For email Blogicito readers

For some reason that I don't understand, my video in yesterday's article, How to Harvest Cinnamon, was not included in readers' emails though another referenced video was included. I'm going to try to include it again below:





If you don't see the video (it's usually included near the bottom of the email, please go to the original blog article to view it. Sorry for the inconvenience. I hope you'll watch it. I spent days editing it!

One of my favorite comment exchanges

Someone just posted a comment on an old article about typical Honduran food and skimming through the comments, I ran across this old exchange that made me laugh (again).

Anonymous Nina posted a comment, Saturday, November 5 2011, 1:01 PM

this isn't helping me at all!!!!! i Hate this website!!!!!!


La Gringa, reply to Anonymous Nina, Saturday, November 5, 2011 1:49 PM

Why doesn't it help?!!!!! Do you have a homework assignment?!!!!!


Anonymous Nina reply to La Gringa, Sunday, November 6, 2011 1:25 PM

i cant find what im looking for... and yeesss i have a homework assignment due Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bllaaaahh!!!!!!!!


La Gringa, reply to anonymous nina, Sunday, November 6, 2011 1:50 PM

Should have started earlier like your mom always says!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you need?


Unfortunately, Anonymous Nina didn't reply so I don't know what she was looking for. I would have tried to help her! I just couldn't resist giving her a little bit of a hard time. If her question was about typical Honduran food, it was a shame that she didn't take the time to read through the 60 comments in which many Hondurans offered their insights about many other typical foods that I didn't include in the article. I think it is time to expand on that article!

Honduran comida tipica (typical food)

For a very good blog written by a Catracha with lots of Honduran recipes, most of which are in both Spanish and English, check out Cocina Hondureña y Mas.

Thank you, Blogicito Readers

Heliconia psittacorum

Thank you, Blogicito Readers, for all of the congratulations you've sent recently! I spent all morning one day replying to everyone who wrote. I really appreciate your readership.

Pink ginger - smells so good!

On a similar note, I was so encouraged by the avalanche of email and comments I received on my return to the blogosphere a few months ago! I was absolutely floored when I opened my email the morning after my first come-back article. I meant to write this thank you much earlier and then got sidetracked. I wasn't able to reply to all the emails and I apologize for that but I wanted to let the readers know how very much I appreciate all of your comments. I'm so happy that you are still out there. Thank goodness for the Feedburner email updates or you'd probably never know I was back to blogging again. I wouldn't have blamed you if you gave up on me.

Click to read more >>

Should I come to Honduras?

Pineapple fields of La Ceiba
One of my favorite photos

I get so many reader emails about crime and safety in Honduras. The majority are from members of charitable groups planning mission trips to Honduras or worried parents of young people who are planning to come on this sort of trip. Some are from people with relatives in Honduras who they want to visit. They want to know what I think and whether I know anything specific about crime situation in the area to which they are going.

Frankly, I dread these emails. I wrote a whole series of articles on crime and corrupt police beginning in September 2011 and continuing through January 2012 (see the monthly archives for the lists of articles or click on the 'crime' topic in the topic list). The more I learned, the more depressed I became. Finally I had to just stop reading and watching the news for a few months. It was obvious to me that the Honduran government is not capable of taking serious, competent action against crime, not even within its own police department. It took me several months to get back to blogging again.

These reader emails just tie my stomach in knots. I can tell that most of them want me to say "Don't worry. You'll be fine." I don't want to tell these people not to come to Honduras but I'm not going to do what many others do and tell them that it's not any worse here than anywhere else. While I agree that foreigners are not particularly targeted for crimes, it does happen. A British tourist was shot and killed during a robbery on the street in broad daylight in San Pedro just a couple of weeks ago. Robberies of tourists and mission groups are not rare, those types of crimes just don't make the news and they are often downplayed for obvious reasons.

Click to read more >>

A big thank you, whoever you are

A new weapon against lumpy soups and ice creams!

A great big thank you goes to whoever selected this Cuisinart Stick Blender from my Amazon wishlist! What a nice gift and I've been wanting one of these for ages. I just received it last night and I have no idea who sent it. If you would like to let me know by emailing, I'd like to thank you personally. It is a very generous gift and I really, really appreciate it.

I can't wait to try it out on my Chipotle Butternut Squash Soup or Baked Potato Soup recipes. It was such a pain putting those hot soups bit by bit into the blender to puree them. I also have a new Gelato cookbook which recommends using a stick blender on almost all of its custard based recipes so I think it will get a lot use.

Thank you!

Trying to love the Disqus commenting system

The Blogicito is trying out a new commenting system. The built-in Blogger commenting system just has no flexibility and it is annoying and very inefficient for blog owners. Worst of all for me, while Google does an outstanding job of filtering spam in Gmail, they put absolutely no effort into filtering spam comments in Blogger. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Unless a blog has comment moderation turned on, a comment with 15 links to spam or p()rn sites will be posted by Blogger.com. (I can't even type the P or V words because it would attract more spammers to my site!) Turning on captchas slows down the rate of spam somewhat, but also slows down legitimate commenters and sometimes malfunctions preventing them from commenting at all. Moderating all comments is annoying for users and blog administrators alike.

Disqus (pronounced 'dis-cuss') has a built in spam system (Akismet) and gives moderators the ability to whitelist or blacklist commenters once and for all. That is a huge bonus for me, the Russian spam magnet! It also gives blog administrators tools to manage comments more effectively. I've already noticed that it makes it much easier for me to interact with commenters.

But enough about me,
what will Disqus do for you?

With Disqus, readers don't have to sign in every time to leave a comment and there are no annoying captchas to slow you down.

If you are signed in to your social media service or to Disqus, Disqus will recognize you and you are all set to leave a comment. If you are not signed in anywhere, you'll only need two clicks to do so. If you have more than one online presence (for example business and personal), you won't have to worry about which one you are signed into as your screen name and avatar will already be showing above the comment box. 'Guest' comments will also be allowed, for now anyway.

