Day 13: Ceiba

For the first time in two weeks, Jesus arrived early. After picking me up, we headed to Ami Noel’s house to meet the rest of our weekend party. Our first stop was a sustainable agricultural farm in Narnjo Chino. After bouncing around on a dirt road for close to a half hour, we arrived at a beautiful farm that was surrounded by all types of trees and animal life. The owner of the farm, Don Oscar, took us on a tour, of all of his sustainable practices….



1. Turn kitchen scraps into natural methane, which can power a gas stove for 2hours at each of three daily meals. 2. Solar-heated water which involves sending cool water through black tubes on the roof that absorb the suns rays. 3. A specially designed, simply constructed wood-fired oven uses 80% less wood while cooking at the same rate. 4. Cow manure + worms = rich fertilizer. Soil only needs 3-4% fertilizer, so the rich fertilizer can go a long way. 5. Chickens naturally eat the bugs out of the cornfields. 6. Plant mahogany trees once kids and grandkids are born and in 30 years, they will have a nice inheritance. 7. Waste water from large fish tanks is used as a natural fertilizer for plants.



After the tour, our crew headed on to Ceiba, a city of 800,000 that has developed around the Standard Fruit Company’s banana, pineapple, and palm operations. Our first stop was a hiking trail in the Pico Bonito National Park. We traversed a beautiful cable bridge before enjoying the last rays of the setting sun on the trail. In the evening, we made camp in some cabins that had been built as part of a sustainable tourism project. Church hymns drifted in the air around us. After dinner, we headed to Sea View, a coastal hangout where the locals like to see and be seen. We drove on the sand, parked our car and watched. Merengue, Salsa, Reggeton, and Rock music all competed for attention from open car doors. Small groups of friends congregated on a nearby wall, sharing mixers and a bottle. Couples seemed like the only ones actually interested in the swoosh of the crashing waves. Throughout the night, there was a constant line of cars and trucks driving in and out of the small sandy cove. After having seen and been seen enough, we headed back to our sustainable cabins and slept.


Joel Montgomery

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Day 3: Protests & Football

My day changed from ordinary to extraordinary at noon today when I began to hear a lot of noise outside the second story window of our office. The building, which is owned by the municipality, houses a number of non-profits, government programs, and businesses. As I peeked my head out the window I noticed a mass of people carrying bright banners and chanting at the entrance to the building. One banner showed a shark breaching the water with a small seal in its mouth. Underneath the shark was the name of a well-known brand of flour, “Maseca,” while the seal’s caption was, “Tortilleria Sabrosa,” a local company that made tortillas that must have been put out of business. The rest of the banner was quite explicit in its condemnation of CAFTA-DR, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The police were standing by at a distance but did not directly engage the peaceful protesters. As we left for lunch, the building was under lockdown, with armed guards manning the entrances. Upon returning from lunch, all that remained from the swarm of people were a few signs haphazardly thrown on the ground.

Later in the evening, Jesus and Ami Noel took me to the Maratón, which in Spanish means marathon. What I soon found out was that we were not going to a marathon at all, but the soccer stadium to watch the local team, Maratón, play against Ceiba’s team, Vida. As we approached the stadium, there was garbage strewn on the walkway and grass growing in the bowl that once was a fountain. Approaching the gate, I felt more like I was attending a high school football game instead of a local soccer match of a city of 800,000. The tickets were small pieces of blue paper that cost 50 lempiras each, or about $2.50. Just before we reached the steps of the stadium, a number of food vendors were hawking everything from steak and beer to tortilla chips and snow cones. With every step we took toward the innards of the stadium, the beat of a drum got louder and louder. At the top, we got our first glimpse of the green grass and few thousand spectators who had gathered for the event. Taking our seats, we watched the local team struggle against its red-jerseyed countrymen, who gained an early lead because of a penalty kick.

Throughout the game there was a flurry of sales men and women who would come by offering a variety of tasty treats. Some of the sales people were as young as five or six. Off to the left of where we were seated was a mosh pit of sorts where the craziest of local aficionados resided. They would climb up the large fence that separated the fans from the field and hoot, holler, and rant at the top. At one point in the match, they ignited three green flares (green is the team color) and held them at the top of the fence to help cheer their team on to a goal. Finally in the last few moments of the game, Maratón scored, followed by an eruption of celebration from all the fans. Our common plight resulted in immediate friendship as hugs and high fives were exchanged by all.

Joel Montgomery

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