Copan Ruinas, Honduras – The day started off simple enough: get rid of the hacienda’s garbage.
There are two options for the hacienda to get rid of its garbage. The first option is to take the garbage into town and find the roaming trash-collecting truck; the second option is to take the garbage all the way to the dump.
Needless to say we went all the way to the dump.
All images taken with a D200, 17-35/2.8
Like phantoms dogs appear from nowhere. They do not bark or breathe but float on air.
Unexpectedly the gate to the dump is locked. One suggestion is to throw the garbage over the fence and leave.
Instead we head back to find the garbage gatekeeper.
This is the gatekeeper’s neighbor. The neighbor says the gatekeeper is out of town but his two daughters will open the gate.
Finally we unload our garbage. Smelling the horrendous stench of a cornucopia of melting plastic the first thing I think of is lung cancer.
These are the two girls that opened the gate for us. They waited for us to leave so they could rummage through our stuff. I could have taken their photo as I was walking around but they were painfully embarrassed that someone had a camera. I snapped this photo as I was driving away because I wanted to show that people do live and depend on other people’s garbage.
April 18, 2009