Disqus gives readers the ability to later edit and manage their own comments as well as to subscribe to comment replies. If you decide that 'Pete' is an absolute genius, you can subscribe to all of his comments (if he has a profile). If you later add or change your avatar, it will be changed on every comment you have made. You can even elect to automatically post your comment to Twitter or your Facebook page if you think it is particularly brilliant!

Readers, whether you comment or not, have the ability to 'like' a comment as well as to 'flag' an inappropriate comment for review, giving all readers a general idea of reader sentiment. Your preferred view of all comments can be arranged by oldest, newest, or best rated. Arranging comments by newest first will definitely be a time-saver when you just want to check back to see what's new.

Replies made to the comments of other readers are threaded to make discussions much easier to follow, especially when there are numerous anonymous commenters. (There is nothing like an 'anon' commenting on an argument between 'anon' and 'anon' to get the rest of us totally confused!) Comments are updated real-time, no need to refresh the page, so you don't have to worry about confusing cross-postings. Commenters also have an option to sign up to receive by email replies to their specific comment or all comments received on that article made after theirs and can post a reply by email.

You can connect your Disqus profile with your own blog (on any platform), website, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media accounts and display your own screen name and avatar, making commenting a much better social experience. If you don't have and don't want any of that, you can set up your profile to just display your screen name with no links. You set that up once, and you are done, but you have the ability to change your settings at any time.

There are so many options for 'connecting', including Open ID, that I'd rather let you review them and decide what is best for you. I will explain more about that in the next article. But if you have any specific questions, please leave a comment and I'll try to find an answer.

Tip: if you already have a Google, Blogger, Yahoo, Wordpress, Flickr, or one of several other accounts, that is your Open ID. You won't have to set up a new one.

All of these options sounded fantabulous to me! What do you think?

Note to bloggers:

Despite all of the above and my strong desire to love this system, I cannot recommend Disqus to bloggers yet. I'll give you a review of the Disqus system after I've tested it for awhile. Installing it was easy enough, but it did not install properly on my custom template. After two weeks, I have not been able to import all of my thousands of old comments into the Disqus system — something I'm not happy about at all! I'm trying to be patient, as Disqus has assured me that they are working on a fix right now, but I was disappointed in the customer support suggestion to "play around" with my coding.

To make matters worse, I discovered that Internet Explorer 8 could not display some of my blog pages at all. And then, for the cherry on top of this high tech nightmare sundae, my laptop is broken and I'm limited as to my online time, all my files, programs, and prior templates are inaccessible on my computer, and I'm totally discombobulated using J's computer when I can.

Feedback

I'd love to hear your feedback on this new system. I invite you to try it out on this post, even if you only want to say "testing!" You won't bother me at all and it will help me to test the system. If you have problems of any kind, please try to be as specific as possible so I can try to troubleshoot. If you are unsure about or have problems signing in, please first read the next article, Connecting to and using Disqus.

Connecting to and using Disqus

In the last article, I described some of the features of the Disqus commenting system. In order to benefit from those features, you'll need to set up a Disqus account if you don't already have one. About 500,000 sites use Disqus, including Mashable, UK's Telegraph, The Atlantic, La Prensa, and El Heraldo as well as some of the 'big' blog sites. You may find that you already have a Disqus account.

Oh, I know, I know! We'd all love to be able to participate in forums, leave comments, access services, or whatever without having to sign in. But this is the internet and a few (or many) bad apples have spoiled it for everyone. The truth is that the internet would sink to its lowest common denominator (social misfits) and most websites would be overrun with spam and inappropriate comments if they didn't have some sort of control over who and what can be posted to their website. Garbage posted on websites reflects badly on the website administrator. Readers don't come to the Blogicito to find p()rn sites, buy the v-drug, or find a Russian girlfriend and I'd like to keep it that way.

Long time readers will remember that the Blogicito didn't even use captchas, much less moderation, for many years. Writing the Blogicito is a joy for me and getting feedback from readers is, too, even when readers don't agree with me. But as the Blogicito has grown, it has now gotten to be a job to manage spam comments every single day — and an unpaid one at that — so I hope that you will give Disqus a try.

Getting set up

Keep in mind that the initial set up could be a bit confusing, so please have patience. I think it will be worth it in the long run, especially if you choose an OpenID since it can be used at millions of sites. I'll also answer questions and give a few tips about 'connecting' in the comments, so check those out, too.

Maybe the easiest way to start would be to look at my Disqus profile:

Click image to enlarge

My sign in name is 'lagringalaceiba' because 'lagringa' was not available, however, I changed my 'display name' to 'La Gringa' which you can see in the upper left next to my hammock avatar. I encourage everyone to make sure that your screen (or display) name is the one that you want use and that whatever profile you decide to use shows only what you want to be public.

Note that your email address will not display on the public profile.

Click image to enlarge

This is the page where you make those "public info" selections. Only the "Display name" is required. I have included my location since it is already well known, but there is no need to fill out the location, website, or short bio if you don't want to. The Disqus settings are very simple and easy to understand so just explore the pages of your profile to make sure it is the way you want it to be.


Connections

You can connect your Disqus profile with your own blog (on any platform), website, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media accounts and display your own screen name and avatar, making commenting a much better social experience, and eliminating the need to type in your email and website each time. If you have any specific questions, please leave a comment and I'll try to find an answer.

Tip: if you already have a Google, Blogger, Yahoo, Wordpress, Flickr, or one of several other accounts, that is your Open ID. Check out that link and many of you won't have to set up a new account.

I've chosen to connect with Twitter, Facebook, OpenID, and my blog. You can choose to connect with any or all of these or nothing at all.

If you don't have and don't want any of that, you can set up your profile to just display your screen name with no links, just as before with Blogger's system, with the advantage that you don't have to sign in each time you want to comment. You set that up once, and you are done, but you have the ability to change your settings at any time.

