The American Dream in Honduras

I caught a ride back from Cedros with a Tegucigalpan violin teacher.  He blasted Spanish operetta the whole way.  We rode through a town called la Ermita and he told me that all of the houses were built with money sent from families of immigrants in the U.S.  One statistic claims that 30% of the Honduran GDP ($410 Million) comes from money sent from immigrants in the U.S.

 I recently attended the dedication of a home built by missionaries for an old man outside of tegucigalpa. It had been built out of wood.  It would have cost the same to build it out of cinder block and it would have lasted through the honduran rain and hard winds.  

I asked how much all of the supplies were.  90000 Lempiras.  That is $4500 in US dollars.  $4500 for all the supplies you need to build a house.  The land was twice the cost at $9000 so all told, one house and a piece of land is roughly $13500.  

However the average Honduran makes about $200 a month and everything else costing roughly the same.  Actually computers, cars, phones usually cost more in Honduras.  It makes great sense to make a run to the US, work for a month and bada-bing-bada-boom you got a house.

Some Hondurans don't manage $200 a month.  As the violin teacher and I rolled into Northwest Tegucigalpa around Comayaguela he pointed out the trash heaps and workers.  There is a cluster of barrios that work the trash and collect aluminum and metals through the garbage.  For 1 pound of aluminum they get 30 Lempiras = $1.50.  Most manage to get about 2 pounds a day which means a monthly full time job of garbage sifting get you $90.