Tale of Two Cities: Poverty Increases as Honduras Rebounds from Recession
The contrast between small town Copan Ruinas and the big city of Tegucigalpa is quite stark. After small town life, I joke that you can get anything in Tegucigalpa, because in Copan Ruinas you can get nothing. Except maybe fresh produce. Tegucigalpa, located in a valley between mountains in the central part of Honduras, is upscale and trendy. The people dress smartly, the homes are luxurious and everywhere you see expensive new SUV's. The affluence is even more evident in the malls. Tegucigalpa has at least six to eight malls with high end merchandise in most of them. They are comparable to anything in the U.S. In fact, even middle class American would find some stores too expensive. "The New Tegus is in City Mall." A look at GDP statistics (1) helps explain the abundance of wealth seen in Tegucigalpa. In 2008 GDP growth was 4.2%. The following year 2009 Honduras was in recession with negative growth of -2.1%. But, consistently, since t