If you don't want to connect to any social media sites, skip down to "Too complicated?" below.

Click image to enlarge

When connecting, each individual site (Twitter, FaceBook, OpenID, WordPress, etc.) will ask you in a pop-up window to verify that you are the owner by requesting your log in information — that is to protect you from someone who could impersonate you by, for example, listing your Twitter page as their own. That information (password, etc.) is not going to Disqus. You'll only have to do this once.

Twitter

Twitter seemed the easiest to connect to. Sign in to your Twitter account before you try to connect to your Twitter page. If it doesn't work the first time, or if you connect to the wrong account, just unconnect by clicking the box and try again.

Facebook

Before trying to connect your account to Facebook, make sure that your Facebook settings allow it. Choose Your Privacy Settings > Basic Directory Information > Search for me on Facebook > set to "everyone". This setting only means that your Facebook name is available to anyone in a search of the Facebook directory, not that all of your information is available. Note that you can (and should) manage the Facebook security settings to control information that is shown in searches. In most cases, your settings will already make your Facebook name available to everyone in a search.

OpenID

I also connected my Disqus account with my OpenID and listed a link to my blog. OpenID was the most complicated for me, but I've since found a site called OpenID Explained which does just that — explain it. That site also rates the various ID providers on security, ease of use, and services. And, of course, the biggest benefit is that OpenID can be used at millions of sites.

As mentioned above, you may already have an OpenID that you can log in with. If not, you can set one up at many sites. The site that I found easiest to understand and most customizable was MyOpenID.com, which was also one of the highest rated providers. If you want to connect your comments directly with a Blogspot blog, you'll need to use OpenID.

Another benefit to MyOpenID.com is that you can set up "personas" which means that you can choose to use a full profile or a more limited one, depending upon where you are logging in. The first time you log into a site, you'll be asked which profile you want to use. I'm skimming over a lot of OpenID details, so please feel free to ask in the comments section if you need more help.

Too complicated?

I'm sure that all that sounds complicated to many of you who don't have such an extended internet presence. Not to worry! If you only want to comment and be able to use Disqus features, it is much simpler. In order to be able to explain it, I decided to set up a Disqus profile using my "throwaway email" address that I use for signing in to websites that I may not visit frequently or those that might send unwanted email. Surprise, surprise! When I tried to set up the profile, I found that I already had a Disqus profile using that email address:

Click image to enlarge

At the top there is a message that says "Profile found!" You can see that this one is bare-bones and that there are no links (connections). I did not upload an avatar because I was in a hurry that day but I hope that you will if you are a frequent commenter at the Blogicito.


Avatars

Avatars help readers and me to remember previous commenters. Don't let the word 'avatar' confuse you. The avatar doesn't have to be your face. It can be any image from your computer, a pet, a flower, an icon, a cartoon, anything, including a drawing that you make yourself, like the one I did for the guest commenters. (Funny picture, huh?) ;-D

Almost done!

Whichever method you choose, when you have completed it, take a moment to look at your public profile page to see that it displays only what you want it to display. If you have connections, click the links to make sure that they go to the the correct websites. With the exception of OpenID, it took me much longer to write this than it did to do all of it!

If you have already commented as a 'guest', you can easily "claim" those comments and set up your profile the way you want it. Just click on the guest avatar and click the link in "If this is you, claim it now to manage your comments".

Commenting

Click image to enlarge

I'm going to run through the comment area. Don't worry, you won't be given a test. Heheheh. ;-) It looks awful, but chances are that you will only care about a few of these features. Just click! Nothing is going to bite you and nothing can't be undone.

If your display name and avatar (1) are not showing, you can log in before or after you comment (use the Disqus link (2) ). I like to log in first. My data is always already there so all I have to do is click 'login'; no typing is required.

Type your comment in the box (3). Click 'Post as yourname' (5) to post it. If you are not logged in, you will see 'Post as ...' (5). Click your choice of profiles (Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to log in and post the comment.

To share your own comment on your Twitter and/or Facebook page, click the appropriate icon(s) (4) before you post.

Click 'Subscribe by email' (6) or 'Subscribe by RSS' (7) if you are interested in being informed of future comments on that article. The Subscribe button will change to an 'unsubscribe' button.

To later edit or remove your comment, click the 'edit' link (14) beneath your posted comment. This will be a 'like' button on other people's comments.


When viewing the other comments:

Click the 'Sort by' box (8) to arrange your view of the comments by newest, oldest, or best rated.

Click on a commenter's avatar (9) to view his/her public profile

Click on a commenter's name (10) to go to the website he or she has connected with.

Click on the date/time (11) to obtain a URL for the comment.

Collapse a comment thread from your view by clicking the minimize button [—] (12) which will appear at the right of the commenter's name.

To 'flag' (13) an inappropriate comment or to 'like' (14) a comment, just click. No sign in is required. The 'flag' button will appear when you run your mouse over the comment.

To post a response to a specific comment, click "Reply" (15) at the lower right of the comment to which you want to reply.

When viewing the Recent Comments widget in the sidebar:

Click the avatar (A) to view the commenter's public profile.
Click the commenter's name (B) (if it is a link) to go to their connection page (Twitter, blog, etc.)
Click the article title (C) to go to the beginning of the article.
Click the time (D) of the comment to go directly to the complete comment.

Feedback

The reason for this hideously long article is that I want readers to have a good experience with this. A few readers commented negatively about Disqus when I first installed it, partly because there were some malfunctions in the beginning, partly because of not understanding how it worked, and I guess partly because no one likes change. I thought that it needed some further explanation so that commenters can use whatever features they are interested in to their fullest.

I'd love to hear your feedback on this new system, but to give it a fair shot, you'll need to make two comments — the first where you set up your account — which might be a pain in the neck — and a second one where you will see that you don't have to type in anything, just click the Discus (or other link) to be recognized.

