Stephen Fry in Central America s01e03 EN SUB WEBRIP [MPup]

Stephen.Fry.in.Central.America.s01e03.EN.SUB.WEBRIP.[MPup]

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Stephen continues his adventure by visiting two of Central America's most dangerous countries - El Salvador and Honduras - and one of the safest, Nicaragua.



In episode three, Stephen’s journey continues from Salvador to Nicaragua, as he crosses over from Guatemala into El Salvador then moves onto Honduras and Nicaragua. Along the way, Stephen tries his hand at surfing, tastes a new breed of banana, meets a real life Sweeney Todd and learns to do the maypole.

For 12 years El Salvador was ridden with civil war, which only ended in 1992. But now drug cartels and gangs have made it, if anything, an even less safe place to be.

Stephen jokes: “We were met by a squad of bodyguards. So, machine guns at the ready. It makes you feel really confident and happy. Or does it?!”

The Pacific coast of El Salvador has some of the best surf breaks in the Americas. For 20 years tourism was effectively dead and the beaches deserted, but it’s now rising from the ashes of civil war and the surfers are returning.

Stephen meets adrenaline junkie David Reyes who despite being born without functioning legs, has remarkably learnt to body surf, thanks to the help of his surf buddy who holds him onto the board.

David says: “It’s a great feeling because you can feel the freedom. And if you feel freedom, that’s the most amazing feeling you can ever have. You are equal, like anybody else.”

David became El Salvador’s youngest ever congressman at 26-years-old and he explains that due to injuries from the war, 10% of the population, or 700,000 people, in El Salvador have a disability. Stephen is so inspired that against his better judgement, he takes to the surfboard himself.

Next, Stephen returns to the bus to travel to the colonial town of Santa Tecla, an hour’s drive from the coast, where he meets 28-year-old Ingrid Gallado, whose grandfather built up a unique library of books. She is now the guardian of the collection, including a rare first edition of all 32 volumes of the 18th century French Encyclopedie , but much of it was devastated by an earthquake 15 years ago.

Stephen is also keen to find out more about the people who own the country. There are 14 families who have all the wealth and power in El Salvador and Stephen meet one of them, Eduardo Kriete.

Eduardo’s wealth makes him a prominent target for kidnap gangs in the city and so security is high. His wealth has effectively made him a prisoner in his own home.

Eduardo says: “I have weapons of defence, we live in a very harsh country. The main problem is the gangs. How did the gangs come about? In my opinion, they came around due to the war. During the war there was a lot of kids left homeless...gangs became their sanctuaries…and going to prison was like being sent to university because they come out with much more learning, maybe higher up in the ranks with your old gang.”

Back on the road, Stephen crosses the border from El Salvador into Honduras, another country where drugs, gangs and murder hog the headlines. He heads to the capital, Tegucigalpa.

Stephen says: “It’s not just the capital of Honduras, it’s the capital of murder. I’m afraid the most dangerous place on earth to be a taxi driver, a bus driver and probably presenter of medium to lightweight documentaries.”

With a homicide rate 90 times that of the UK, there are an average of 15 murders a day. Such is the level of violence that the process of government is close to collapse. The prisons are, not surprisingly, full and effectively run from the inside by the inmates, with frequent internal conflicts. The authorities are reluctant to let Stephen in, but do agree that he can visit one of the women’s prisons.

It is largely populated by the two most notorious gangs in Salvador, separated into different blocks for their own security. Stephen meets inmate Cleo, who has already served 19 years, having been sentenced for 70 years for killing six of her husbands, cooking them and selling the meat in the market.

Back on the road, Stephen travels to a slum on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, called El Progreso, where gang membership is rife. There is a football-coaching project in the area which attempts to provide an alternative to the gangs for youngsters and it is proving successful. The most famous Honduran footballer, Wilson Palacios (ex Tottenham, and Stoke City), lost his 14-year-old younger brother to kidnappers who murdered him, despite having been paid £125,000 as ransom.

Honduras was the world’s largest banana producer up until the 1920s and next Stephen visits a banana plantation in San Pedro Sula, where new varieties of banana are being developed.

Stephen is keen to tuck-in and tells plant geneticist Dr Juan Fernando: “My mother will tell you that I used to embarrass her by taking all of the bananas from the fruit bowl at guest houses. I just love bananas so much, so I am in heaven.”

After literally stepping over the border into Nicaragua, Stephen visits a cigar factory in Esteli. Before the civil war it housed the torture rooms for the dictator Somoza , when the Sandinista revolution finally banished Somoza, it was then bombed by the American-backed contras.

The capital Managua was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1972 but has since been re-built in 80’s revolutionary kitsch style. The city is home to one of Nicaragua’s most celebrated female freedom fighters, the poet Gioconda Belli.

Also this week, Stephen meets gay activist Fredman to discuss gender politics in Nicaragua, joins the week-long Easter celebrations in Granada and finally heads to Bluefields on the Caribbean coast.

Bluefields remains physically and culturally isolated from the rest of Nicaragua. Its inhabitants are mainly ex-slaves and their descendants. They still speak Creole English and practise a very old English Spring ritual, maypole dancing.

Stephen says: “I hate dancing yet how can I resist the weirdness of Caribbean maypole? What a fine way to say goodbye to Nicaragua.”