"El Espiritu de mi Mama" (Spirit of my Mother), a debut feature film by independent filmmaker Ali Allie, will show at the African Diaspora Film Festival on Dec. 2, 1999 at 9:30 p.m. at the Anthology Film Archives (32nd Avenue and 2nd Street, New York). Tickets are $15/info at 212-749-6020.

It will be preceded by the short film "Candombe", by Rafael Deugenio and followed by a catered reception to be attended by the director and his wife and leading actress, Johana Martinez, who was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

While there have been a variety of documentaries about the Garífuna people of Central America, this may be the first dramatic feature film to be acted by Garífuna people in the leading roles. The film was shot in Los Angeles and Honduras and is in Spanish with English subtitles. It contains scenes spoken in the Garífuna language and traditional music.

The film is about Sonia (Johana Martinez), a young Garífuna woman who leads a troubled life as a houseworker in Los Angeles and is plagued by a haunting memory in her past of a relationship with an American soldier. Her efforts to escape her present circumstance and past trauma are fruitless until she has a dream of her deceased mother who calls upon her with a sacred request.

Sonia discovers she must journey back to the North Coast of Honduras ("La Mosquitia") to comply with her mother's request, at the same time leaving behind her old self. She learns from elders in her homeland what she must perform in honor of her mother so that she may rest in peace. The result is much more than that, as Sonia discovers more about the African roots of her ancestry and her own identity as a mother, stimulated by Garífuna ritual.

The Garífuna (also known as the Black Caribs) are people of West African, Arawak and Carib Indian descent who were exiled from their homeland island of St. Vincent in 1797 and forced to settle along the Atlantic coast of Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua. As arguably the only African descended group on the American continent to have never been enslaved, their African-based culture, traditions and language have remained largely intact until recently, when changes in land reform policies, natural disasters, economics and foreign influences have begun to erode the self-sufficiency of the Garífuna community.

The film's role in attracting attention to the Garífuna people and culture is also timely in light of recent political setbacks the Garífuna have suffered in their struggle to maintain ownership of their coastal lands in Honduras while foreign interests seek to turn their village properties into tourist resorts.

Director Ali Allie believes the film's main unique aspect is that it offers a glimpse into the often understated African culture in Latin America. Ali also believes the film is important because it represents an act of honoring one's parents. "To represent the mother figure as sacred and all-important is an image and process often missing in today's cinema," he says.

The film will also screen at the Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival in February 2000.

By SARA MORRIS SWETCHARNIK

The team had their meals in the fenced-in backyard patio that also served as Chuleta's territory. No one could enter without Chuleta's permission. Upon entry, Chuleta would sniff and approve each person. One morning, a Japanese intern arrived at breakfast immaculately dressed in white pants, about to take a trip into town. Chuleta did his customary sniff at the intern's legs, but he had mud on his nose. The pants got dirty. The intern, appalled, picked up a piece of rotten wood and broke it over Chuleta's back. The startled peccary galloped off to a corner and sulked all day.

The next day, as usual, the intern came to breakfast. When Chuleta emerged to inspect him, the long coarse hairs along the pig's spine bristled, his teeth clattered, he sounded a threatening grunt, and he flashed his fangs. The next thing everyone knew, the intern was hanging from a beam with Chuleta underneath slashing at his tennis shoes. 

Sara Morris Swetcharnik is a sculptor, painter and writer of narratives. After a Fulbright grant to Spain (1987-89), she became increasingly interested in the artistic representation of animals. Jungletails articles and sculptures

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PAINTING EXHIBIT -- THROUGH DECEMBER 3 -- Renowned Honduran painter Benigno Gomez is presenting his latest collection at the Honduran Institute of Hispanic Culture (IHCH) in Col. Lomas del Guijarro in Tegucigalpa. More information at 232-5578.

CENTRAL AMERICAN ART EXHIBIT THROUGH DECEMBER 10 -- The Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) is celebrating its 40th anniversary of foundation with an exhibit of art by outstanding regional talents that include Hondurans Armando Lara, Santos Arzu and Ezequiel Padilla, at the Casa Ramon Rosa in downtown Tegucigalpa.

END OF CENTURY EXHIBIT -- DECEMBER 1 -- Galeria Trios in Col. Matamoros in Tegucigalpa will inaugurate an art exhibit titled Exposicion de Fin de Milenio, from 8 to 11 p.m. National and international artists such as Julio Visquerra, Denia Mejia, J.D. Carpio, S. Velasquez and others will participate at the event.

MINIATURES -- DECEMBER 2 -- The Honduran Institute of Interamerican Culture (IHCI) in Calle Real in Comayaguela will inaugurate its traditional expo-sale of typical miniatures to close the 1999 cultural activities at 7:30 p.m.

ANTHOLOGY ART EXHIBIT -- THROUGH DECEMBER 10 -- The Ministry of Culture, the Embassy of Spain and the Foundation for the Museum of the Honduran Man are sponsoring the Anthology of Honduran Fine Arts. Paintings, photographs, caricatures, ceramics, sculpture and other works can be admired at this exhibit. This year's event -- which is dedicated to the late Obed Valladares, one of the nation's finest sculptors -- is taking place at the Museum of the Republic and the National Art Gallery in Tegucigalpa. More information at 236-9738.

LA BARCA SIN PESCADOR -- DECEMBER 2-4, 9-11 -- The La Reforma Theater in Tegucigalpa is host to the Alejandro Casona's comedy titled La Barca Sin Pescador, performed by El Teatro Nuestro de Cada Dia Company at 7:30 p.m.

JUAN GABRIEL IN CONCERT -- DECEMBER 5 -- Renowned Mexican song writer and soloist Juan Gabriel will offer a performance as part of his 25th artistic anniversary tour at the Francisco Morazan Stadium in San Pedro Sula. Tickets are Lps. 200, Lps. 300 and Lps. 500 and can be purchased at Curacaco Music Shop in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, Supermercados "La Despensa de Don Juan", Fundacion Mhotivo and the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortes.

EL RINCON DEL CUENTO -- The regional office of the Ministry of Culture in San Pedro Sula recently inaugurated "El Rincon del Cuento" at the Museum of History and Anthropology to read and act out stories for children. More information at 557-1496.

CERAMIC COURSES -- THROUGH DECEMBER 17 -- The Mujeres en las Artes Leticia de Oyuela organization is offering ceramic workshops Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m. at Col. Reforma in Tegucigalpa. More information at 221-0697 with Berali Bustillo.

CHILDREN/TEENAGER/ADULT ART CLASSES with Sara Morris Swetcharnik Saturdays 10-11:30 a.m. at Union Church in Lomas de Guijarro. Plaza Millennium. Tuition Lp. 500.00 for four weeks a month/or L. 175 per individual class. Class fees are 20% less for each additional family member. Phone 211-8369.

