When does getting a haircut make the news?

Jairo's wife likes his new haircut
All photos: La Prensa, Honduras

Sunday is a slow day for the news in Honduras. As opposed to the Dallas Morning News where the Sunday paper is huge and can take a big chunk out of the day to read if you really give it a good go, the Sunday edition of Honduras' La Prensa is a slim issue of 50 or 60 pages, including fillers of many international articles.

So when does getting a haircut make the news? When Afroman gets a haircut!

Here is 25-year-old Sampedrano Jairo Andrés Torres with his 9-year-old 'before do' along with a photo of him leaving the barber with a sackful of hair:


These photos make me smile every time I see them. I thought you might enjoy them, too.

Mrs. F's excellent adventure

Retired Canadian Anne Fowler has been working as a volunteer in Honduras since 1993. In 2006 she moved to a small north coast village where she constructed Hamilton Benest House, which provides accommodation for visiting dentists, doctors, teachers and other volunteers. Anne continues to develop new community initiatives and strives to make the lives of the Honduran poor "a little better". She divides the year between Honduras and her Haliburton cottage north of Toronto.

The following are some excerpts from a newsletter sent to friends and supporters in 2007:

Using puppets to teach healthy living

THE HEALTHY LIVING EDUCATION PROGRAM

This program has continued with 1,800 new students from schools in El Porvenir and surrounding communities. Once again the puppets were a hit as they told their educational stories to a fascinated audience. Participation by teachers and visitors were applauded. Fluoride, toothbrushes and eye acuity exams were given to all the children.

This year, we found several kids who required immediate help with their eyes…... notably, a thirteen year old girl named Delmi from the town of El Pino. She left school last year because she could no longer see the blackboard or even read. Born with cataracts, other problems had occurred and her sight had deteriorated to almost zilch. It’s an amazing testimony to her determination to have an education that she even reached grade 5.

It was decided to operate on Delmi’s “worst” eye and see what the results might be. They don’t want to touch the other eye because it may be the only vision she will have if the surgery was not successful. The best case scenario is the use of special contact lenses (hopefully in both eyes) and perhaps more surgery on the cataract in the “good” eye to improve it. Worst case scenario, she is fitted with a contact in the “good” eye which will bring her vision in that one eye to about 20/70……better than her situation now.

In either case it will be a long process but she should be able to return to school. Other cases that will be evaluated in Progreso next month include an 11-year-old boy who was hit in the eye with a mango last year and a 9-year-old girl who got nail polish remover in her eye (don’t ask) and they both have lost much of their vision. There are a couple of kids with such terrible short sightedness that we are also taking them to the clinic to get glasses.

All of these children come from very poor families who cannot afford such medical treatment.

This year was our first attempt at a “review program” for the schools where we had made our Healthy Living presentation with the skits last year.

WOMEN AT THE WELL

has been put “on hold” due to a lack of participation. Realistically, I cannot expect every thing we try to be a success and sadly the enthusiasm had dropped for this program. Perhaps we will try again next year with a monthly rather than a weekly meeting.

HIV EDUCATION PROGRAM

Because Honduras has such a large problem with AIDS, this program is especially needed. We continued with the Grade 6 puppet presentations, and the high school seminars, and expanded to adult education with the employees of Standard Fruit Company. Three separate charlas (talks) were held, each led by a Peace Corp volunteer. Very well received, we have been asked by management to come back and do more.

FEED A MIND PROGRAM (the library project)

El Porvenir has no library facility either in the community or the schools. After meeting with the elementary and high school directors, teachers, parents, the mayor….it was determined that a library located in each school would be the best solution for the students and that the community could have limited access to both. In Honduras, books cannot be removed from a library and must be used on the premises.

So now I had TWO libraries to establish. Where to get the money???? The high school library is a project that will be generously funded courtesy of a matching grant between the Rotary Club, Ames, Iowa and the Rotary Club of La Ceiba. Our mayor is building a separate room at the high school that will house the new library. This was an unexpected bonus as we thought we would have to use two adjoining classrooms already in existence. The teachers have approved my library space design and are busily preparing a list of books to purchase when the time comes later this year.

The elementary library is already well underway. In a large existing classroom, which was designated for the library, we have painted, installed electricity, a local carpenter is building the shelving, AV unit (for the TV and DVD player), tables, computer desks. Donated books are being shipped to Honduras. The rest of the books will be bought and so far I have enough money to buy 50% of the teachers’ “wish list”. Hopefully I can purchase the rest when I get back with more cookbook profits!!!