If you have problems of any kind, please try to be as specific as possible so I can try to troubleshoot. Try out the features mentioned here and in the other article, Trying to love the Disqus commenting system. I invite you to try it out on this post, even if you only want to say "testing!" You won't bother me at all and it will help me to test the system and figure out where readers are having problems.

Blogicito subscription snafu

A reader wrote to say that he wasn't receiving his subscription to the Blogicito. I checked on the Feedburner list and discovered that no less than 89(!) people have signed up for email subscriptions who never took that second step to confirm that they did in fact subscribe. As a result, they are not receiving the Blogicito in their email inbox.

If you recently subscribed but haven't been receiving the daily (or less frequently) Blogicito email, please look for the verification email and click the link to finalize the subscription. If you have lost the verification email, please let me know. I'll have to remove your email address from the list so that you can resubscribe. Sorry!

By the way, you, too, can sign up to receive Blogicito updates by email so that you don't have to remember to come back to check for new articles, or be disappointed that you came and there was nothing new, as has been the case often lately, I'm afraid. ;-{

Click the yellow note to subscribe

Don't forget to confirm when you receive the email!

There is an unsubscribe link on every email, so if you change your mind, it's no problem to unsubscribe. I understand that my split personality (chicken farming housewife/political analyst) is disconcerting for some. Hahaha! Thanks for putting up with me. ;-D

If you are a Twitterer or Facebook afficionado, I generally post a note when I've posted a new Blogicito article. I'm 'La Gringa' on Facebook (recognize me by the colorful hammock avatar) and LaGringaLaCeiba on Twitter. If you prefer using a RSS feedreader, the subscribe links are in the upper right-hand sidebar.

Thanks for being a Blogicito reader!

Pats on the back

Image: Webweaver's free clipart

Please indulge me on this holiday. I want to share some of the messages that I've received over the past months. This is what has kept me going. This is what convinced me that what I was doing was worthwhile.

I didn't even think to save all of the 'love letters' but I clearly remember one of the first ones. I tried to read it to El Jefe but choked up and cried when I got to the part that said "Thank you for loving my country."

I think that I replied to all of these messages, but if I missed one, please know that your messages and prayers kept me going when I wanted so badly to just quit blogging and put my computer away in a closet until it was all over. Right now my main inbox has 1049 messages of which 196 are unread; that's not even counting my three other email accounts. ;-/

Many Hondurans wrote to say that they were praying for me because they know the danger involved in being politically outspoken. I truly believe that those prayers kept me safe, and yes, I did receive several threats. I also received messages from people from Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua who said that they wished that their government had had the 'huevos' that Honduras had.

Here are some of the messages:

Dear "La Gringa":

First of all, I want to thank you for being a voice of reason and giving those abroad insight into this ongoing social-political situation in Honduras. The international press has unfortunately fallen considerably short when it comes to giving a fair and balanced view regarding what actually happened in Honduras, and what's still happening today. Their seemingly endless fixation on the death of Michael Jackson didn't help matters much either, but I'm not surprised... ultimately most of them are in it just for the ratings and not some idea of journalistic integrity.

I first stumbled upon your blog a few months back via Twitter when Manuel Zelaya was rightfully removed from the Presidency (albeit not in the manner I would have handled it).

But, that's not the reason I chose to write this email.

What initially hooked me to to your blog was my attempt to try to stay up to date with what's happening. I grew up in Honduras (Tegucigalpa), but I left soon after graduating High School to seek better opportunities for myself and a higher education in the USA.

Recently I've found myself browsing through some of your older blog posts: recipes, crafts, Honduras lifestyle, sights and sounds, etc. -- I just gotta say I find them quite pleasant and delightful to read. As a teenager, I always found it interesting to hear a "foreigner's perspective" on what it's like to live in Honduras-- the good, the bad, and the ugly. You seem to be honest and forthcoming on all levels, and I greatly appreciate that.

It's a great little blog, and its a shame I only discovered it under these recent circumstances. I hope if/when things calm down in Honduras you'll return to this type of writing full-time, because you're great at it, ma'am.

Once again, I just wanted to extend my gratitude to you for fighting the good fight in Honduras and having such a nice blog that has given me a little nostalgic "slice of home".

Hope this email finds you well. :)

C

Thank you for your commitment to truth, integrity and liberty. Through your blog and the Wall Street Journal (via Mary Anastasia O'Grady), I feel very informed. It saddens, frustrates and angers me that the Obama administration has acted the way it has. Keep up the good fight.

J

Thank you so much for your efforts. You are helping to repair the enormous harm done to our country by biased media and far-left pundits.

D

Just wanted to let you know that your blog is great, and I thank you for such great writing and posts.

I was born in the US to Honduran parents, went to Harvard University, educated as a lawyer and generally living the American dream, but I still love the country of my blood. It is difficult to find any news about Honduras... so a heart-felt thank you for what you do.

J

LG. Good morning. I just want to tell you how amazed I am , seeing what a good job you have been doing during the Honduras crisis. You socio-political analysis and synthetizing of the events are superb. I am not trying to flatter you. You don't need flattery, and your work informing all of us that are out of Honduras is invaluable and appreciated. Thank you very much for your insights. LGH --La Gringa Hondurena is more likely a name for you.

E

First of all Gringa, I love ya...Thank you for all the support you have given Honduras and to the Honduran People in these times of National Crisis, in one way or the other you have been our Voice to the rest of the world and to the US community....

P

Hello my name is N. I live in your country in queens,n.y. I really like what you are doing for Honduras.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you and God bless.
N

VI SU BLOG, MUY BUEN BLOG, LA FELICITO LA VERDAD, HACE UN TIEMPO YO CONOCI ALQUIEN DE EEUU YO NO LE DECIA GRINGA LA LLAMABA GRENCHA POR NO SER COMUN.

