Monday, October 30, 2000 Online Edition 44

A new generation of Honduran painters emerges 

Keyla Morel’s painting of an embodiment of Mother Nature, peace and the world demonstrates her attention to detail and vivid imagination.

TEGUCIGALPA -- Amongst friends and distinguished guests, young Honduran painter Keyla Hannani Morel opened a joint painting exhibit with Zippio Zuniga at the Alianza Francesa last week.

Trained by renowned Honduran painters over the last decade and the recipient of numerous awards for her work since childhood, Keyla's richly symbolic and finely detailed work has earned her recognition amongst Honduran artists nationally and internationally.  She has participated in several collective exhibits, as well as in individual showings and has a permanent exhibit of paintings for sale in Trio's Gallery.

What is the "IHCI" (pronounced EE-see)? 

By STEPHINA BREWER

Special to Honduras This Week 

Is it a private English school, an art gallery, a bilingual library, a Pan-American cultural center, a bilingual executive secretarial college, a translation service, an academic advising service, or all of the above?

Amazing as it may seem, all the above-mentioned activities can be found under one roof at the Honduran Institute of Inter-American Culture, or IHCI, as it is known by its Spanish acronym.

The institution has been a fixture of life in Tegucigalpa since 1939.  The IHCI is a private, not-for-profit organization that is governed by a volunteer board of directors and dedicated to promoting better understanding between the citizens of Honduras and their counterparts in parts of the Americas, especially the United States.

The IHCI can be found in a brightly colored structure in Comayagüela, right on the Calle Real next to the giant white building that houses the Banco de los Trabajadores.  Constructed in the 1920s as the Tela Railroad Company's Tegucigalpa branch, the two-story building originally had offices on the first floor and a living area on the second floor for visiting employees.  The structure has sprouted many extensions since those days, but the facade remains basically the same.

Instead of housing railroad employees, the second floor now boasts the best public bilingual library in Tegucigalpa.  For a mere Lps. 100 a year, anyone who has a local address and/or telephone number can become a member of the institution and borrow books from the collection.

The library is focused on the social sciences, with texts in both Spanish and English.  For the casual English-speaking patron, the best part is undoubtedly the eclectic collection of paperback novels in English and the selection of news and cultural magazines from the United States.  The library also has an Internet connection that anyone can use for Lps. 50 an hour when the library is open, which is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday.  The library receives heavy use from the residents of Comayagüela and Tegucigalpa, and local school children regularly visit to use its reference materials.

The main floor below the library is almost completely given over to exhibition space.  The art gallery, established in 1961, hosts 10 exhibitions a year of works by local, regional and international artists.  In addition, the IHCI hosts a biannual competition in which a jury selects a group of artists to represent the best the region has to offer in a variety of artistic media.  This year the work of 15 painters was shown; next year sculptors and ceramists will have an opportunity to exhibit their works and receive prizes.

The gallery doesn't limit its cultural representations to just the visual arts, however, nor do all events take place on the premises.  The staff also organizes concerts, performances, readings, discussions and scholarly lectures, both at the IHCI and at other venues.  An excellent source of information on upcoming events is the Maya Calendar in the pages of Honduras This Week.

As important as they are, the library and the art gallery do not pay the bills.  For that the IHCI relies on its ample array of English classes catering to a variety of age groups, ability levels and time schedules.  For example, adult students can take classes either before or after work, on Saturday afternoons, and even on Sundays.  The institute offers children's classes in English and computer skills on Saturday mornings.  And as if that weren't enough, the IHCI also has 118 young women studying to become bilingual secretaries in their own high school located right on the premises.

In 1999, the institute passed 5,000 students through its various classes and programs.  Indeed, the IHCI is so well-known and well‑entrenched in the life of its community that it is difficult to meet anyone in Tegucigalpa or Comayagüela who neither attended classes at the IHCI nor knows someone who did.

The IHCI has long enjoyed a close relationship with the U.S. Embassy's Office of Public Affairs.  The section provides regular support to the library and the English teaching program, and funds the visits of U.S. artists and performers.  For the past four years, the IHCI has benefited from the presence of resident English Teaching Fellows -- native speakers with a professional specialty in some aspect of language teaching.  English Teaching Fellows teach classes to students and put on training workshops for teachers in the latest language‑learning techniques.

Another service the IHCI offers to local citizens that is supported by the U.S. Embassy is academic advising.  Any Honduran who wishes to study overseas can receive help in finding the right high school, college or post-graduate institution.  The academic advisor can also assist with the flurry of paperwork involved in the application process.  One former IHCI academic advisor who has gone on to greater renown is none other than the First Lady of Honduras, Mary Flake de Flores.

