E-Mail 'A Year in Central America- Part 2, by G.P.' To A Friend

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1. It never ceases to amaze me how, in countries that don’t have a 2nd Ammendment, access to firearms seems unbridled.

   With the DEMONcRATS agenda to slowly disarm American citizens, all they will really be doing is creating a black market mentality and create millions of “criminals” who will continue to have access to firearms.

   1. There are only 3 things that cause the rise of the black market, in anything. Excessive regulations that make black market items easier and/or cheaper to get. Excessive taxation that do the same as excessive regulations. Then there is prohibition. Prohibit something, anything and a black market will rise, with all the crime and corruption that goes along with it.

      If the Dimms (along with all to many Republicrats) decide to make firearms ownership illegal, the black market will take care of the problem. The Russians, the Chinese, likely the Brits, and even many wealthy Americans will fill the void, make their obscene profits, and OK quality firearms will be made available. Even the USG will likely participate (Fast and Furious anyone).

      It does not matter what you prohibit, it could be anything from bar soap to clean underwear. It it is taxed too much, regulated too much, or simply prohibited, the black market will rise and fill the void. History supports this viewpoint. It happens every time it’s tried. It happened with the war on alcohol in the 20s, it has happened with the 100+ years long war on drugs, it will happen with the ongoing war on firearms. The psychological warfare being waged against us is designed to make the American people demand “something must be done”.

2. I have traveled extensively through Central & South America, and this author has pretty well nailed it !

3. I think I’ll just move to Chicago.

   1. Weather isn’t as nice,might be as many “southerners” as down there. Trying to drive wages and standard of living down.

4. Sounds like the best deal is to relocate into a community of like-minded expatriates if you plan on succeeding. Reminds me of the Jewish migration to Israel in the 40s and 50s, and the establishment of Kabbalah communes in the rural areas. Not only a practical means of individual survival, but it helped stabilize and protect the homeland in general. Basically little forts on the frontier, but en masse. Come to think of it, that’s how most of the indigenous survived in Iraq after the war. Makes sense. Marrying into the locals may not be the wisest choice in a poverty region, as some of my expatriate friends discovered moving to rural Thailand. Pretty soon you are considered the benefactor of the village, and you end up paying for everyone’s welfare that you are now “related to”.

   1. Greetings from Israel.
      I think you mean Kibbutz communities.

5. We spent quite a bit of time anchored off Roatan Island and sailing to the other islands. The writer has written an accurate account of the people and places there. We looked into buying land on Roatan before tourism moved in, but stopped ourselves knowing the land we would purchase would never be ours. In other words the government could and would take it from you because the buyer never owns the land, the government does. Perhaps things have changed since our time there, but if one seriously wants to look into purchasing to live, must read the fine print of their papers as we did and chose not to.

6. The last two sentences in the article says it all when living in Central America:

   However, you will always be the outsider…………………and expendable.

   1. Unless you make yourself indispensable, Dr.,Dentist,Vet, pharmacist, best mechanic,metal worker/welder/machinist,you make yourself valuable and well liked you should be fairly safe.

7. Deja Vu…
   18 years ago I worked in Honduras, office in San Pedro Sula and traveled to Olancho province. At that time it was much as described . A few of my experiences:

   Corruption and theft is a way of life. I was robbed at gun point on the way out of the San Pedro Sula airport. The police did not respond. Also, later on I had a policeman try to shake me down. I played dumb and ignorant of the language until he gave up.

   Roads were in bad shape. One lane on some of the curves in the mountains and no guard rails. Often no blacktop.

   Medical care on Roatan was lacking. We helped one resident get back to San Pedro Sula to fly back to Houston with a bout of severe kidney stones. I also remember an ex-pat being murdered because he had an altercation with his contractor.

   In some of the remote areas I saw wattle and daub houses with palm frond roofs. Cook sheds with small clay ovens. Doors were covered with a piece of cloth. Pigs and chickens roamed around, and one of the huts had a door sill about 12 inches high to keep them out. Smoke from a small fire inside, if needed, just worked it’s way through the roofing. Bathing, clothes washing and drinking water was a community get-to-gather of women and kids in the local river.