LA FELICITO YO VIVO EN COMAYAGUA Y CUANDO QUIERA VENIR POR AQUI ESTA INVITADA.

GRACIAS
F

Gringa, did you already ask for Honduran citizenship? if i ever get to work on the government i would hand you the keys of Tegucigalpa and grant and honorary high citizenship on this noble land.

G

Dear Gringuita,

I am writing to thank you for your very accurate and unbiased reporting on the Honduran crisis. Honduran’s like me, who live in the USA, really appreciate your clear and concise depiction of the daily events in the crisis.

I will pray for you and for your family on a daily basis. May God give you the strength and support that you need to keep going. Just know that in Philadelphia you have a grateful friend praying for you.

Muchisimas gracias,

C

Gringita, u dont imagine how much your blog has been of a great help for me.. I must take decision base on the information i read.. i truly appreciate all the effort u are doing for Honduras...right now i am defending honduras's interest abroad looking for international observers willing to go to Honduras, but one day it would be a great honor for me to meet u, as i am planning to visit Mr. Micheletti in his home and give him a great hug for his great courage.

R

God bless you!!!! Thank you for loving Honduras and posting the truth on this blog, I read it every day. again, God bless you, God bless your family and everything you do.

W

I am a new reader and have really enjoyed your blogs. I read Daniel's blogs and heard about you from his blogs. Since I am supporting the Honduran people and am so glad they ousted Zelaya before he could totally destroy the country. I hope he never gets back in power. I have missed you posting anything new. It is hard to get the facts so we depend on people like you to keep us informed.

You have a great day and may God bless all of you there in Honduras. I will pray that God will keep you mentally and physically healthy. I wish we the Venezuelan people would have had the resolve that the Hondurans have had to keep out Chavez when he was outsed. We are paying for that today with no liberty at all.
G

Hola Gringa,

Solo te escribo para mandarte un gran abrazo en estos momentos tan orgullosos para Honduras, gracias por tu fantastico website.

VIVA HONDURAS

P

I hope your husband is proud of your courage and determination in a place where it takes much more nerve to be vocal about your opinion than here in the US. Best of luck in the election. I'm not happy about my own government's approach to this whole matter but I'm certainly proud of the Honduran government as it stands up for genuine democracy and the rule of law against lots of people who want the opposite. I and many others will be watching carefully.

D

Hi Gringa, I am glad to hear you every day talk about Honduras. Habla Español? Me imagino que si. Yo soy de La Ceiba,Honduras. Dias atras recibi un mensaje suyo: Dia de Elecciones.."Despues de tres dias de Oscuridad y Luvias sobre Honduras, el sol esta brillando de Nuevo Sobre Nuestra Querida Patria, Es una Señal, Viva La Democracia! Viva Honduras! ". Gringa Gracias por su apoyo, Gracias por Ser una Hondureña Mas,,se que le tiene amor a Nuestra Patria..Cuestion de Principios Racionales,Cuestion de Amor al Principio de Libertad en toda su Amplitud.

Saludos, El triunfo fue de Honduras
God Bless Honduras and USA


If I don't know any better, I think La Gringa is no longer an expat. She is a HONDURAN, through and through.

I say that the Honduran Congress should just grant her full Honduran citizenship rights and she'll live happily ever after.

x

Gringa I just want to say “THANK YOU” so much for your blog! Words cannot describe the gratitude that I (and I’m sure others too) feel towards you for all the hours that you have spent gathering all these information. If you ever come to Vancouver, Canada or want to visit I would be honoured to be your host as a way of thanking you for your amazing work about my home country.

x

I always read your blogs and enjoyed them very much!! On this last day of this year, which has been so hard for all of Honduras, I want to, first of all, thank you so very much, for your love towards my Country, and all blogs have helped for the rest of the world to understand and view things as we lived them down here, and since I'm a Ceibeño 100%, I want to thank you for the love that you have for my dear city. On this last day of this Year I want to WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, THE BEST FOR 2010, MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU IN GOOD HEALTH AND SOUND AND SAFE.

R

La Gringa Rumana

It is a small, small world.

Once upon a time there was a pretty young woman way across the world in Romania who wanted to learn more about life in Honduras. She was in love with a Honduran man and considering moving to Honduras to spend her life with him.

Searching the internet for information, she came across La Gringa's Blogicito and started reading it regularly. Some things that she read were not so different than her home country. Some things made her laugh. Some things made her shiver. Some things she took with a grain of salt, thinking, "Hmmm, well maybe this American is a little bit spoiled." (..."as most Americans are," she could have added but was too polite to do so. ;-D )

The biggest surprise came when she actually realised (by making some connections and deductions) that La Gringa is not just an American (spoiled or not) who came to Honduras and had been living there for almost seven years, but also.....her sister-in-law!!!! Funny, eh?

She was just meaning to dig in for more information on the country where she intended to move and there she was, discovering a new relative. That captured her attention even more and since that day, checking the Blogicito became a daily routine.

She got to know pretty much about La Gringa's way of living, about her habits, about the things that make her happy or drive her crazy, about life in Honduras in general. And even if she quit seeing Honduras as a tropical Caribbean paradise as shown in the photos posted on different tourist sites, at least she got down to earth as far as her expectations were concerned.

Following La Gringa's sage advice, she came for an extended visit and lived with her Honduran family to find out for herself what living in Honduras was like.

After she met La Gringa, she said, "I've been reading your Blogicito and I want to say: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" Everything you wrote was true. EVERYTHING! I think it would have been very hard for me if I had not been prepared for the reality by reading your blog."

Since she came to Honduras, day by day she had the chance to see that almost everything La Gringa wrote is not fiction, but reality. There are days when she swears that when this holiday is over, she'll go back to Romania and never set foot again in Honduras and days when she thinks that Honduras is not the worst place to live after all, and with love, patience, and good will she can overcome all obstacles.

