Street Adventures during Easter Week

I tend to regard even the simplest events as a potential for adventure and La Ceiba certainly provides me with ample opportunities to witness the curiosities of life! An ordinary walk into El Centro to purchase fresh food in the market can present some amazing moments in life.

One day it was a live band on a street corner raising money for a local charity, complete with the sound system plugged into an extension cord from a nearby shop. Another time it was the police truck that had rear ended a taxi thus closing St. Isidro, a main artery through town, for over an hour.

Two years ago it was witnessing the Hotel Los Angeles burning to the ground and watching the crowds and fire fighters and National Guard. That was also the day that I decided to never leave the apartment without my camera again!

During this year’s Easter Week (Semana Santa) I spotted a wandering band of Garifuna men and boys, all dressed as women, some with shocking Halloween type masks and all carrying empty plastic jugs and small wooden sticks. I stood back across the intersection and pulled out my trusty digital camera and started taking these pictures as I watched them accost pedestrians and vehicles that came near.

They were banging on their jugs, dancing up and down, waving and shaking their arms though didn’t seem to be actually frightening anyone. Then I noticed that they were given small lempira notes or coins, stuffed into their plastic containers and the pedestrian or vehicle was freed, so to speak. They swarmed a number of vehicles as I watched, with one passenger even taking photos and then charged off down the street to another location.

Later that same day, I met up with a few members of this original “tribe” and was able to get some wonderful close up shots of the costuming and masks. These men were quite pleased to see the photos on the monitor but wouldn’t explain why or what they were doing, except to have me make a donation! Which I did rather happily as they gave me the photos; a good exchange in my eyes!

I have always wondered the “why” of this business of (most definitely male!) young men dressing as women and think I’ve found an answer. It appears to be a modern day equivalent of an original Garifuna fighting tactic; taken from a war dance whereby the men wore brightly coloured masks, layers of women’s clothing and would present themselves to their opponents as wildly suggestive women, dancing most invitingly before pulling out their weapons (from under their skirts!) and attacking. Talk about shock value!

Needless to say, I could be completely wrong but the tie to their original history makes sense to me.