CHILDREN'S LIBRARY -- The Centro Cultural Infantil of San Pedro Sula currently has a program titled "The Reading Corner" offering young people a chance to read and listen to stories in a comfortable environment. The library of this center holds a "Story Hour" daily and has a study area where students may do research. For more information about CCI services, call 557-8639.

ART, LEARNING & TUTORING FOR CHILDREN -- The Art and Education Center, BONAMPAK, at the Plaza Millennium, offers hourly art courses for children ages 6 to 12 on Mondays and Wednesdays, as well as Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3 to 5 p.m. Hourly reading courses for children ages 7 to 12 are being held on Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m., as well as for children ages 4 to 6. Tutoring services are also available. Call 222-5487 for more information.

GASTRONOMICAL FESTIVAL -- DECEMBER 5 -- Members of the organization ARCA de Honduras invite the public to the Gastronomical Festival "Paises unidos para dar" to take place from 10 a.m. at the San Miguel Institute's gymnasium in Tegucigalpa. International dishes and handcrafts will be on sale. Funds raised will be used to support workshops held by ARCA de Honduras in Tegucigalpa and Choluteca.

ART DIRECTORY -- The Art From Latin America organization invites all regional painters, sculptors and authors to be registered in their Directory 2000, which seeks to identify and promote its participants internationally through the media, exhibits, auctions and other cultural activities. To register, please send slides or photographs of your best 10 works, as well as important documentation, art critics or names of collectors of your works to Box 1948 Murray Hill Station, New York, N.Y., 10156-0612, Tel/Fax 212-683-2136.

PUPPETS -- SUNDAYS -- Teatro Bambu has puppet shows every Sunday at D'Barro restaurant in Col. Alameda in Tegucigalpa at 10:30 a.m. Admission is Lps. 20 per person.

COPAN RUINAS 2000 CELEBRATION -- DECEMBER 16-19 -- The citizens of Copan Ruinas will present a four-day festival of culture, arts and music. Come spend a pleasant December weekend in Copan Ruinas enjoying the spectacular Mayan ruins, the village museum, excellent hotels and restaurants at all ranges of prices and a great festival.

CLUBS

FAMILIES ANONYMOUS -- Families Anonymous (FA) meetings are held every Tuesday evening at the Union Church at 7:30 p.m. Call Eileen for more information at 239-9779 or 239-9778.

AL-ANON FAMILY GROUPS -- Al-Anon helps the relatives and friends of problem drinkers. Groups meet weekly in Colonia Alameda (Saturday afternoons) and Colonia Loarque (Sunday evenings). For more information, contact Amanda at 239-2698 (Spanish) or Margaret at 226-6576 (English).

ENGLISH SPEAKING WOMEN'S CLUB -- The ESWC invites all English-speaking women to attend its teas held the second Thursday of each month at 2:30 p.m. at the Hotel Honduras Maya in Col. Palmira of Tegucigalpa. For more information, call Sara at 211-8369.

MUSEO DE HISTORIA REPUBLICANA
The Museum of Republican History is located at the Villa Roy building in Tegucigalpa's Barrio Buenos Aries. It is open 8:30 to 3:30, Tuesdays through Sundays and features portraits, paraphernalia, and other interesting items from past presidents. Admission is Lps. 20 for non-resident foreigners and Lps. 10 for Hondurans and Central Americans. For more information, call 222-3470 or 222-1468.

CENTRAL BANK MUSEUM
The Central Bank of Honduras located at the Comayaguela annex building is open from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. It has a permanent coin and painting exhibit. For special presentations, call the Emision y Tesoreria department at 237-2270 (-78), ext. 2117 (-2120). [CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.]

NATIONAL ART GALLERY
The Galeria Nacional de Arte features rock art, pre-Columbian ceramics, colonial paintings, religious art and a wide selection of 20th century Honduran painters. The gallery is located at the Plaza de la Merced in downtown Tegucigalpa. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10-5 p.m. and Sunday from 10-2 p.m. Admission is Lps. 10 for adults, Lps. 5 for senior citizens, Lps. 3 for students and Lps. 1 for children accompanied by adults.

IGUANA FARM
The Biosfera Ecocentro Iguana Farm in Colonia La Joya invites the public to come and learn everything about iguanas. Admission is Lps. 5 for adults, Lps. 3 for children. The facility is open every day (except Wednesday) from 9 to 5. For more information, call 230-6346.

COMAYAGUA COLONIAL MUSEUM
Located in the city of Comayagua, 2 hours north from Tegucigalpa, the Comayagua Colonial Museum is in the building that served as home to the government in the 19th century. It contains objects used by indigenous cultures and the Spanish during the pre-Colombian and Colonial eras.

COMAYAGUA RELIGIOUS MUSEUM
Located in the Casa Cural in front of Comayagua's cathedral, this museum features religious paintings and objects dating back to the 16th century. Hours are 8-12 and 2-4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. For more information, contact Leonardo Letona at 772-0348.

LA PAZ HOUSE OF CULTURE
The La Paz Casa de la Cultura is located in downtown La Paz. It features an attractive exhibit of the Lenca handicrafts and culture. It is open Mondays through Sundays.

SPS MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY
The Museo de Antropología e Historia de San Pedro Sula features exhibits on the development of Sula Valley, from 1500 B.C. to the middle of this century. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is Lps. 10 for adults, Lps. 5 for students and children under 12, and Lps. 2 for senior citizens. For more information, call 557-1496/557-1798 or fax 557-1874.

MUSEUM OF NATURE OF SAN PEDRO SULA
Sponsored and managed by the Fundacion Ecologista H.R. Pastor Fasquelle, this new museum was inaugurated last December in its current location at the Biocentro on 3 Avenida and 9 Calle Noroeste. It has 24 exhibits on the environment, natural resources and biology of Honduras. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and 8 a.m. until noon on Saturdays. Admission is Lps 5 for students from public schools and Lps. 10.00 for everyone else.

YUSCARAN HOUSE OF CULTURE
Yuscaran's Casa de la Cultura is located at the former Casa Fortin in downtown Yuscaran, El Paraiso department, just 45 km from Tegucigalpa on the road to Danli. It is open Mondays through Saturdays.

PECH CULTURAL CENTER
The Pech have built a small house in El Carbon, Olancho to display their modern handicrafts. An exhibit of archaeological finds in the area is planned. You can ask to see the collection and/or get a tour of a Post Classic era fortified site. The Pech Cultural Center also offers medicinal plant tours, nature hikes, Pech dinners, etc. There is no admission fee to the cultural center. Hours: If you ask, they will open it.

COPAN ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
Located in the village of Copan Ruinas, Copan department, the museum exhibits a splendid assortment of Mayan pieces that have been found in the Copan Ruins Archaeological Park just 1 km away.

