Tegucigalpa

We spent the night in Tegus. It was a hotel room with a high window that looked across the expanse of two feet to another high window. Both were caked with dirt and cobwebs making the curtain unnecessary. There are three sides to Tegus: the rich, the poor and the extension of America. The rich sections (where we didn’t stay) seem nice with their large hotels, pool side bars, saunas and gyms, all surrounded by trees that cools off the area nicely. The poor side has no running water or power or windows and doors. In between this you get America. I had dinner on the outdoor patio of a Mexican restaurant which looked out on the Wendy’s and Midas. The Burger King, McDonalds and Pizza Hut are only a block away. Then there’s the mall, a three story monstrosity that is nicer and more crowded than any mall I have seen. The only thing missing was the purchases that people would have been making if this mall were somewhere else. There are local versions of Home Depot and Costco, car dealerships lining the streets and horrible traffic at every intersection. On Sunday they closed a road for a car show that consisted of four muscle cars and a few fire trucks. Two weeks ago they had a parade down the main street with a marching band and 7 horses that could walk sideways, and they all just went down the road, stopping at the traffic lights and blocking traffic for miles. Just another city.

The central park is a concrete square adjacent to the church of the pigeon roosts. The birds line up on all the overhangs out of the morning sun. The only place to eat is the Burger King so you have to suck it up and intake the grease. Sunday morning in the park was a line of people selling lottery tickets, held down from any breeze by rusted iron washers and trinkets. Taxi’s run by in the hundreds. One stops and the exiting boy puts the pistol back under his shirt then puts his change in his pocket. It must be awkward to sit with the gun in your pants. Another boy asks for my coke as I wait to get in the cab. I give it to him and he smiles and walks to under the tree, out of the heat. It’s after 9am but there are no sounds coming from the church. The vendors barely try to hock their tickets. The sun seems to bring the silence and they are preparing for their day of heat. Except the cabs. They blow their horns as a language screaming to the other white cabs “out of my way” or “you want a ride” to the people on the streets. A honk and a look, are you my next fare? Are you my dinner?

Everyone is hungry for something. You just never know what.