The executive director of the IHCI, Rosario Córdova, has watched over the growth of this institution for the past six years.  She is a woman with a passion for her work -- a quality that was put to the test during Hurricane Mitch, which flooded the entire first floor and caused severe damage to the art gallery and administrative offices.  It was due to Córdova's strong will, persistence, and hard work that the IHCI survived, recovered and flourished after the storm.

Only three weeks after the hurricane had left tons of mud and debris throughout the ground floor of the structure, the school reopened for business.  The entire staff and student body donned rubber boots and pitched in to help clean up the muck.  Moreover, Córdova's excellent financial management allowed the IHCI to replace the equipment lost or damaged by the storm without the institute having to go into debt.  As a direct result of her faith and leadership, the institution continues to grow and expand the number of services it offers to members of the community.

In fact, the school has grown so much that the board of directors is looking for a new location, one that will offer patrons greater safety (especially after dark), secure parking and better infrastructure.  Before Mitch, the board of directors of the IHCI had obtained funding and made plans to relocate the institute to a hilltop near the Colonia Kennedy in Tegucigalpa, where the municipality had set aside some property for that purpose.  However, the plans fell victim to bureaucratic delays and political considerations, with the result that the funds were eventually re‑directed to other purposes.

Alberto Galeano, the president of the board, is a patient man firmly dedicated to moving the IHCI to higher ground, both literally and figuratively.  While actively looking for a new site, both he and Córdova are continuing to expand the range of services the IHCI has to offer.  Their most recent innovation is to construct a cyber-cafe near the library in order to provide patrons access to the latest information and research.

Whatever its location, the IHCI will continue to respond to the many needs of the Honduran community that it has served so well for over 60 years.  After all, what are occasional winds of change to an institution that has survived a hurricane?

CULTURAL EVENTS

MUSEUMS & GARDENS

TEGUCIGALPA

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 ingormation, call 230-6346.

COMAYAGUA, COMAYAGUA

COMAYAGUA MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY

Located in the city of Comayagua, two hours north of Tegucigalpa, the Comayagua Museum of Archaeology is in the building that served as the seat of government in the 19th century.  Exhibits include prehistoric fossils, cave art, ceramics, and objects used by indigenous cultures during the pre-Colombian era.  The museum, which also has a small library, is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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, LA PAZ

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.

SAN PEDRO SULA, CORTES

SPS MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY

The Museo de Antropologia 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, EL PARAISO

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.

OLANCHO

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

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 Copan Ruinas.

MAYAN SEPULTURAS MUSEUM

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

TELA, ATLANTIDA

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.

LA CEIBA, ATLANTIDA

 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

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 Garifuna 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.

ROATAN, THE BAY ISLANDS

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 Roatan 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

Monday, October 16, 2000 Online Edition 42

The sordid world of Honduran cheese

By MELANIE WETZEL

I warn you right now, this piece is written with a strong slant against Honduran cheese.  If you are a lover of Honduran cheese, or have a weak stomach, it might be best to turn back now.  Don't think that I am trying to damage the Honduran cheese industry or that I am slandering Honduran cheese in particular; I hate all Central American cheese equally.

I haven't studied the actual process that goes into creating Honduran cheese, but my best guess would be that it starts with milk, handled roughly and never refrigerated, that is left to sit in a dark smelly place and then put out in the sun to dry.  I repeat, I haven't actually seen this happen, but that would seem to me the most logical way to turn cow's milk into the dry, pungent, crumbly stuff that they ironically call queso.

It doesn't end there.  There are actually grades and varieties of cheese ranging from offensive (quesillo) to gross (queso) to completely and totally disgusting (requeson).  If you go to a cheese store -- and I'm not telling you to go to a cheese store, as a matter of fact, by all means don't -- but if you do, you can find dozens of varieties of cheese.  "Soft," "hard," "crumbly," "dry," "wet" and "jalepeno" are just some of the defining characteristics.  They all have one common denominator, though, which is "stinky."

Honduran cheese has none of the physical characteristics that I identify with the term "cheese."  When I think of cheese, I think of a nice firm swiss, a supple cheddar, or a melty mozzarella.  Honduran cheese is never melty.  As a rule it comes in two textures: queso, which is hard, and quesillo, which is bouncy.  If you apply enough heat to quesillo, it will melt somewhat, but by the time it is cool enough that it won't scald your lips, it has gone back to its original bouncy texture.

As if it weren't bad enough that the cheese is poorly constructed on a molecular level, it is also given the typical rough handling that most Honduran food suffers.  Just as raw meat hangs in open air butcher shops, cheese peddlers park their pickup trucks full of dairy products alongside any road, so that passers-by can stop and buy a hunk of cheese that the seller cuts off with a knife he wipes on his jeans.