MOMS AND TOTS READING PROGRAM

Originally was planned as an activity specifically for mothers and preschoolers to encourage reading stories (something they do not do here….no books) plus an introduction to English. At the request of teachers we are now incorporating the program into the kindergarten schedule. Once a week (moms are invited to attend) we spend 45 minutes reading/discussing stories and teaching introductory English vocabulary (i.e., numbers, days, common words) utilizing visual props and games. This is a big commitment for us since it must be an ongoing program without interruption. Next year teaching more English at the Grade 1 level will be included.

FUTURE PROGRAMS

We have been working on the logistics of these initiatives and hope to introduce them in 2009:

Dental Program for Grades 4, 5, 6 at El Porvenir’s elementary school:

To further encourage good dental hygiene (read ANY dental hygiene) we plan to have a dentist with 2-3 hygienists visit every year. Ideally we will be able to get two teams to visit during the school year. I will be working hard during the summer to develop this program (since I won’t have that darn cookbook to write this year!)

Uniform Exchange Program:

We all know how much children want to be like everyone else. Although the school uniforms are cheap, there are some families who can’t afford to buy one and their kids feel “different” or simply don’t attend school. It affects self esteem and the child’s social orientation. I will be working with another Peace Corp Volunteer who lives in the nearby town of San Francisco and whose work for the Peace Corp centers around establishing small businesses. This proposed program is Bob Roxburgh’s great idea!

Recycling Program:

We have had several meetings between Standard Fruit and town officials. El Porvenir has no garbage pickup and generates a tremendous amount of plastic glass bottles etc. The current plan is to involve a few local women, students from the high school needing to do community service and a person from La Ceiba who is willing to pick it all up and pay for the recycled material.


Thank you for the guest blog article, Anne, and best of luck on your new programs. I'm particularly glad to see the uniform exchange and recycling programs as well as the health and reading efforts. If anyone would like to contact Anne, she can be emailed at anne.fowler (at) sympatico.ca.

Restaurant review: Kabasa?

Kabasa? restaurant, La Ceiba, Honduras

Kabasa? is a Garífuna seafood restaurant. According to a Garífuna friend, 'Kabasa' means something like "What's up?" or "What's happening?", hence the question mark at the end. I'll leave the question mark off in this review. By the way, when pronouncing it, the accent is on the last 'a'.

Kabasa now has three locations, San Pedro Sula, to which I've never been; Sambo Creek, nice atmosphere on the beach and breezy; and La Ceiba, which we recently tried for the first time.

I've been to Kabasa in Sambo Creek, on the beach about 30 minutes outside of La Ceiba several times. It's also known as La Champa, 'champa' being the local Spanish word for the palm-frond roof. The food is good and plentiful, though at the Sambo Creek location, a lunch or dinner in an almost empty restaurant has taken two hours or more. The service is nice enough, though slow.

The La Ceiba restaurant had moved recently but with only a bit of trouble, we were able to find it in Barrio La Isla. If you are going north toward the ocean on the stadium road (by the estero), turn right on the second street after the stadium (God only knows what the name of any of these streets are). Go straight about two blocks. You should see the restaurant sign on the corner on the left hand side. See the photo at top.

The entrance is very nice. They have a nicely landscaped outdoor area with umbrella covered concrete tables and benches. In the center is a very large covered patio area with lots of seating. An outdoor bar is in this area as well.

The inside area is air conditioned (but thankfully not too cold). It's quite large and includes another bar area. Tables and chairs in the patio area as well as inside are wooden, which is a nice change from the plastic chairs and tables in so many restaurants. One wall is covered with this beautiful under-sea mural and various forms of artistic painting brighten the interior. It looks like they would have no trouble handling large groups for dining either inside or outside.

Roberto was our waiter and he was pleasant and efficient. I was disappointed (for blogging purposes) that four of the six in our group ordered the Sopa Marinera, which is one the Kabasa's specialties. I can't blame them really, it is delicious. I was just hoping to get photos of more items from the menu.

Kabasa serves all the usual soft drinks (L.15), beers (L.20-35), and mixed drinks, as well as tall, icy glasses of naturales: lemonadas and other fresh juices (L.20-30). Some of us had the lemonade which was nice (not too sweet − always a risk here) and others had jugo de toronja (grapefruit juice). One person ordered a second grapefruit juice, so it must have been good.

