The Dirty South

February 27, 2011

Southern Honduras can be an intense place to live.

The seasons seem to change overnight. From fierce hurricanes that destroy houses to droughts that can last 5 months without a single drop of rain. During the dry, summer the top layer of soil dries, hardens, and eventually gets ground into dust. The plants that have the bad luck of growing near roads get covered in a thick layer of dirt that accumulates for months.

Around Christmas time strong winds whip through the banana trees, creating dust clouds that fill your lungs and burn your eyes. In mid-April the most intense heat will descend on Choluteca with temperatures reaching well into the 100’s. The southern plain, which is already well on it’s way to desertification, will cook in the high heats with hardly any vegetation to block the sun.

When the rains come the dust will wash away and the ground will soften into a muddy mess. The fields of dry, dead, brown plants will sprout anew and fill with lush tangle of weeds and leaves. Dry streambeds will slowly trickle to life, eventually becoming gushing rivers. The winding dirt road that creeps up the mountain and forges through rivers will become impassable when storms hit. The trees will again be covered with bright green leaves that blanket houses and hide the animalitos. Hurricanes start threatening the south in August and wreak havoc for three months. They wash away roads and tumble down houses with mountains of mud, water, and rocks. The rains will continue until October; at which point someone turns a switch and the rains stop and summer starts again.

Southern Honduras, with all of its heat, dust, rain, and mud, is a glorious place to live. The intensity reminds us that we are subject to the temper of the gods. We live at the pleasure of Mother Nature. Humans may manipulate the earth but someone else owns it.