Changes

Things are changing here in Honduras! Today I received the following email from the U.S. Embassy:

The Embassy advises citizens residing in and visiting Honduras that the de facto regime issued a decree suspending certain rights under the Honduran constitution on Sunday, September 27, 2009. This decree affects all people in Honduras, including non-Hondurans. Specifically, the following articles of the Honduran Constitution have been suspended for the next 45 days (until November 11, 2009):

Article 69: The right to personal freedom
Article 72: Freedom of Speech
Article 78: Freedom of Association
Article 81: Freedom of Movement
Article 84: The right to due process

So, okay. The right to personal freedom has been revoked? Free speech? Due process? Maybe I better start obeying the curfews. I have read about governments that do things like this, but living in a country that imposes those sorts of limitations is extremely, extremely scary. Freedom of Speech and the right to due process are two of the most fundamental tenants of any functioning democracy, and the fact that they've been revoked truly indicates the lengths that this government will go to in order to maintain control of its citizens.

Since I no longer have the freedom of speech, I'll leave it at that.

But those aren't the only changes taking place in Honduras. On a more personal note...I'm moving! Everyone who thought I was crazy before will really think I'm crazy now...but I'm moving out of the city of Gracias and into the mountains. Currently, I live in a small house in the city of Gracias. My house is very nice and as I think I've mentioned, I really love the family I live with. About five miles up a rocky road is our school, and about a mile above the school is Villa Verde. There are fewer amenities in Villa Verde (no internet, sketchy cell phone reception, no stores, certainly no television), but it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The mountains will be my backyard! I like Gracias, but it's very...dry, dusty, and busy. We have a TV in my house, which I'm not a huge fan of, and I hate walking anywhere because the men in Gracias are so nasty and vocal. In Villa Verde, I will walk to and from school every day breathing the crispest, cleanest air, surrounded only by the mountains and the trees. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to live in a tiny, tight-knit community, and I'll finally get to spend time with the other American teachers!

I'm really excited about it. So, my blog posts will become fewer after I move, which should be sometime in October. But of course, that's the point. :)