The menu is extensive, but often not everything is available. Every time I've been to Kabasa, the small and medium pescados (fish) have not been available, only the large or extra large. Sometimes they have crab legs and sometimes not. The fish (L.110-200), shrimp (L.174-204), conch (L.139-180), and lobster (L.500-600) can be prepared several different ways. (Divide by 20 to get a rough approximation of the prices in US dollars.)

The menu includes several combination seafood platters for 2, 4, or 6 people (L.600 to 1,700). If you are not a seafood fan, Kabasa offers grilled meat platters including chicken, beef, chuletas (chops) of both beef and pork for 2, 4, or 6 persons at L.400 to L.1,000. Individual meals of beef, pork, or chicken, meal-sized salads, and a children's menu are also available.

The prices are typical for a nice restaurant in La Ceiba. In US dollars, most main courses prices range from $8 to $10, with lobster and a few other specialties running upward of US $25. Menu prices do not include 12% sales tax (15% on alcoholic beverages) or 10% gratuity which will be added to your check.

La Madre had pescado empanizado (fried, breaded fish) and I had caracol in mantequilla (conch in a lightly garlic flavored cream sauce). Both came with an iceberg lettuce and tomato salad, yellow rice with veggies, and french fries. We both requested a substitution to tajadas (sliced, fried unripe plantains) instead of the fries and received a look of approval from the waiter.

My caracol was rich and tasty in the cream sauce, and most importantly, very tender. The sauce was not overly garlicky which sometimes is a risk. Everything was good. Even the salad dressing (no choice − only the ketchup/mayo mixture was available) was not watered down to a liquid form as it is in so many restaurants.

The sopa marinera (seafood soup) is one of their most popular of several soups (L.129-240). It's called the "I can't decide" soup because it includes shrimp, lobster, fish, mussels, calamari, crab meat, and possibly more. I would estimate that there was close to a pound of seafood in the soup. The coconut broth was the best and richest that I have tasted − and I've tasted a lot. It was a tad too salty, but oh so flavorful. Soups are served with a side of white rice, tajadas, and a lemon wedge. It is customary is that the person squeezes a little lemon in the soup and adds the rice to their taste as they eat the soup.

We had one little glitch. My caracol in mantequilla somehow turned into an order of fried shrimp when it arrived. Roberto remembered my caracol order as soon as I mentioned it and went back to the kitchen. I was hoping that he had just picked up the wrong plate and it was still sitting in the kitchen but no such luck. So once again, I (the reviewer!) sat for 15 minutes or so while everyone else ate, while they prepared the dish. I couldn't tell you how many times this has happened to me. Oh, well. I would have eaten the shrimp rather than waiting but I didn't think to tell that to Roberto soon enough. The important point is that there was no arguments about who was mistaken.

For dessert, the menu offers traditional coco candies, as well as a dessert of the day (supposedly). We didn't ask what was available as the main course portions are huge and very filling. In fact, if you eat lunch there, you might not need to eat dinner later on. The menu and prices are the same for lunch or dinner, as is true with all of the La Ceiba restaurants that I've been to.

Kabasa is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays) at the San Pedro and La Ceiba locations. The Sambo Creek restaurant opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m (9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays). All three are closed on Sundays. Their menu warns that all items are prepared fresh and to allow a minimum of 30 minutes preparation time.

Everyone enjoyed the food and the La Ceiba restaurant very much. We were in and out in little over an hour even though the restaurant had quite a few customers. It was a good choice and we will be going back. I appreciate the effort the owners put into the landscaping and decor. It has a nice atmosphere and judging by the crowd at lunch, I imagine that it must get a good crowd on Friday and Saturday nights.

We've also had good food several times at the Sambo Creek location. We've taken friends and they have enjoyed the short ride through the country to get there as well as the opportunity to see the little Garífuna village of Sambo Creek. A taxi ride could be expensive (comparatively) unless you take one of the collectivo taxis or negotiate a rate in advance.

Sitting under the second floor champa (palm frond roof) by the ocean is always nice. This restaurant has some interesting wooden chairs and stair railings which you can see in the slide show below. Plan on spending more time if you go to the Sambo Creek location. I don't know why, but it always seems to take a long time there.



Kabasa? receives another one of those rare La Gringa recommendations!

To view more photos of the food and La Ceiba and the Sambo Creek Restaurants, enjoy the slideshow below: