I was finishing up my conversation with the liquor store owner about the high cost of rum in Nicaragua and how it was less expensive in neighboring Honduras. He insisted it was impossible and that his prices were right. The rum in question was Flor de Caña, Nicaragua's national pride and perhaps the best rum in Latin America. As the conversation drew down and I set off without my rum two men walked in who were immediately engaged by the prickly liquor store owner in the cost of rum discussion. Upon hearing this I turned around and walked back into the store to join the conversation and made friends with them.
After the subject of rum was exhausted I moved to my current favored topic, the Honduran coup d'état that happened in late June 2009. Merdardo, one of the guys who walked in, a Nicaraguan, had lived in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa for 25 years and strongly supported the new government. A government, by the way, that no country in the entire world has yet to recognize. Neither do I.
Merardo had a natural expression of fury in his face that came out in his eyes and cheeks even though he was pleasant to be with. I asked him several questions that I have discovered all Hondurans who support the new government had trouble defending let alone answering. Merdardo was no exception and it only hardened my opinion of the illegitimate government. My prickly questions helped his frustration set in and drank the rest of his beer with a fury that matched his face. His friend Pablo watched him with curiosity. People dislike being caught between their self-delusion and hard practicality.
Pablo and Merdardo were expressive and passionate. I noticed that my reaction to this kind of culture makes me feel good for they are not fearful like Americans of sharing their opinions with each other. The average person in Honduras and Nicaragua jumps in with heat and passion on all sorts of subjects that you rarely find in American culture where the people tend to be passive, ill-informed (everybody is a victim of this criticism), and a fearful society where the people have a stronger need to to be liked and feel part of the crowd than to risk it by expressing an opinion.
When I asked for their names at the end of our conversation Merdardo promptly handed me his business card. I stuttered, this had not happened to me in all my travels in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras -the business card. Merdardo was a Herbalife man and his card proved what he sold: nutrition and weight loss. On the card were two mug shots, a before and after of Merdardo himself. In one shot his face was fattened like a sumo wrestler's and the other more representative of him today, that is, 42 pounds lighter. Naturally, this was the result of a Herbalife regimen which he now sells and builds his coveted multi-level marketing team with.
In the morning Pablo and Merdardo were making donuts by hand for their small business Super Donuts, which made a go of it by distributing them to shops and theaters around town. They made them completely by hand without tools of any kind to shape or cut the donuts, then placed them in a large pot of oil that held less than 12 at a time. I ate them right after the cooker still hot, smothered in sugar and cinnamon. I was in donut delight.
It was a colorful evening that had me take to Nicaragua and the people, immediately finding their culture open and expressive as well as inviting to the stranger. My first night in Nicaragua was showing promising signs of the visit ahead.
David
Altagracia, Isla de Oemetepe, Nicaragua
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