LA PUENTE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
Featuring a sizeable collection of Mayan handicrafts and photographs as well as a room with Japanese antique ceramics, this museum is located at the El Puente Archaeological Site, about an hour's drive from Copán Ruinas.

MAYAN SEPULTURAS MUSEUM
Inaugurated in 1996, this is the premier Mayan museum in the Mundo Maya, featuring the finest examples of Copán's tombs, sculptures and architecture. Located at the Copán Ruins Archaeological Park, the museum is open Monday through Sunday.

LANCETILLA BOTANICAL GARDENS
Located 2 kilometers from Tela on the Atlantic coast highway, the gardens feature one of the largest collections of tropical and subtropical plants, shrubs and trees in all Latin America. It is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Mondays through Sundays. There is an admission charge.

GARIFUNA MUSEUM
This Garifuna-run museum in Tela, Atlantida has an almost complete collection of the different handicrafts made by the Garifunas. If you ask, they have a written guide in English available. The museum also houses the Garifuna handicraft shop and part of the Tela Artist Association's Art Gallery. The rest of the Gallery and the Garifuna restaurant have moved to the Garifuna Plaza on the beach next to the Bahia Azul Hotel. Tours of the Garifuna Museum to home/studios of Garifuna artists, medicinal plant tours, dance presentations, and tours/overnight stays in local Garifuna villages can be arranged at either the Museum or Garifuna Plaza. The museum is open 9 to 5 while Garifuna Plaza is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is Lps. 5. The museum is located next to the river, one block up from the bridge that goes to Telamar and the local churches.

BUTTERFLY AND INSECT MUSEUM
Thousands of butterflies and insects from Honduras and 18 other countries are on display in La Ceiba' private Butterfly and Insect Museum. It is located in Colonia El Sauce, 2nd etapa, casa G-12. Visiting hours are 8-12 and 2-5, Monday through Saturday. The museum is closed Wednesday afternoon. Fees are Lps. 15 for adults and Lps. 10 for students. Tel. 442-2874, e-mail: rlehman@ns.gbm.hn

TRUJILLO RUFINO GALAN MUSEUM
A private museum which has a memorabilia section, old chairs, anchors, silverware, beds of famous people locally. There is an industrial archaeology section on how lights, axes, stoves, sewing machines, typewriters have changed over time. They have a good collection of Garífuna handicrafts and the best collection of NE Honduras archaeological pieces -- all unmarked. A written guide to the museum is available at the Trujillo Tourism Office in English and Spanish. The museum is open 8 to 4, closing for lunch. Adults Lps. 20, children Lps. 10. Located on Calle 18 de Mayo, next to the Crystales River and the famous "piscina" or pool, about a 15-minute walk out of town.

CARAMBOLA BOTANICAL GARDENS
The private Carambola Botanical Gardens and Nature Trails is located in Sandy Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands. A wide variety of exotic plants is featured here, including "Roatan's most extensive orchid collection." It is open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 445-1117 and ask for Bill or Irma Brady.

BAY ISLANDS MUSEUM
A private museum at Anthony's Key Resort, Sandy Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, it mostly includes archaeological pieces, but there is a small section on the modern Bay Islanders. Museum admission is included in the cost of the dolphin show at Anthony Key's Institute of Marine Sciences. Small buses or taxis will take you to Sandy Bay from most Roatán towns.

The Maya Calendar is a public service for our readers. If you would like to announce an event taking place in Honduras, please send the information to: Calendar Editor, Honduras This Week, Fax 232-2300, e-mail: hontweek@hondutel.hn

By ROSIBEL PACHECO DE GUTIERREZ

Time and the different ways of measuring it has been a constant preoccupation in the history of humanity.

The Mayas, for example, were obsessed with the measurement of time, so it is no coincidence that they are called the children of time. They used two calendars, one that was secular and one considered sacred.

The most important period in human life is, without a doubt, the true solar day, that is, the time interval between two consecutive sun apexes in the same meridian. Another period that follows in importance is the solar year or tropic, the time the earth takes to gyrate around the sun and in which the four seasons occur.

Today's calendar is based mainly on these periods that are the natural astronomical divisions of time.

The primitive Roman year had 304 days grouped in 10 months of which four had 31 days and the rest, 30. These months were: Martius (31), Aprilis (30), Maius (31), Junius (30), Quintilis (31), Sextilis (30), September (30), October (31), November (30) and December (30).

Quintilis was later named Julius Caesar and Sextilis, Augustus. The first change was made by Mark Anthony, consul during the time when Caesar made the reforms to the calendar. In this way, Mark Anthony honored the emperor's name. The second change was made by the senate.

To these 10 months, two more were added (Januarius, the month of Jano, and Februarius, month of Febro, an Etruscan deity). This month took the last place. So, there were four months with 31 days, seven with 29 and one with 27.

The total lack of even numbers in the day counting system was due to superstition. The Romans believed that odd numbers brought luck and that even numbers brought fatal deeds. This caused them to add an extra day to February so the year had 355 days instead of 354.

But the years were short and to normalize the civil years with the natural years, Numa Pompilio (714671 A.C.), the second king of Rome, started the tradition that every two years between the 23rd and 24th of February, a 22- or 23-day month be inserted alternately. This month was called Mercedino because during this month, servants were paid.

With this new arrangement, however, the year was too long because it had an average of 366 and a fourth days. The pontiffs were in charge of giving or taking the days from the Mercedino month to ensure its concordance with the natural year. But this was done arbitrarily to accommodate the days to their own convenience for elections and other occasions, to the point that, at the time Julius Caesar rose to power, the difference was so great that winter was during fall and fall during summer.

These defective calendars were in use from around the fifth century B.C., until around the mid-first century. There were several modifications but these did not resolve the three-month discrepancies. Around the year 45 B.C., Julius Caesar decided this must be corrected.

In the 707th year of the foundation of Rome, (47 B.C.), Julius Caesar, dictator and great pontiff, called on the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes to fix the calendar. That year, besides adding the Mercedino month of 23 days, they also added November and December with 33 and 34 days respectively, with the idea of re-establishing the spring equinox, the 25th of March, like in the days of Numa.

The result was a 445-day year, a year which became known as the Year of Confusion. They then established the 365-day year, and to recover the missing fourth of a day, they fixed it by adding another day after the 23rd of February every four years.

This was not always well understood and the pontiffs added a day every three years. This meant that every 36 years, there were 12 leap years and not nine. Augustus ordered that during 12 years, none were counted as leap years and since then, the Julian reform was established. But the Sogigenes year was missing 11 minutes and 12 seconds, which motivated the Gregorian reform in 1582.

Every odd month in the Julian year had an odd number of days, 31. January, March, May, July, September and November with 31 days. The rest had 30, except for February. But, Augustus decided to give the month that bears his name, 31 days. For that, a day was taken from February and given to August. In the end, so that there were not three consecutive months with 31 days, September and November were reduced to 30, leaving October and December with 31.