One of those days, while sitting together for lunch, watching her add plenty of Salsa Picante Chile Tabasco in her food (because she likes spicy food), her mother-in-law told her smiling: "Whoever comes to Honduras and tastes chile, will spend the rest of his life here" (Cualquiera que venga a Honduras y guste de comer chile, pasara el tiempo de su vida aqui.)

Is she right or not? Who knows? Only time will tell....


Co-written by La Gringa and La Gringa Rumana.

Where does the news come from?

Reader Roy, who I believe is from Venezuela, left this very interesting comment documenting media manipulation and the 'Chávez Media Machine'. It is a perfect example of how you need to you know who wrote your news and where it came from.

Comment from Roy:

Here is another example of media manipulation...

From Yahoo: "CDA to U.S. Policymakers: Don't Ratify Honduras Elections as 'Free and Fair'"

You can find it in this link (currently second from the top) on the Yahoo News search for "Elections Honduras":

Yahoo news search

This article is not "news" in the sense that it is reporting what is happening or has happened in Honduras. What it is reporting is an OPINION issued by an organization called the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA). Yahoo got this piece from PR Newswire. If you go to this organization's website at

PR Newswire

You will see that their business is not reporting news, but in collecting "news" from other organizations and selling the "feed" to other media sources. Following is a quote from their web page: "Leverage our experienced, Washington, D.C.-based Public Interest editorial team that specializes in handling news copy from nonprofit, government, association, advocacy and other Public Interest newsmakers worldwide."

Now, let us look at the original source of the article from the CDA. Go to:

Democracy in Americas

When you look at and read their website, it is an extremely biased mouthpiece for ALBA, Chavez, and his regional political agenda. Note the following quote: "The Center for Democracy in the Americas has country programs for Cuba, Venezuela, and Chile. But its work embraces issues facing U.S. policy toward the region more broadly.