   When driving in town or traffic, whenever you stop, always leave enough room between you and the vehicle in front to pull out of the line. Watch for some one approaching you to stick a gun in your window to rob you.

   Do not carry all of you money, I.D. and credit cards in one wallet. Make copies of I.D. and other info and leave in a secure place. A money belt worn under loose fitting clothes worked for me.

   Machete’s are the one tool for everything. I call it my Centro American Tool Kit. I brought some back to share with family and friends.

   I got back broke, unpaid, but alive, with some machetes.

   Thank you for a great post G.P.

8. The book My Amish Childhood (Eicher is the author) gives a longer and more in-depth look at the culture in Honduras. He was raised there, in an Amish community, and he talks about everything reported by this writer, with more detail. Interestingly, the book recalls Honduras 30 years ago or more, and apparently little has changed. I would recommend it for anyone considering living there (or any place where you are going to be the outsider trying to live in a like-minded community).

9. “With that said, almost every home with a yard has some fruit trees and chickens.”

   My experience is that home gardens and fruit trees are limited largely to the coastal areas. The dry season inland makes growing without water sources difficult.

10. I see no reason t leave good ole America and move anywhere, especially Honduras. I’ll stay here and if things go south I’ll do my part to make things right. The two part article was very interesting though.

11. The lady with the cell phone brought back fond memories. DW and I were driving through Baja to San Diego from La Paz. We had stopped for lunch at a little roadside truck stop. As we were eating an older Mexican man walked by the restaurant. It was classic. On his feet were his sandals. He was wearing white pantaloons. Headgear was a sombrero. He was leading a burrow loaded with small sticks which I presume were for firewood. He stopped on the side of the road, reached under his poncho and pulled out his cell phone.

12. Interesting article, but not really practical for most of us. Frankly, it amazes me how green the grass looks on the other side, in this case, living in Honduras. Well, I lived in Mexico for several years, and I can tell you that ANY American in a third-world country in a time of economic crisis will be a big fat target for robbery, kidnapping and/or extortion. Guns are ILLEGAL in Mexico and just about all of Latin America, so you don’t even have the means to protect yourself. To a dirt-poor person in those countries, Americans, with their nice retirement check deposited into their account, their nice homes and cars, and eating out frequently at nice restaurants, are considered “los ricos,” the so-called “rich people.” For them, our middle class is considered “rich.” And that’s how some people justify robbery and other crimes. Then there are the corrupt police. I know a guy who had a nice sports car which was TOWED AWAY to a police towing yard, just because one of the police head honchos saw it parked on the street and said, “I want that car.” Then when my friend went to the police station to report the robbery, HE was jailed for two days and still lost his car. I have heard of Americans who “bought” their beachside condos on the “lease” program, and then losing their property and getting evicted, just because of some legal dispute over the rightful owner of the title of the property. I could go on and on. Americans have NO rights in foreign countries, especially Latin America. In a grid down situation, you will be considered a big, fat “Rico,” and guess where the poor, hungry people will go first, looking for their next meal?

13. I have referenced Maj General Smedley Butler here before. When we wonder about the poverty and instability of Central American countries, we can look to the general for a simple answer.

    Do you think the deep state oligarchs are a recent phenomenon? They raped most of the Spanish-speaking world outside Europe at the turn of the twentieth century.

    Just today, our government made some amends. See below.

    Three church bells have been returned to an Eastern Samar church in the Philippines after U.S. troops took them 117 years ago.

    The bronze treasures were seized during the 1901 Philippine-American War in retaliation after Filipinos killed 48 out of 74 US troops. In revenge, American forces led the Balangiga Massacre, in which about 2,500 Filipinos were killed. The bells were taken as a winning war profit.

    Got that? 2,500. That means all your family and friends times ten.

    Carry on.

    1. Very good point. At the risk of offending a few please remember that the Christian religions (includes Catholics) are required to honor the 10 commandments. Except for the Catholic church which taught thou shalt not steal unless it is from heathens with lots of gold. They get a mulligan on that one.

14. As was once the custom in the Corps. Please stand,he was at Samar. Semper Fi

15. Thank you for the article. Always interesting reading about life in foreign lands and what their lives are like. Gives one perspective on what can happen here and why we need to protect it.

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