The Julian calendar had an error-rate of one day in 128 years. The equinox was moved to the beginning of the year. When the Julian reform was introduced, it was placed on the 25th of March. In 325 BC, when the "Concilio de Nicea" was held (City of Minor Asia (this council was called by Constantine I), the equinox was on March 21 and in 1582 when the Gregorian reform was made, it was on March 11. To bring the equinox to the same day, Pope Gregory XIII ordered that 10 days were to be struck from the calendar. The error of the Julian Calendar, with great approximation, was three days in 400 years. So, the Pope decreed that years with a multiple of 100 should not be considered as leap years except those multipliable by 400.

The need for a calendar reform had been felt for a long time. The Romans counted the years starting on the day Rome was founded (ab urbe condita, a.u.c.). However, the dates were determined by the governing consul at the time, not by the years.

In the first years of the Christianity, in the far east, during the Byzantine era, the Theologian Dionisius Exiguo (who was born in Escitia and lived until 530) in the year 527, proposed the present era which is "ab incarnanatione Domini" starting from March 25 of the year 753 a.u.c. This proposal was accepted 80 years later by Boniface IV and adopted slowly in Italy and France. It was not accepted in Portugal until 1415. It must be noted that the year zero is not taken into account in the chronology, but astronomers do use it. Kepler noted that Dionisius Exiguo probably erred by five years in his calculations. Dionisius marked March 25 as the beginning of the year and the era but in many countries, the date for the new year was December 25, considered to be the date of birth of Jesus Christ even though the exact date is not known. Then, the beginning of the new era went on to be on the 1st of January until today.

It is easy to conclude that the third millennium does not begin on January 1st, 2000, or even the same day of the year 2001. It has probably even started already. But fortunately, given the time continuum, any day is valid for the beginning of a new era.

By MICHAEL COLEMAN

TEGUCIGALPA -- Despite the noise of chip bags, camera men, empty cups dropping and the periodic high-pitched chorus of beepers and cell phones, El Teatro Nuestro de Cada Dia still managed to present a good performance of Alejandro Casona's "La Barca Sin Pescador."

It is the story of cut-throat businessman Ricardo Jordan who, when push comes to shove, makes a pact with the devil to save his business. The deal is his success for someone else's life, a stranger's, way up north by the sea. "No blood," he says, the "devil of the middle class" agrees and the deal is made. But Jordan ends up visiting this fishing town by the sea, where this man drowned. He meets the family, and sees what an impact one lost life has had and repents -- but not before falling in love.

Led by well-known Honduran actor, Felipe Acosta, the players generally give strong performances. At times, they relied too much on cliched actions -- hands on hips equals angry, looking up equals sad, wringing hands or shaking head equals worried -- but for the most part all the players gave believable performances of their characters.

A Jean Jacques Rousseau quote on the inside of the program seems to sum up the philosophy behind the play best: "In the most remote confines of China lives a very wealthy Mandarin, whom we have never seen and whom we've never heard speak. If we could have his fortune and to gain it only have to push a button and no one would know. Which one of us would not push this button?" Well, not surprisingly, by the end of the play the answer is, Ricardo Jordan.

This morality play is an interesting look into what makes us tick. First presented in 1945, Casona's work reflects today's declining society as much as The Portrait of Dorian Grey did or Doctor Faustus did before that (and we could go on). Director, Luisa M. Cruz, wanted to present this play for its simple message, its eternal truths.

"We have suffered enough by being bombarded with the valueless from all forms of communication we know: the exaltation of violence, infidelity, betrayal, drugs and the degradation of humanity," she says. "Sadly, in our society we have arrived at a point of devaluing human virtues."

Whether all the 100 or so people who came to Teatro La Reforma on preview night got that message amid phone conversations to babysitters and the crunching of yuca chips remains to be seen.

Some of the proceeds from the play will be donated to Teleton, a charity for disabled children. As of last week they had helped to raise Lps. 16,000 for the group.

Performances will continue on selected days until Dec. 11 at Teatro La Reforma in Tegucigalpa. Tickets are Lps. 50, Lps. 30 for students and seniors.

By SARA MORRIS SWETCHARNIK

For the love of Gloria

The smell of a virile male peccary is horrible. Gloria told George to decide between her and the pig. So George made an appointment for a vet to come to their house and neuter Chuleta. But by the time the vet showed up George and Gloria were feeling badly about robbing Chuleta of his manhood. They told the vet that they had changed their minds, but that they would pay him anyway. The vet, however, was very intent on doing the job he had been paid to do, as though it were his own abilities that were being called in to question. They argued for a long time before the vet consented to leave the pig alone.

Mr. Television has interviewed just about everyone, from Pinochet to Pele. Salvador Nasralla is director of Sports and Special Events for Televicentro, the biggest T.V. network in Honduras. His show "X-0 Da Dinero" has an audience of hundreds of thousands of viewers every Sunday. (Photo by Jorge Flores McClellan.)

By JORGE FLORES McCLELLAN

After 40 years of Honduran television and 60 of radio, a revision is due of what has changed and what should change.

The first color television transmission in Honduras was made in 1974. This was years before many other Latin American countries and four years before Argentina, which made its first color telecast in 1978 for the World Soccer Cup. This is one indication of how Honduran station owners have always tried to keep up with technology to reach bigger audiences. The question in the air today is if quality has been sacrificed for quantity.

There are about 25 channels nationwide, subdivided into three or four networks and local channels. The biggest ones are Televicentro, which includes Telesistema Hondureno and Telecadena, and their biggest rival, Vica. These cover most of the country and battle the air waves for an estimated audience of two million people. Small cities have local channels and/or cable systems that must carry at least one national channel, if one reaches the area.

Radio, on the other hand, reaches a much larger audience in every corner of the country. There are more than 300 registered stations of which, roughly, 200 operate. If a station stops transmitting for a certain length time, its license is revoked and sold. This is more so the case in the big cities where radio frequencies are valuable commodities, now sold to the highest bidder by CONATEL, the national telecommunications commission. HONDUTEL and the military have also maintained a strict vigilance of the electronic media for strategic concerns.

The main reason for the quantity of stations has always been cited as topographic. The country is 80 percent mountains and reception is very poor, sometimes even within city limits. If a station, television or radio, wants to reach a larger audience, it must have a repetidor or signal repeater. Engineers from the stations and HONDUTEL have constantly battled with this fact to transmit microwaves for television, F.M. frequencies and telephone. Today, they have overcome most of the obstacles and have the country in touch with itself.

A.M. radio stations have different problems because medium waves behave differently and rely on the ionosphere for transmission. That is why at night, a station will not be heard in the next valley but can be heard in the next country, which is common here. Probably, with the advent of satellites, the bigger networks, when and if they decide to use them, will cover all of the country more efficiently.

