Cultural Ups and Downs

The culture down here in Honduras really surprises me sometimes- people are so friendly and giving, but yet so rude at the same time.

Let me give some examples.

Yesterday, I went to an aldea about 30 minutes up the mountain from my site. The doctor, orthodontist, nurse, and I all went. The doc was doing consults for pregnant women as well as annual exams for women, the orthodontist was doing cleanings and pulling teeth, and the nurse and I were doing HIV and Syphilis tests for the pregnant women. I also gave a charla about infant nutrition because there were just as many babies and toddlers at the health center as there were women.

After Lexi and I finished all the HIV and Syphilis tests, I didn’t have anything to do, so I went with Janet (the administrative assistant) to go find oranges - everyone wanted to take a sack of oranges back home with them because, apparently, the aldea we were in is known for oranges! Janet has a lot of friends in this aldea, so she knew right were to go. We got there and we were immediately handed a cup of coffee - this is a custom here in Honduras; where ever you go, they will give you coffee or some sort of juice. I can usually speak up fast enough to skip the coffee, but this women must have seen us coming because I had no time to protest. Once the coffee was being offered to me, I couldn’t not take it. And as most of you know, I do not like coffee! So, I drank about half of it, and another custom here in Honduras is putting almost as much sugar as coffee in the coffee, so it wasn’t even that bad because it was so sweet. After visiting for a while, and hearing all about the volunteer that had lived in that aldea before, the women asked if we wanted oranges. We had actually gone to this particular house for something called a Lima, which is more of a sweet lemon than an orange, but we sure were not going to turn down the oranges. While this women’s niece went to pick the oranges, Janet and I picked Limas. After we had our bags full, the women went into her house and came out with a bag full of freshly dried black beans, then went back in and came out with two big bunches of bananas, then she ran off to a side building, and came back with a big sack of freshly dried coffee (still needed to be roasted). Then, as we were leaving, this women flagged down a guy hanging outside a nearby house and told him to help us carry our bounty up to the health center, which he didn’t even hesitate for a second to do!

Bag full of yummy oranges.

After we went back to the health center with that load, the rest of the group was jealous of our oranges, which meant it was time to go looking for more. From the health center, we could see a tree full of oranges, so we decided to make our way in that direction, and see if we could talk the owner out of a selling a couple sacks full.

When we got to the house where we saw the tree, the owners were sitting outside. When we told them we were looking for oranges, he took us out into his yard where he basically had an orchard! They let us fill up our sacks and would not accept any money. So, we filled our sacks and then went back and got the orthodontists sack and filled hers too. While we were picking, the owner - Don Avillio - was climbing trees to pick us good ones, peeling a few of each kind so we could try them, and telling us all about the different kinds. He had four different types of oranges as well as mandarins. I was very excited because one of the types of oranges he had was Navel - the way he said it, it took me a minute to realize that was what he was saying, but when I tried it, it was delicious - even better than Navel oranges in the states. Pretty sure in the States, I had only ever tried Navel; I had no idea how many different kinds of oranges their actually were.

Don Avillio picking us the best oranges.

So, besides just yesterday’s friendliness, on an everyday basis, if you go visit somebody, they will not let you leave their house with out giving you something - whether it is coffee, juice, mangos, oranges - what ever they have available. And, this is even when they don’t really have anything for themselves and their family - they will literally give you the last bit of food they have! I have found that if you try to say no thank you that you hurt their feelings, so it is better to just accept what ever they are offering you - even if it is a cup of coffee that you really don’t want to drink.

However, to now go the other direction and talk about how the Honduran culture is very far on the rude side.

For example: When you are introduced to someone here in Honduras, the person you meet has no problem picking out your most distinguishing feature and commenting on it. So, for me, when I meet people, everyone says “oh, que gordita” (translation: oh, how chubby you are). How is that in any way acceptable? In the U.S. if someone were to say that to a person they just met, that person would most likely never talk to them again. But here, it is just the cultural norm. In the aldea yesterday, I picked up a sack of oranges that the other women had no idea how they were going to transport, and just threw it over my shoulder and started walking. The response to that “Ella esta bien gorda, pero que fuerte!” (translation: she is fat, but very strong!) Having been in Honduras for about 8.5 months now, I can let these comments slide. It took me a while to be able to just let them go, and of course they still make me cringe a little bit - nobody wants to be constantly reminded about how chubby they are - but I’m starting to be able to let it go in one ear and out the other.

Bus passengers - that is where a very rude/pushy side comes out. When there are multiple people waiting for a bus, Hondurans will do what ever they can to squeeze and push their way to the front of the line to get on the bus first. And then, when walking through the isles, they will smack your head with their hands, elbows, purses, and/or backpacks without flinching or saying sorry. And being the gringa that I am, I always get stared at. Hondurans have not problems just straight up staring at people - especially white people. They will turn themselves all the way around in their seat and stare at you for an entire 40 minute bust ride (and this is not only men; the women do it too)! Didn’t their mother’s ever teach them that it was not polite to stare - NO! I mean, yes, I know my blond hair and blue eyes attracts a lot of unwanted attention, but the staring just goes a little too far.

Speaking of unwanted attention - that is where the rudeness comes in again. Honduran men are like the stereotypical construction workers in the U.S. - they yell, whistle, hiss, etc. to women walking by to get their attention. I feel like a dog a lot of the time, getting hissed and whistled at constantly. I’ve started to do it back, but it usually just makes the guys laugh - which is better than them yelling “I love you baby.”

So, for the most part, the generosity and friendliness outweighs the rude/pushiness of Hondurans, but somehow it is always so much easier to think and focus on the rude/pushy things. It is nice to take a moment and reflect on the nicer aspects of the Honduran culture, and I am going to try and make an effort to keep those in mind when I find myself getting frustrated with Honduras.

Our bounty after a day of collecting oranges :)