THIS is the original source of what appears to be a legitimate news article published by Yahoo. This is the power of the Chavez Media Machine. It can utilize the mechanisms of the media business to create such an avalanche of "news" and opinion favorable to his agenda that people read it and simply assume that since "everyone" thinks that way, they should as well. This is a highly advanced version of Goebbels "Big Lie" propaganda tool.

~~~~~~~~~

I know that some may think that we are conspiracy theorists and that the news that they read is 'pure' and that CNN is (as they tell us) the most unbiased place to get your news. I think that most who have been in Honduras or have contacts here on the ground have had their beliefs about the media rocked to core. We've not only seen the bias or spin in major media sources but we've seen outright false information reported as fact.

Part of the misinformation may be laziness and the fact that initially and through much of the past 5 months, most news sources did not have anyone on the ground here in Honduras. CNN (Español) cannot claim that excuse as they did have someone on the ground − interestingly a reporter with Sandista and Daniel Ortega ties. Most of the other Honduran coverage came from Telesur, a Venezuelan television station completely controlled by Hugo Chávez. Telesur was caught staging a video of "military repression". CNN did their share of staging and misrepresenting protests, including not covering the much larger pro-government protests.

People need to know where their news is coming from to understand what is going on. I've looked up some of the AP and Reuters "journalists" and in some cases found that they have written other strongly pro-Chavez articles. I've written articles dissecting Ginger Thompson's NY Times articles and the some of the information that she has written was just false, even if you disregard her personal spin. Let me add that I had nothing against the author or the NY Times. It is just one example of many. It is scary and those who believe that we are conspiracy theorists are naive.

Blogicito problem solved! -- I think

A helpful reader who has been trying to assist with technical problems has informed me that changing the reader comments section from "in-line" view to full page view has corrected the problems with people who have been unable to view the Blogicito. Finally!

Please leave a comment (if you can, or otherwise email me) if you still experience problems. Include the details about your browser, version, and exactly what problem you are having and maybe one of the more technical readers can advise you. Another option is to subscribe to the daily email update at Feedburner. See the yellow sticky at the upper right.

While I generally respond to all comments and emails, I am just unable to at this time. I feel that my time is better used to continue to get out as much information as I can. Please know that I read all of the comments and appreciate your interest very much. Thanks go to all of you who have sent information, links, photos, documents, etc. I especially appreciate those of you who are able to answer other readers questions!

Thanks for reading!

Commenter problems on the Blogicito

Wondering what is going to happen,
La Ceiba, Honduras, June 28, 2009

Readers are complaining about their comments not being recorded and so am I! I wrote two long comments last night trying to respond to some of the questions and I couldn't post them. On the third try Blogger logged me out and lost my comments. Very frustrating. I was too tired to try to rewrite them.

But, please forget the censorship theories in this case. Blogger has been having a problem with comments for at least a month now as I have heard from readers. All I can suggest, especially if you have a long comment to make, is that you type your message in a text program or email, then copy and paste to the comment section, just in case. Copy and paste the comment into the comment box and try to submit again.

I also heard that some people are having problems even accessing my blog. I've been told that the problem could result from Internet Explorer, especially if you have recently updated to the new version. The solution is said to be to open your settings and indicate that La Gringa's Blogicito is an allowed site, or safe site or whatever the wording is. I'm not familiar with IE as I use Firefox. If anyone has any other suggested solutions, please leave the information in the comments section.

Internet connections here in Honduras could be getting a little slower with the huge number of people trying to get their message out. I'm also having problems with Blogger logging me out in the middle of something! Very frustrating, but Blogger is in the US so I don't think it has anything to do with what is going on in Honduras.

There are lots of interesting comments on the articles. I have no problem with anyone giving their opinion, pro or con, as long as they can do it without insults, vulgarity, or intimidation to other readers. I am wondering, though, whether the same people should be allowed to give the same opinion 10 or 20 times. It gets very tedious and, in a way, serves as censorship in itself as I think it is intended to drown out other voices.

I'd also to recommend CNN's iReports site for comments, photos, and videos from Honduras. A huge number of Hondurans have made their feelings known on this site, both pro and con. A major theme among the comments is the frustration they feel that the true picture is not getting out to the world, and many blame CNN's inaccurate and biased reporting for that.

CNN's uncensored viewer iReports

You can help Honduras

A plea from a Honduran friend:

Please everyone I'd like to ask you a big favor. Could you email President Obama or the president of your country and your particular member of congress and tell them how you feel about the situation in Honduras. Right now we need the truth to be told to those who have the power to change things.

I personally already wrote Obama, but who am I for him to listen to? I am not a US citizen. But many of you are! Please help us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Website contact forms:

United Nations

US White House

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

US Congress - Find your congress House of Representatives to write to here

US Senators - Find your senator here

Eliot L Engel - Chairman for Latin America affairs

Washington Post Article



Email addresses:

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Organation of American States


Telephone and Fax:

Secretary General of the U.N. - The direct number is 001-212-963-2155

Canada: Honorable Peter Kent is the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs(Americas)
Phone:613 944 2300
Fax 613 944 1554
Email (possibly): peter.kent@gov.gc.ca

Canadian Consular Services Honduras--no name seen but
Phone 504 232 4551
Fax 504 239 7767
email tglpa@international.gc.ca

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Readers: If you can take a few minutes of your time to let a few of these know how you feel about this situation in Honduras, it could make a difference. There is so much misinformation in the media about what has happened here.


If you have any other important email address to add to the list, please let me know so I can add them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Readers, if you find any of these websites, email addresses, or telephone numbers do not work, please help me by finding the correct one so that I can fix the article!

And the contest winner is....

Congratulations!

The winner of the frying pan contest is...ta-dum, ta-dum, ta-dum:

Wow! Don Ray, being a wise, long-time, experienced expat blogger in Panamá blew my contest out of the water in the first 38 minutes! He said:

"This is what happens to a Teflon pan when a Latin American maid washes it with a brillo pad."

I was hesitant about this contest because I knew that expats in Central America would have a huge edge. Don Ray: You are going to receive one of La Gringa's original design, one-of-a-kind recycled plastic market bags. I've been giving them away as I make them, so I need to rebuild my stockpile. I'll send you some photos when I get a few finished and you can pick the one you like best. In the meantime, you could let me know if a particular size, shape, or color would work best for you, e.g. veggie market bag size, laptop size, manly black color, etc.

There were some pretty funny responses to the contest. My personal favorite was:

islandgal246 said...

well your pot has had enough abuse and will be lodging a complaint with the relevant authorities.

I have to admit that I'm glad that Haiku Joy did not win. I can't imagine how much it would have cost to mail something to Japan or how many years it would take to get there, if it ever did.

Rep made me chuckle since he obviously analyzed the photo and put some thought into it but ALL of his (her?) assumptions were incorrect. ;-D
Rep said...

It is a pan with both new and old damage to the teflon, indicating this was not a one time incident where a maid washed it with a brillo pad. It is an old pan and likely only used for outdoor cooking these days. The photo was taken outside, which would lead me to believe you were maybe camping or for some reason cooking outdoors. If there is significance to the fact that it is empty, I would say someone lost or forgot the food items to be cooked.

And the best serious response was from Rodrigo:

talvez falta de comida que sufre muchas personas en este mundo por tanta pobreza en los paises de latino america especialmente mi pais honduras para mi que eso significa una olla vacia
Rodrigo

[Translation: Perhaps the lack of food that many persons suffer in this world because of so much poverty en the countries of Latin America, especially my country of Honduras. For me, that means an empty pot.]

Several of you had the correct or very close to correct response, but unfortunately, Don Ray beat you to it. I also realized after I posted the contest that the email readers were at a big disadvantage since they wouldn't receive the article until the following morning. If I do another contest, I'll try to work out the timing better. Thinking of a contest that will be a challenge to you readers is....well, a challenge!