In the early sixties, Canal 5 ruled the waves with live news shows, talk shows, movies from Mexico's golden age and soap operas, and the mandatory batch of U.S. productions, with the occasional European movie, all translated into Spanish in Mexico. Programs translated in Spain have never been well received because they "sound funny" to Hondurans.

The name of the popular news program at noon was Telenoticias, which has been resuscitated 30 years later for the nine o'clock slot. The hot U.S. soap opera in the 60s was Payton Place, which was translated into Spanish as "La Caldera del Diablo" or Devil's Cauldron. The other big channel was Canal 11, which showed more movies, talk shows, the Three Stooges, and "La Pandilla", otherwise known as Little Rascals.

Later in the decade, shows like "Lost in Space", "Mission Impossible", "Hawaii 5-0", "I Love Jeanie", "Combat", "The Untouchables", "Perry Mason" and a host of others, began to gravitate the whole system into the U.S. drama and action series format that would become the norm and not the exception. Only the World Cup soccer matches and the Olympic games broke the constant flow of Hollywoodism. The movies shown then consisted mostly of classics from the 40s and 50s. If one wanted to see a recent box office hit, one would have to wait at least six to 12 months after its release in the United States to catch it in a movie theater.

In the 60s, Radio was Rock and Roll, of course. The British invasion with its American allies like The Doors, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, took the airwaves by storm and the disk jockeys of the favorite station "Radio Television 710" in Tegucigalpa played their music until the vinyl records died of exhaustion, taking with them the gusto of the audience. There was also adult contemporary music like Ray Connif, Percy Faith and Herb Alpert. But, contrasting with television, there was a Latin dominance. Jose Feliciano, Armando Manzanero, Los Galos, Los Angeles Negros and others had their own armies of followers that, like today, outnumber anglo musicians on the radio.

Nothing much changed during the 70s except for the growing number of shows and radio stations and the corresponding number of television and radio sets at home. The trend was the same except for the Mexican soap opera industry, which was booming.

A couple of national movie efforts are worthy of mention. "Francisco Morazan" and "The Life of Jesus," both starring Pedro Rene Gonzalez, a well-known voice that still resounds today, were big television hits because of their novelty and good effort. Probably, if seen today, they would be good because they are so bad. Presumably, in the latter movie, Jesus can be seen wearing a watch and is crucified in Keds tennis shoes. Who knows where the original copies are.

In radio, the new sensation was "Cuentos y Leyendas de Honduras", a series on folk tales and legends that were the delight of everyone.

The late 70s brought Betamax home video theaters, the father of VHS VCR's that today are household names. These were expensive but marked the beginning of the end of complete boredom and submissiveness to Honduran networks.

Then came Cable T.V. in the early 80s. Finally, movies could be seen at home without constant, badgering, senseless commercials. CNN broke into Honduran households as did movie and documentary channels.

MTV, the television channel that changed T.V. with its unconventional shock methods, made a dent in Honduran production techniques, but only a small dent. To this day, producers and directors are conservative of the old school, which is to say, they copy ideas and styles without much thought.

But there are a quite a few highlights. Honduran announcers have excellent pitch and accent for television and radio. For example, the voice of Univision, the biggest Spanish network in the United States, is of a Honduran man whose radio commercials can still be heard on a major radio network here. Many have had great success in other countries because of the neutral, Honduran accent.

But the best examples are Mayra Navarro and Neyda Sandoval. The former is a journalist who is also a correspondent to the U.S network. The second is a show host in the United States for the same. Each recently won an Emmy -- the television Oscars -- for impeccable work in their fields.

To not have a VHS or cable T.V. today is not recommendable for the discriminating viewer who demands quality entertainment. Most of the product in the air is canned, recycled and often pirated sights and sounds. Styles hardly vary from station to station. It seems all they do in television and radio is to say, "We are number one, your favorite, the leader, the best, and everybody else is garbage." Then come the endless commercial sessions that offer little stimuli to buy and rather numb the senses with less than average selling ideas.

Sadly, with so many stations to choose from, few can be withstood for a comfortable time lapse. The threshold of annoyance is ever so close. Another deficiency is the lack of free public service announcements, so badly needed in our society. Money dictates what you see and hear, which brings us to the question of journalism. It is sometimes obvious that a journalist has been paid. One thing you will never hear on radio or television is bad news about a big advertiser. This would mean the sponsor could cut its commercials and hence, the journalist's salary. Still, many have taken a more aggressive and investigative stand.

In the end, if you ask anyone, Honduran T.V. per se is, contrary to what Honduran television says, psychological torture to the thinking person. Caution must be exercised when watching it to avoid damage to the artistic sensibility. Only small doses can be withstood. With the exception of Estereo Concierto, which plays excellent classical music, the same goes for radio.

By MARIA FIALLOS

The Rio Platano Biosphere Project in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture and producer Igor Golubiatnikov, a Russian national and musician, have produced a CD recording the music of the Tawahka, Miskito, Pech and Garifuna ethnic groups that inhabit the Mosquitia.

The music is sung in the native languages of these cultures and several indigenous instruments such as conch and turtle shells are used.

The Biosphere Project's main objective is to support the Honduran Government in checking the destruction of the area and to develop it in an sustainable manner by implementing measures that protect and conserve the biosphere.

The CD can be obtained at the Biosphere Project in the Colonia Palmira, or in Asang Launa in the Barrio Guanacaste for US$15. For more information, call 237-7210.

By SARA MORRIS SWETCHARNIK

For the love of swine

After the research team finished the field season, they went back to their laboratory and head camp in La Libertad, Comayagua.

Chuleta was moved into a fenced-in yard right outside Dona Maria's kitchen. Chuleta could not get out easily.

One week, while George and Gloria were away in the capital city, Chuleta got out of his yard. Returning they discovered that Chuleta had fallen in love with a common domestic pig, a sow that had been wandering the streets. They were snuggled together in her pen down the road and no one could get him away.

The sow's owner and the other locals were afraid of Chuleta and had been waiting for George's help. Finally George returned to assure the worried townsfolk that it would be easy matter to tie up and move Chuleta. Still, no one would volunteer to help.

However, George figured since he was Chuleta's best friend it would be no problem to move him alone. Someone handed George a rope and he rolled up his sleeves, but it was not all that easy to tie up the feet and snout of a wild peccary in love. George's arms got slashed several times and then Chuleta mashed George's finger between his teeth.

Exasperated, Gloria finally said, "You men -- enough of this nonsense." She walked back to the kitchen and got some of Chuleta's favorite food. Gloria waved the food in front of Chuleta and proceeded to walk home. Chuleta got up and followed Gloria back to his own yard; Gloria tossed the chicken leg and tortillas inside the gate and shut Chuleta in.

