 seconds to make sure it will land in the basket that is only inches from your face! So anyway, I missed many falling avocados, I think I caught only one! We took video of the event, unfortunately I missed capturing my big "catch", but I did however capture something much more entertaining! Please be advised that Ivan takes the sport of avocado catching very seriously and he was not very happy with my performance, however, I have not yet been traded for a more talented avocado catcher (which he could probably grab any guy off the street).
Despite the slow start, we ended up with many of the creamy, mild and delicious fruit we call avocados and enjoyed sharing them with friends and family. I hope avocado season never ends, as I could easily get used to having one with every meal!
It has been close to a year since I moved here, so I have experienced almost all the fruit seasons. Here is a list of the ones I have in my yard:
1) limes (always seem to be ready to pick)
2) nancite (not one of my favorites, smells like old cheese)
3) marañon (which is the fruit of cashews and the nut actually grows on the outside)
4) mangoes
5) avocados
Life is pretty good as far as fresh fruit goes. Speaking of which, I had a dream the other night about picking strawberries. My subconscious knows it is almost time, too bad I will be visiting home just a little too late for it.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Fixing the Problems that Need Fixing -or- Money, in Every Color of the Rainbow (you pick the title)
As we all know there are many sad problems here in Nicaragua: extreme poverty, high unemployment, hunger, clean water, pollution, education, basic plumbing and electricity, poor infrastructure, flooding issues, tropical diseases, corrupt police force, I could go on and on. With so many problems, choosing one to begin with is like trying to find out what came first, the chicken or the egg? How can you have clean water without first stopping pollution? How can you stop pollution without educating the people? How can you educate people when they are starving? How can you feed people without clean water? It is a vicious cycle. Families can't afford to sent their children to school, instead they are put to work selling gum in the street and therefore they will not get an education and the same thing will happen in the next generation.
Aww, but the Sandinista's, they know where to start...MONEY! I would say with them its all about the GREEN, but here we have what I like to call monopoly money...it comes in shades of red (500 cord bills), blue (100 cord bills), lavender(50 cord bills), orange (20 cord bills) and the ever popular green (10 cord bills)and of course good ol' American greenbacks are always welcome! So money...no Mr. Ortega didn't just pass a bill investing more money in education, or poverty relief programs, instead he thought he would spend a bunch of money to print some new money! What do you do when you don't have money? Just print more!
So there are some new bills on the money exchange scene...don't worry, they are still the same color, but waterproof, made out of some sort of plastic-y material. The coolest feature is the circular translucent spot, seemingly made so you can see what is underneath your bill (Is that the floor or my foot? Now you can know for sure!) They also have new illustrations, no longer is Jose Santos Zelaya honored on the widely used 20 cordoba bill (who was that dude anyway?). Now the 20 honors the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, because we all know how much the Nicaragua government loves and appreciates the Caribbean Coast, a people that are often discriminated against and an area of the country that is virtually forgotten and barely represented in the government.
Last night on the news (after they showed the bloody dead people in the street), they said there are more new bills to come!!! Not only will they start printing the fancy, new, plastic-y bills for the 100s and 500s as well, but they are also making a much needed 200 cord bill! Thank goodness! EVERY, SINGLE, DAY, I think about how handy it would be to have a 200 cord bill, and now my dream is coming true!!!
It is already very difficult to get change for a 100 cord bill (equiv. to $5), don't even think about getting into a taxi without asking if they can make change for it! Poor Cezanne, finally making it home after a long afternoon of errands, found the driver coundn't make change. After a short argument she had to get back into the cab and go to the closest gas station so she could get smaller bills. Oh yeah, and then the cabbie called her a bitch because she was upset that he didn't have change! The good news is she didn't get mugged, which you should fall on your knees and thank God for every time you get out of a cab safely.
And 500 cord bills (the red ones) don't even think about paying for anything with one of those! Most people in Nicaragua are lucky to make 500 cords a day, no a week, rather a month, so trying to pay for something with one is nearly impossible. The minute you get one in your hand, start worrying about where you can break it down into 100s. And then do the same thing once you have the 100s....but that will all change now with the 200 cord bill right???
It is clearly tax money well spent by the Sandinistas!
I wonder what color it will be? I guess, the only color left in the rainbow, YELLOW!
Aww, but the Sandinista's, they know where to start...MONEY! I would say with them its all about the GREEN, but here we have what I like to call monopoly money...it comes in shades of red (500 cord bills), blue (100 cord bills), lavender(50 cord bills), orange (20 cord bills) and the ever popular green (10 cord bills)and of course good ol' American greenbacks are always welcome! So money...no Mr. Ortega didn't just pass a bill investing more money in education, or poverty relief programs, instead he thought he would spend a bunch of money to print some new money! What do you do when you don't have money? Just print more!
So there are some new bills on the money exchange scene...don't worry, they are still the same color, but waterproof, made out of some sort of plastic-y material. The coolest feature is the circular translucent spot, seemingly made so you can see what is underneath your bill (Is that the floor or my foot? Now you can know for sure!) They also have new illustrations, no longer is Jose Santos Zelaya honored on the widely used 20 cordoba bill (who was that dude anyway?). Now the 20 honors the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, because we all know how much the Nicaragua government loves and appreciates the Caribbean Coast, a people that are often discriminated against and an area of the country that is virtually forgotten and barely represented in the government.
Last night on the news (after they showed the bloody dead people in the street), they said there are more new bills to come!!! Not only will they start printing the fancy, new, plastic-y bills for the 100s and 500s as well, but they are also making a much needed 200 cord bill! Thank goodness! EVERY, SINGLE, DAY, I think about how handy it would be to have a 200 cord bill, and now my dream is coming true!!!
It is already very difficult to get change for a 100 cord bill (equiv. to $5), don't even think about getting into a taxi without asking if they can make change for it! Poor Cezanne, finally making it home after a long afternoon of errands, found the driver coundn't make change. After a short argument she had to get back into the cab and go to the closest gas station so she could get smaller bills. Oh yeah, and then the cabbie called her a bitch because she was upset that he didn't have change! The good news is she didn't get mugged, which you should fall on your knees and thank God for every time you get out of a cab safely.
And 500 cord bills (the red ones) don't even think about paying for anything with one of those! Most people in Nicaragua are lucky to make 500 cords a day, no a week, rather a month, so trying to pay for something with one is nearly impossible. The minute you get one in your hand, start worrying about where you can break it down into 100s. And then do the same thing once you have the 100s....but that will all change now with the 200 cord bill right???
It is clearly tax money well spent by the Sandinistas!
I wonder what color it will be? I guess, the only color left in the rainbow, YELLOW!
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