Some folks like it, though.  Well, not the dirty knife, no one likes that, but some folks like the cheese.  My mom, for one, can barely get off the plane from Missouri and the first thing she wants is a big slab of dry white cheese.  My husband actually purchases a brick of cheese that will sit in the fridge, gradually growing smaller as he whittles away crumbly chunks for an afternoon snack.  The cat and I refuse to have anything to do with this twisted diversion.

I've always loved cheese, and would have thought that it would be one of the things that I couldn't live without.  I have to learned to live without it in Honduras.  This has been made easier due to the existence of another dairy product that makes up for all the sins of cheese: mantequilla.  I hope no one asks me to justify liking Honduran butter cream and not liking Honduran cheese.  Somehow the smell just goes better with the cream.

Monday, October 9, 2000 Online Edition 41

LEGENDS

Garifuna legends counsel know well the person who you marry 

By WENDY GRIFFIN 

It used to be common to marry people we knew our whole lives, such as a high school sweetheart, the girl next door.  The girl's family knew our family from our grandmother's time.  But now with travel, we meet people we know only a little, and their families hardly at all.  Garifuna legends recommend caution in these situations.

Once there was a Garifuna family who had some money.  They educated their children well, even sent them to college, begins this legend told by Juan Arzu of Trujillo.  But when they came back to their community, they could not find spouses for their sons.

So the family contacted friends and relatives in other places.  Maybe they knew good people for their children to marry.  Possible girlfriends came from around the country, but not one of them was the right match.

Finally, the family heard of someone who might suit.  While still in London, you could hear her high heels click in Honduras.  When she arrived in the United States, the click was louder.  In Honduras, the eldest son saw her from a long way off.  "This is the woman for me," he said.

They immediately fell in love and got married.  There was a lot of food at the wedding dinner, but the bride only picked a little bit at the rice.

Her husband placed at her command a servant.  "Take her anywhere she wants to go," he said.  Often she wanted to go on picnics.

They would bring a lot of food.  The woman would tell the servant, "You wait here.  I just want to walk down by the water and then disappeared by some rocks."

One time he followed her.  As she got to the water, she sang a song partly in Garifuna and partly in English.  "I am sorry, so sorry," and piece by piece she pealed off her clothes.  Then she changed into a pelican and dove into the water, eating small fish.

The servant hurried back to the food.  Soon she came back.  There was a lot of food, but she only picked at the rice.  "I am still full from dinner last night, you know."  However, she had really gotten full eating sardines.

This happened several times.  Finally the servant couldn't stand it any longer.  He went to talk to his boss, "Patron, I have to tell you that your wife is not really a woman.  She is a pelican."

"What?  No, you are wrong to say such things about my wife."  He then called the police to take the bad servant away.

When the police came, the man made a request.  With the couple standing near him, the servant began to sing, "I'm sorry, so sorry."  The wife's clothes fell away one by one, she turned into a pelican and flew away.  The police had to let the servant go.

Not only men are charmed by mysterious strangers.  Once there was a proud girl, begins this story told in Limon, who would not marry any of the local boys.  They were too poor for her.  One boy lamented his situation by the river, and an alligator overheard him.

"I could get that girl to fall in love with me," said the alligator.  "I have a friend who has fine clothes and he will lend them to me."

So he borrowed the clothes and went and talked to the girl.  What a fine large home he had (after all he lived in the Patuca River).

The girl was charmed.  "This is the man I have been waiting for my whole life," she thought.  They then got married.  At the wedding, the man's friend kept asking, "When are you going to return my clothes?"  "Soon, soon," replied the alligator.

After they left the wedding, the newlywed couple went by the friend's house.  The alligator dropped off the clothes, then jumped in the river.  The bride saw her husband go into the river, but saw no man come out.  She waited, but when he did not return, she assumed he had drowned.  She cried disconsolately by the river.

Later her brother came and got her.  "There is no hope.  You will just have to get over it," he said.

In the United States, we say you have to kiss a lot of frogs until you find a prince.  Here sometimes you kiss a prince, but he is really an alligator in disguise who will leave you brokenhearted.  Beware!

Monday, October 2, 2000 Online Edition 40

Mario Jaen: champion of Honduran arts and drama 

Actor and playwright Mario Jaen is one of the founders of Teatro Taller Tegucigalpa.  (Photo by Alejandra Flores Bermudez.)

By ALEJANDRA FLORES BERMUDEZ

Special to Honduras This Week 

Mario Jaen is an actor, director, and playwright.  He is the founder and current president of Teatro Taller Tegucigalpa (TTT, or Tegucigalpa Theater Workshop).