A young Maya-Chorti in the village of Carrizalon. CARITAS 
has estimated that six of every 10 Chorti children die 
before the age of two. (Photo by Michael Coleman.)

By MICHAEL COLEMAN

COPAN RUINAS -- Archaeological evidence suggests that Mayans have been living in the fertile Copan valley since at least 900 BC. It was here they set up the capital and managed the entire state of Copan led by kings from Mah K’ina Yax K’uk Mo’ to U Cit Tok’. New research has shown some Maya-Chorti were still living in the valley even when the Conquistadors arrived and were not spared the tribulations of colonialism. But what then? Did the Mayas disappear as the forest covered the Ruins?

Today a growing group of Mayan descendants want people to know the answer is a hardy and heartfelt, "no." Though their leaders wear sombreros instead of headdresses and immaculate acropolises have been exchanged for grass huts, Mayan people still populate the lush green hills surrounding the Ruins. They still look to the Ruins as a symbol of their history, still practice ceremonies passed on by their ancestors. But this fact is either disputed, denied or just not known.

"Some people, and even some guides at the Ruins, think there are no Maya-Chorti left in Honduras," says Jose Rufino Berez, who calls the Mayan village of Estansuela home. "But we live."

In fact, there are over 8,000 Maya-Chorti descendants living in and around Copan and Ocotepeque in 30 different Chorti communities. Six years ago, the National Council of Indigenous Maya-Chorti (CONIMCHH) was formed to speak for the Chorti in Honduras. They’ve worked hard to have their demands heard and to preserve their culture and way of life. This has included highly publicized events like hunger strikes, protests at congress and last year’s taking of the Ruins.

But they have also carried on ancient traditions. A mix of Catholicism and Mayan beliefs has created a spiritual hybrid. God, called "Noj Katata," watches over the heart of the sky and earth. Ceremonies to "Tuka itzurem" (Mother Earth) asking for a good harvest or the ceremony "Tzikin," which thanks Mother Earth and God for fruits given and asks them to pardon the souls of their ancestors, continue to this day.

Keeping the Chorti language alive is also a priority. There is little doubt that Chorti was handed down from the same Mayans who built Copan. Experts have found more evidence to suggest that ancient Mayan texts were written in a language ancestral to Cholan - a linguistic group that includes Chorti. There are currently over 22 people who speak the traditional Chorti dialect in Honduras, mostly the older generation. But a recent language class had young students from over 19 communities learning Chortí with the hopes of rekindling the language in Honduras with youth.

But words have been a problem in dealing with the government as well. The word "promise" to be specific. In total, the Chortí were promised over 14,000 hectares of land by the government of Honduras and to date have received a fraction of that. Only 5 percent of all the lands promised to them have been granted.

"It used to be the land owners who were making things difficult," says CONIMCHH president, Ernesto Suchite. "Now it’s the government." According to Suchite, the landowners are ready to sell the often unprofitable and difficult to farm, land but, in many cases, are awaiting the money promised by congress.

Land is essential both for their way of life as well as for having the opportunity to obtain the basics for that life. A study released by the international aid organization, CARITAS, reports that six of every 10 Chorti children die before the age of two. Malnutrition, reported discrimination from local doctors, and disease have made premature funerals a fact of life in these communities. Rufino Berez shrugs his shoulders and admits matter of factly that he himself has lost four kids.

Suchite would also like the Chorti to be involved in the operation of the Ruins. Currently there are no Chorti guides, no Chorti crafts in the gift store and no representation on the board.

"We’d like to stop people from giving away pieces of the Ruins to other countries," he says. "We need someone to protect our patrimony."

But in many ways the Chorti are taking that upon themselves. The CONIMCHH communications team is in the midst of an ambitious video project. The project will film local Chorti villages, the conditions there, their customs and will be used to both educate the Chorti themselves as well as the public at large.

CONIMCHH has recently completed an outdoor amphitheater behind their office in Copan where they will hold seminars, show the films and take advantage of the tourist market. One key purpose for the videos is to share their story with other indigenous groups in other countries. Learning that their fight is not original, that they are not alone has been a fortifying experience.

The communications committee, formed in June, has also produced a newsletter and is working hard to show Hondurans and the world that the Mayans never left Honduras and that their culture is alive and something to celebrate. In the meantime, they organize and educate and hope that this government will fulfill their commitment. Suchite puts it simply: "I want people to know that the Maya-Chorti exist, and that we need land, health care and education just like anyone else. We don’t want to lose our culture, our identity."

Selling the power of the earth

Carmen Leticia "Lety" Zavala

By ALEJANDRA FLORES BERMUDEZ

Special to Honduras This Week

Carmen Leticia Zavala, commonly known as Lety, has many years of experience curing with natural medicine. She experienced the power of natural medicine herself. Some years ago, she had a serious problem in her head. The traditional medical doctors told her she had no hope for recovery and was going to die. But Father Fausto Milla, who had studied alternative medicine in Mexico, saved her from death in a period of a week.

"I was desperate and suffering very much. My husband used to say that if excellent doctors had not cured me in Tegucigalpa, how could a priest in a remote part of the country, in an unknown village, save me from death?" says Zavala. "I cried and cried with disillusion but finally was taken to Corquin, to his clinic and the first thing Father Milla said was, "Lord, you said life was for the living. What are you doing to this poor woman?"

It took five days of intense treatment with herbs, mud, baths, massages, and teas until Zavala could walk and feel well. Now she practices alternative medicine in her clinic in Comayaguela for the sake of those who, like herself, have been told they have no future, especially those diagnosed with cancer. She is the only person who Father Milla has taught and confided all of his knowledge. He travels from Corquin to Zavala's clinic once a month to assist her and help her in the treatment and diagnosis of sicknesses.

"Natural medicine has existed in Honduras for a long time, but Father Milla is very professional. We practice hydrotherapy a lot and geotherapy, which consists of the placement of mud on the affected body parts. The mud absorbs and purifies, at the same time," says Zavala.

Zavala and Father Milla have many testimonies from people who have been cured from cancer in its early stages. With nutrition based on raw vegetables, organs regenerate. "This is a therapy used worldwide. We also rely a lot on the geotherapy. God says in the Bible that we were made of mud and man is made of minerals, like the earth. Doctors specialize in different parts of the body: ears, tongue, eyes, head, etc. We treat the body as a whole, searching for harmony in the body."

So, if one day you pass by Comayaguela, First Avenue, drop by Lety's Natural Medicine shop and try the green leaf juices that have even more properties than milk. Or celery leaf juices that contains chlorophyll, acids, vitamin D, A, and B. Through the green leaf juice a person absorbs everything he or she needs from the sun. And if you have a little bit of a cough and are afraid it may turn into an infection, try the "fenogreco" pills! They are a natural antibiotic with no side effects. Or pollen to regenerate and maintain your internal organs, or linseed powder that cures all stomach illnesses.