For those of you who think that I do so much cooking that I wear out my pans, I have to dispel that fantasy before El Jefe gets on here to tell you how it really is!

Actually, the full and complete answer would have been "La Gringa got a new maid and the maid ruined her favorite non-stick pan with a Brillo pad."

Of course, on the very first day I told the new maid not to use Brillo pads and even not to use the harsh green plastic scrubby pads. "Only use a sponge or the white plastic scrubby pads," said me, "because these black pans have a special coating that will be ruined if you use anything else. These things (demonstrated in my hand) will scratch the surface." In fact, I even pulled out several other non-stick items and mentioned that all of these things need to be cleaned ONLY with the sponge or white scrubby. "Anything that is black inside is special."

It seemed so simple: Silver inside − use whatever you need to clean them. Black inside − only use soft things to clean them.

She has been here a month, not every day, but I use that pan so often that I know that she has washed it many times before. Whatever possessed her to decide that THIS time, ALL of the black coating needed to be removed, I'll never know.

It is particularly sad for me because after my previous favorite non-stick fry pan was ruined by a maid, I searched literally for years for another heavy quality pan in La Ceiba and San Pedro. They just do not exist here. I finally ordered a good quality pan from Amazon. I had it sent to my sister-in-law in Texas and waited an additional 7 months or so for her to bring it to me! If I recall, they were planning to visit in the summer but ended up canceling their trip so I had to wait until they came at Christmas. All in all, I waited a good 3 years to get this pan. I loved it! Boohoo.

So, as Deena mentioned, a new fry-pan is back on my wish list again. Sigh. El Jefe says that I should just throw away all of the Brillo pads and scratchy scrubbies. But we need them for some things! What to do, what to do? I could wash the pans myself, but there will be a time sooner or later when she gets to the pan before I do.

Oh, well. Life in Honduras. In every other way, I love, love, love this maid! I'll tell you more in another article.

Problems with your Blogicito email subscription?

Sharon mentioned that she has not been receiving the daily Blogicito email updates and thought that La Gringa was taking a break. When she came to the Blogicito and saw that I was posting regularly, she assumed that something had happened to cancel her subscription. But when she tried to resubscribe, Feedburner told her that she already had a subscription. Frustrating!

My first guess was that Sharon's email program or internet service provider (ISP) is putting the emails in her spam folder. The solution for that is to find them in the spam folder and do whatever your program requires to mark them as "not spam." That should train your email program to put those emails in your inbox instead.

Another step that may help to prevent false spam identification is to put my email address in your contacts. You can find my email address in the right-hand sidebar underneath the Amazon wish list. (But, please, for the sake of my sanity, don't include me in mass mailings, virus warnings, and forwarded emails!)

If the emails are not in your spam folder, you can unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any of the Blogicito emails (if you still have one) and then resubscribe by going to this link: Subscribe to La Gringa's Blogicito by Email.

If all else fails, write me and I'll try to reactivate a new subscription request. Please watch for and act upon the automated verification email. It will come from FeedBurner Email Subscriptions but will show as coming from my email address. That is a good time to put my email address in your contacts folder.

The subscription will not be activated unless you respond to the verification email by clicking the link.

The link will take you to this page which will show that your subscription is confirmed. I notice that at any point in time, I always have 10-20 readers who have signed up for a subscription but have never confirmed it and so will never receive it. :-{

Generally, the Feedburner subscriptions are trouble free − I know because I was my first subscriber back in 2006! Heheheh. I wanted to see how the emails looked and to be sure that Feedburner didn't send unwanted email (they don't). Occasionally there are glitches, primarily because people mark emails as spam rather than unsubscribing, which then can cause other users of the same ISP or web-based email system to not receive the emails.

Sorry for boring the rest of you with this, but I always think that when one person mentions a problem, there are others out there with the same problem who didn't let me know. La Gringa values her subscribers!

Will poor people grow vegetables?

La Gringa's banana harvest

Gentle readers,

LG needs your help. I would really like to get a conversation going on this topic: Will poor people grow vegetables? Of course I know that some poor people grow vegetables for themselves or for sale. What I am asking is whether teaching the very poor in Honduras (or other Central American countries) to grow and eat vegetables is a viable and sustainable means of improving the health of their children? Will they have the means to garden? Will they continue after the first crop? Will they learn to cook and eat healthier?

The email below is one of many I have received on this subject over the years. I told Danise that I just don't know the answer to her questions. To those people who have written, I've given some gardening advice, and pushed organics and composting since I know that the poor are not likely to be able to afford fertilizers and chemicals. Only one person has ever written back to give me an update and I really don't know if his project has been successful or continued over the years.

I frankly have my doubts, mainly because vegetables just aren't a big part of the diet in Honduras, except for bananas, platanos, yuca, and cabbage. Though unhealthy north American fast food has become very popular, healthier foods have not. Even restaurants often will have no vegetables other than the ones mentioned above.

Even backyard crops have to be protected from thieves and wandering chickens, pigs, and cows. The soil is poor in many areas. During the dry season, access to water may be difficult to impossible for some. During the rainy season, crops can be lost in heavy rains. Access to composting materials is abundant, but may be beyond the reach of someone with no way to transport more than a bucketful of materials at a time. They very poor may not be able to buy seeds, a shovel or gardening fork.

One couple in Panamá, who tried with no success, decided that teaching gardening was actually starting in the middle of the process. After discussing the project with elementary school principals, they concluded that first children must learn the 'why' of eating vegetables, then learn 'how' to prepare vegetables so that they taste good, and then finally learn the 'how' of gardening. The principals disappointingly projected that it would take two to three generations before any change in the culture would take place.

On the other hand, gardening can be an enjoyable and rewarding pastime. Learning to do something new and productive is always beneficial and good for self-esteem. Time is an asset that many unemployed or underemployed people have, especially housewives who can also enlist the help of their children in the garden, which can be a wonderful learning experience for them, in addition to improving their health.

Backyard corn crop

Here is the email:

My name is Danise. I came across your site doing some research. I have been working with a ministry in Honduras for about 3 years now and just came home a couple of days ago from my last trip. So the names of the towns, etc. caught my eye instantly when I read a few of your blogs. I fly into San Pedro Sula each time and then have a drive to the mountains where we stay.

The people are of course very poor and malnourished and we do many things to help them from clothes, soaps, toothbrushes and other donations. The last time I had a doctor and nurse with my team and we set up a clinic to provide some much needed health care for these people. Hundreds of people walked to see the doctor and we treated everything from lice, and scabies to pneumonia and starvation.

One mother carried her baby over an hour one way in the hot sun. This baby at four months old had only been feed the water drained off the rice the mother prepared for her other children once a day. So saving this little one's life was where we started, providing formula for the baby and food for the family, along with continued support for them. But this is just one family of many facing the same situation.

So one of my main concerns is that these families are so poor and do not have a way to provide even basic food for themselves. I saw you had gardening as an interest and that is one thing I am trying to do research on. For example what crops may grow, what seeds would be beneficial etc.

I know the altitude, climate and conditions are so very different that where I currently live in Michigan. But my next trip is scheduled to return in June to Honduras and if there was any way I could provide seeds, or train these families to grow even something simple it really is a step in the right direction. Do you have any advice, information or thoughts on what direction I could head with this idea?

I also know that the mountains and the coast are going to vary but I thought if you had any suggestions it was a place to start. Thanks for your time Sincerely,

Danise

Sweet corn

If you have any experience or can give some insight, please let us know by either leaving a comment or writing to me privately (click "Contact" underneath the Blogicito title or click "Email the author" if you are reading from the daily Feedburner email). Any names, organizations, or email addresses will remain private with me unless you give permission for me to pass the information on to Danise.

I'll summarize what I hear back (if I do) and report it in another blog article so maybe others will be helped as well. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.