Founded in 1979, TTT is a non-profit association that has attracted many renowned national and international directors such as Jean Marie Binoche, German Garzon, Juan Monsalve, Tito Estrada, Karen Matute and Vicente Rodado.

When asked how his career began, the 42-year-old professional said, "It's a bit difficult to answer because my professional beginning is a bit hazy.  The decision to become an actor was gradual.  Little by little I fell in love with this kind of work and convinced myself that it was possible to work it out...  In a certain way, I was imitating my father because he, too, was an actor."

Jaen remembers seeing his father acting on the stage in the 1960s when he was just a child.  He was performing in a play by Jean Paul Sartre called "Dead and Tombs" directed by Figueroa of Guatemala.  His part was that of an agent of the resistance, during the Nazi occupation of France, who had been imprisoned by the Gestapo.

"When I saw the other actors hurting him, hitting him... I didn't understand and started to yell at my mother, 'they're hurting my father!  They're hurting my father!'  She had to take me out of the theater..."

Jaen remembers his ability, as a child, to dance.  He loved to dance and to be applauded.  "I think I should have been a dancer, not an actor," he said.

One of the most influential figures in Honduras' theater movement, Jaen said, has been Rafael Murillo Selva.  He brought a movement from Colombia, South America, that everyone liked very much.  It was a kind of contagious fever in all Latin America at the time.

A new kind of theater movement was born in Honduras that rebounded in the foundation of the La Compania Nacional de Teatro, which was the national theater company in formal terms, but it was closed following the 1969 war between Honduras and El Salvador due to its controversial political points of view over the country's administration.

Jaen, who studied at the National School of Dramatic Art in Bogota and later at the University of Medellin, Colombia, has been the lead actor in many plays, including La Rata (The Rat); La Mina (The Mine); Morazan, de la celda al paredon (Morazan, from prison cell to firing squad); and Caligula.  He received the Cofinol Golden Prize as best actor in Caligula, an award given by theater critics of El Salvador in the 1996 Central American Festival of Theater Without Frontiers.

As a playwright, Jaen won the Jose Trinidad Reyes Theater Prize in 1988 with his work, "El Tragador."  He was a professor at the National University of Honduras from 1987 to 1994, and at UNITEC since 1996.  He has also worked in television as the creator of the children's program, "Cosas para Ninos" (Things for Children), which won the UNICEF Prize in 1998.  Recently, he participated in the film, "Anita, la cazadora de insectos," which is expected to be released later this year.

Currently, Jaen said he is producing a monologue written by Colombian Andres Caicedo about maras (gangs).  The monologue is called "El Atravesado" and deals with a famous gallada (gang) in Cali, Colombia called La Tropa Brava.

Jaen said the play shows the life of a marero and his understanding of the mara, which is something that the majority of the institutions who work with gangs do not do.  He added that they stay "outside," with a limit or barrier between the institution and the gang members, never getting in touch with the real problems or their causes.

Jaen and the TTT fight a daily battle for the survival of the arts and drama in a world full of comfort, where it is easier to turn on a T.V. than visit a theater; in a world where people forget rites and ceremonies, where it is easier to be alone, than to communicate with our interior self through art and creation.

Helen Davis highlights real Hondurenos in 2001 calendar 

By SUYAPA CARIAS 

After a two-year stint with the Peace Corps in Honduras, American photographer Helen H. Davis has published a creative calendar featuring black and white photos that show the essence and simple beauty of rural people and sites.  It is titled Espiritu Hondureno (Honduran Spirit).

During her childhood, Davis lived in many countries: Japan, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong and Indonesia.  "This lifestyle has cultivated within me an appreciation for diverse cultures and people, which I express through photography," says the 26-year old photographer.

Now, the experience she had in the charming community of San Antonio de Flores, Choluteca, where she worked as a health educator, allowed Davis to develop a deep affection, admiration and respect toward the real "Catrachos."

She said the calendar is about the majority of men, women and children from the countryside who represent much of the history, culture and reality of this nation, and yet have been overlooked, and sometimes even forgotten.

"I think that the people from the country and all of what is called typical, are not valued as much as they should be.  In my calendar, I try to reflect their value, richness, dignity and strength."

The calendar includes photographs taken in different communities in the departments of Francisco Morazan, Choluteca, Copan and Gracias a Dios.  "I hope that the images elevate the Honduran spirit," she said.

Davis' calendars are on sale in different bookstores and souvenir shops around the country, including Metromedia, Libreria Navarro, Hotel Maya and Toncontin airport in Tegucigalpa.  Part of the proceeds she obtains from the calendars will be donated to low-income students in the form of scholarships.

For more information about the Espiritu Hondureno calendar, call 983-2265, e-mail: <espirituhondureno@yahoo.com>.