US renews Honduras Travel Warning

Honduran President Pepe Lobo and
Minister of Tourism Nelly Jerez

The US State Department has issued another Travel Warning for Honduras. I thought it would be interesting to compare the wording in this one with the previous November 21, 2012 warning. Below is the June 17, 2013, warning with the new words and sections underlined. The parts changed or eliminated from the 2012 warning are indicated with strikethrough.

Travel Warning
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs

Honduras

June 17, 2013

The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens about the security situation in Honduras. continues to warn U.S. citizens that the crime and violence levels in Honduras remain critically high. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated November 21, 2012, to include additional information about reported kidnappings, information for victims of crime, as well as the Honduran police force's ability to respond to reports of crime, and also serves to update contact information.

Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit Honduras each year for study, tourism, business, and volunteer work without incident. However, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and the Government of Honduras lacks sufficient resources to address these issues. Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. San Pedro Sula is considered to be the world’s most violent city, with 159 murders for every 100,000 residents in 2011. These threats have increased substantially over the past several years and remain high. Incidents can occur anywhere. In January 2012, the Peace Corps withdrew its volunteers from the country to conduct an administrative review of the security situation.

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Rhinoceros beetle

Big beetle - a rhino?

I thought this might be a rhinoceros beetle based on its size. It would have to be a female since it doesn't have the distinctive rhino horns, but there are so many varieties and most of the photos are male so I gave up trying to determine which type it might be. It could be one called a coconut rhinoceros beetle.  Once again, I insisted on sparing the life of our wildlife and maybe shouldn't have. Coconut rhinoceros beetles can kill the coconut palms! Great.

Check out the size of the horns on these rhinoceros beetles!

I ran across this ad while researching this beetle. For $5.60 you can buy a bag of 2 or 3 cooked rhinoceros beetles, lightly seasoned with soy sauce, lemon grass, and garlic. Yumm. Before you rush out to order a bag, one of the reviewers says that they are super crunchy but have not much flavor.

What happened here?

Moving?

What happened here?

What's this?

Heavy spring cleaning?

Floor polishing?

Did you have a flood?

Painting?

Are you moving?

Read on and weep...

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