By WENDY GRIFFIN

If you look at the names of the important stores in La Ceiba, such as Ferreteria Kawas, Dip y Compania, Almacen Jerusalem, Sikaffy, Seyri, you can see the importance of Palestinian immigrants in this city. Thus it is surprising that Arab food restaurants have been rare or non-existent in much of Honduras. Now, however, in the center of La Ceiba, Cafeteria Shalom has opened in the Panayoti Shopping Center, which is one block closer to the beach from Central Park and one block to the east.

Ambience is not the strong point of this restaurant, though posters of Israel decorate the walls. Most Hondurans Palestinians, known locally as turcos because they came here with passports of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), are actually from the Christian Arab community around Bethlehem in Israel, according to Nacie Gonzalez.

My favorite food here is falafel, which looks like meatballs but is made with seasoned chickpeas that are fried. Falafel can be served on a plate with two salads -- coleslaw and a tomato-green pepper salad -- plus tahini sauce. All of this can also be stuffed into the pocket of pita bread for a falafel sandwich.

Pita also accompanies hummous, another form of chickpeas prepared as a spread. Fool is similar to hummous, except it is made from fava beans, olive oil and garlic. Pita bread cannot be found in your local bakery or supermarket -- it must be specially made.

Spanish names for foods are sometimes difficult to recognize. Stuffed cabbage leaves are tamalitos de repollo, stuffed grave leaves are tamalitos de uva. Shawuarma is the grilled leg of lamb that most travellers will recognize from the Greek dish "souvlaki." This comes on a plate with french fries and the tomato-green pepper salad.

The Arab answer to ravioli is sacabuz, which is beef cooked in a wheat flour patty. Kube is beef with wheat that are cooked together. Most Hondurans will recognize marmaon, which is made with a small pellet-shaped pasta. Cooked with vegetables and cut up pieces of meat, it has a similar look to couscous.

Cafeteria Shalom also carries Honduran dishes like fried chicken, stuffed pipian squash, chicken pies called pastelitos de pollo, chicken tacos, and the North Coast favorite baleadas -- beans inside a flour tortilla. Most Arab dishes cost around Lps. 25, while the Honduran baleadas and pastelitos are Lps. 5. Soft drinks or coffee can accompany your meal.

The cafeteria, located in the same building as Ceiba's Internet Cafe, is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you have never been to Israel, trying to eat hot falafel on the street with dripping tahini sauce down your outfit, then you can try these foods in La Ceiba. Since the owner is a former sailor who fell in love with Honduras, French, Arabic, some English and Spanish, and a little Portuguese are spoken.

Iowa Farm Boy

As Chuleta matured he began to roam with the local domestic pigs and piglets along the village street. His adult characteristics -- stiff bristly hair and tusks -- were beginning to show.

One day, an Iowa farm boy who had joined the archaeology team was sitting having coffee outside a pulperia. Scott had grown up around pigs. As Chuleta walked past with a group of local swine, Scott drawled, "They sure have some strange looking pigs here."

By ALEJANDRA FLORES BERMUDEZ

Special to Honduras This Week

Jose Gonzalez is an award-winning Honduran writer who has been a perseverant researcher of Honduras' cultural history. Gonzalez has recently expanded and updated a dictionary of Honduran authors that he first published in 1987. He has worked as director of La Casa de la Cultura de La Paz and is now the director of the Department of Popular Culture for the Ministry of Culture.

Following is a recent interview with Gonzalez.

HTW: Tell us a bit about yourself, about your experience as a writer and your experience promoting culture.

GONZALEZ: I was born in La Lima, Cortes in 1953, a year before the great strike. Eduardo Bahr says that writers should be grouped within historical events, so I would declare myself as part of the generation of "la huelga" (the strike).

In 1954, the great banana strike broke out. It is a very important event because it represents the birth of syndicalism in Honduras. My father, who was a teacher at the Esteban Guardiola School in La Lima, sent my mother, two brothers and me to San Pedro Sula. He stayed in La Lima. I graduated from the Jose Trinidad Reyes High School in 1971. Then I began studying agricultural engineering in 1972 in La Ceiba and graduated in 1976.

It was during those years as a student that I began to write my first poems. They were love poems in the idyllic environment of La Ceiba and the seashore. Vicente Torres had a program on the radio and at 10 p.m. used to read poems. I started to hand him my first poems and that's how I started to become known among the student community in La Ceiba. My father was a writer and loved to read. I didn't know I would become a professional writer. My father used to read my works and call me the "Panida Limeno."

In 1977, I started to work in the INFOP [National Institute of Professional Training] in La Paz where I've worked all my literary pieces. It's a place I love deeply and to which I owe a lot. Living there I participated in a contest at the National University in 1980. I sent a small book that was entitled Pido la palabra (May I ask for the floor). The jury was formed by Tony Bermudez, Roberto Sosa, and Manlio Argueta (from El Salvador). I was selected as one of the finalists.

In 1980 I started to take writing more seriously and I met Eduardo Bahr and Roberto Castillo. Even though Rigoberto Paredes and I are cousins, we started our friendship through literature. In 1984, I won the Plural Award of Poetry sponsored by the Excelsior Newspaper of Mexico in a Latin-American context.

I soon discovered that I liked to involve historical events in my poems when I wrote Poems of the Cariato. In it, I fable the story of General Carias. I don't tell what happened exactly, but after studying and researching I recreate it. That's the book I most love, maybe because it was my first book and the most Honduran book I've written. It examines situations Hondurans wouldn't talk about. Before it was published, nothing had been written about the dictatorship, in 1984 practically nothing had been said about Carias. In 1985 my second book was published. It was called Las Ordenes Superiores (Orders from Above) where the poem that won the Plural Award "Monologue of Roque Dalton" is included.

In 1987, I was a finalist in a contest in Venezuela sponsored by the magazine Ko-eyu (in Guarani it means sunrise) with a book of poems titled, La poesia me habla (Poetry talks to me). In 1991, I won the Juan Ramon Molina poetry award, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. My book was called Animal de memoria (Memory Animal). It's a recount of human life. I also have six or seven unpublished books. I've thought about publishing three this year so they won't say I'm a poet of the last century.

HTW: Could you talk to us about the literary movement related to those years of the strike?

GONZALEZ: In the 1950s, the generation considered today as contemporary was fashionable. Voices like Roberto Sosa, Nelson Merrem, Antonio Jose Rivas, Ramon Oqueli, and Marcos Carias Reyes started to group together. They are a fundamental group for the new generation of writers. They inherited the influence of the generation of 1935 and they became the first protagonists on the stage of vanguardism in this country.

HTW: How did the generation of 1935 influence or transform the national context?

