Estoy Aqui

The silence this time has been caused by the curious fact that the computer I'm using at work doesn't allow me to access blogger, since it falls under the category of 'internet communication'. And there I was using the internet exclusively for telling the time. What? What else is the internet for but communication?

See how quickly things become quotidian. No tropical sunsets, no disturbing new social contexts, no culture shock. Here I am, typing from a computer on a desk just like I always have been. Somehow travel seems less romantic with the communications revolution. (There was a time when I had to hitch a boat ride 5 miles through the jungle to get to the nearest internet point - but if I'm really honest with myself, the romance of all that was contrived. Or at least, willingly chosen.)

So what's happened since I last posted? Oh you know, everything and nothing. It's been straightforward and baffling - straightforward because I've arrived where I was expected, and now I do the things that people have been waiting for me to do for some months (though I do them terribly slowly, and often badly) and the only person for whom any of this is remotely unusual is me. For me though, it's very very unusual.
The most striking thing about my experience of Tegucigalpa thus far has been what's constantly and obliquely referred to as 'security'. Because 'security', I've barely set foot in Honduras apart from my house and office, and a couple of nice lunch bars. Because 'security', I have no sense of what the city looks like from its different barrios, or what those barrios are, or where. Because 'security', I don't really know what my neighbourhood looks like, or what it's near or how to get there. Every journey is made by car, and those who don't have cars, or drivers, go by taxi. Bless my heart, it most certainly isn't easy being green...

Now, I'm overreacting, because my virtual house arrest thus far has been primarily forced by the fact that my two lovely house mates are up to their tonsils with a 3-day HIV/AIDS workshop. Were it not for their unfortunate absence, they'd have shown me around (in the car), I'd have got my bearings, and I'd be making my own calls about the security threat to my well-being at this point. The workshop finishes today, so we're going grocery shopping. And that may sound quotidian, but it's a big treat for me now.

In other news, Tegus is a mad place, hilly and wonky, with fabulous night views of lights climbing high up beyond where the horizon should be. A bit like I remember San Salvador (another place where security was the main story). Last night we went to a Mexican restaraunt with the HIV/AIDS partners from the workshop (see above). It culminated in bottles of Flor de Caña, salsa dancing, a nun and an ex-sex worker arm in arm while the band played Cositas Malas. That was a glimpse into what I'm anticipating for the next number of months. I'll let you know once I get the measure of Tegucigalpa.