GONZALEZ: This generation was the beginning of the vanguard movement because they were the ones to begin as a group, or generation, suffering the atavism of the dictatorship of Gen. Carias, which lasted 16 years, from 1933 to the first of January, 1949. They couldn't manifest themselves more due to the lack of freedom of speech, and lack of support because, in its moment, poetry had a political content and that made it dangerous; but this group took important steps. The new generation that grew within a democratic atmosphere matched with the influence of the poetry written under the influence of the dictatorship, creating a new style, the one of the 50s. That's why I say that this poetry is the real vanguardism. The 50s was the time of the real vanguard movement. We are the post-vanguardism and we must recuperate all that the generation of the 50s left us.

HTW: Can we say that your actual historical research is like trying to defend Honduras' cultural identity from the massive simplification of globalization?

GONZALEZ: I think each person is born with a vocation and we don't find out until we discover, little by little, our talents. I believe that I was born to be a rescuer. I enjoy it. My two great passions were to write poetry -- I don't write it anymore -- and to do historical research, which is what I do now. I first used historical research to write poetry, but I started to wander out of poetry's limits and ended up researching the history of literature in this country. I started to think about writing a dictionary about Honduran authors and so the idea of researching biographies and bibliographies grew. It was quite difficult because there isn't a history about our cultural development already documented. There's history about politics but not about culture. I have done a lot of work researching, looking in filing cards, newspapers, magazines, books, comparing and taking notes. I gathered a lot of information through poet Oscar Acosta's anthologies and books. He owned an editorial company with writer Leticia de Oyuela called "Nuevo Continente" at the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s.

Rigoberto Paredes, Jorge Luis Oviedo, Galel Cardenas, and I started an editorial with Evaristo Lopez' press and it was called Editores Unidos (United Editors). One of the books it was going to publish was the dictionary of Honduran authors. In 1987, the first edition was published. Ten years later, the second edition was published in a more complete and enriched version. I have continued researching. My project is now bigger: it's the graphic dictionary of Honduran authors. I want to rescue historical photographs of writers. I have 35 photographs that I want to publish in 2000 as a retrospective of the Honduran writers who lived in the 20th Century so that the Hondurans of the next century and millennium can know them not only through their writing but through their photographs too. It will be a summary of about 70 writers, living and deceased, who are going to cross the next century in a book.

I'm also preparing another book based on research called Cronologia Historica de la Literatura Hondurena del Siglo XX (Historical Chronology of Honduran Literature of the 20th Century). I study year by year the literary groups that were formed, the books that were published, the magazines or newspapers that were directed by writers, the writers who were born, those who died, everything concerning culture each year. I have the first book finished. The next book will study 1951 till 1999. It's hard because the cultural activities grow more intense as time goes by, so it requires much more work and facts. You'll find in it information about facts and the historical moments lived by those who were our precursors and predecessors. It pretends to freeze Honduras' history of a century.

By WENDY GRIFFIN

If you had asked me what Tegucigalpa needed to be a better place to visit, I would have said something like a map explaining all the taxis colectivos or a good archaeology museum. But now that a good coffee bar has come to Plaza Miraflores, the former lack of such a nice place with good coffee now seems so obvious.

Honduras has thousands of places that sell coffee, one of the country's most important exports. Small and dark are words that come to mind to describe most of them. Espresso Americano is in Plaza Miraflores' new food court that also includes Oriental King, Paseo Universitario for pupusas (stuffed tortillas), Cinnamunch, Taco Taco and a Smoothie place. The eating area covers the whole interior of the mall, which is decorated with live plants and a waterfall.

This courtyard has the best of indoor and outdoor dining. Three stories up there is a roof, but all around it, the sun and air come in. This gives a feeling of lightness and airiness similar to a champa on the beach -- you are outside, but protected from rain and sun.

Espresso Americano offers espresso and American coffee, which is stronger than most Honduran coffees, but not as strong as Starbuck's in the States. Cappuccino, lattes, flavored lattes, mocha and flavored lattes are also available.

The big problem with frozen drinks in Honduras is the ice. Hondurans believe that freezing kills amoebas and so they use tap water for ice. Most Americans choose lukewarm drinks rather than risk the amoebas.

So a frozen cappuccino machine to make "granita cafe" is a wonderful compromise. First the water is boiled to make "cafe con leche" (coffee with milk). Then the staff puts the coffee in the machine and it turns already boiled water into something with the consistency of frozen yogurt, but with the taste and caffeine level of good coffee. At Lps. 10 the price is reasonable and for Lps. 4 more you can get whip cream on top. Whipped cream is a novelty in Honduras.

If you want something to eat, Espresso Americano offers cookies, mini-pizzas and, my favorites, little pineapple pies (pastelitos de pina). Or you stop by one of the other restaurants in the food court.

The thing that goes best with coffee is good conversation, and something I love to talk about is movies. Only 10 steps away are Multicines Plaza, which usually has the latest Hollywood hits. The background music is soft enough to ignore and let you hear your companion.

Although the atmosphere is more American than most locales in Honduras, the coffee is 100 percent Honduran. The owners advertises that it comes form their fincas in El Paraiso and is "de primerisima calidad" (of the highest quality). Honduran roasters have traditionally exported the best quality coffee, leaving local coffee of a lower grade and often a muddy taste. My only complaint about the coffee at Espresso Americano is that it only comes in tiny cups, while Americans tend to prefer 12 oz. or 16 oz. cups for coffee. So you just have to buy two coffees.

If you have been thinking, I can't leave Seattle for Honduras because there will not be any lattes, now you can find them as close as Plaza Miraflores. This shopping center is in Tegucigalpa's eastern suburbs, right next to the National Teaching University.

Almost any collective taxi near La Merced/National Gallery of Art will take you there for Lps. 5 (the price just went up.) Or for 90 centavos, take any bus except those that say UNAH or Prado from La Isla, next to the Stadium. These prices also just went up. If you drive, armed watchman will guard your car for a few lempiras an hour. I used to feel very uncomfortable around these security guards. Now I am happy to see them, as I feel they help ensure I will be able to enjoy my good cup of strong Honduran coffee in peace. 

By SARA MORRIS SWETCHARNIK

"The project field manager thought that it would be a good idea to collect some animals and create a comparative bone collection. A young peccary was found. "He was tiny" -- George holds the heels of his palms together -- "Just about this big, at the most 6 weeks old."

They convinced the field manager to wait until the peccary was larger to butcher him for the comparative collection. After all, you are much more likely to find bone fossils of larger pigs that are of an age to slaughter. In the meantime they gave the little piglet the name Chuleta ("Porkchop").

The young peccary would hang around the kitchen with Dona Maria, the cook. They grew to like each other a lot. Chuleta would follow her almost everywhere. Chuleta would lie on his back with feet in the air for Dona Maria to scratch his belly. He was the fattest peccary that George had ever seen.

To be continued.