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juliaisabellphoto · 4 years ago

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My 2020 Albums of the Year

Never requested, always provided. Here are my favorites of 2020. Here’s the playlist.

The Secret Sisters, Saturn Return

As soon as I saw “Water Witch, featuring Brandi Carlile” on this tracklist I knew that the Secret Sisters would be a favorite of 2020. In February, I was staying with a friend in Nashville and she mentioned them as a local favorite, and when I stopped at Grimey’s to shop for records I came upon a signed copy of “Saturn Return.” I had never heard the Secret Sisters before, but there is nobody I trust more to recommend music than this Nashville friend of mine, so I bought it. I made no mistake here: this record blew me away. The soft, soulful, lullaby of “Healer in the Sky” pulled me through the pain of the first month of quarantine and soothed me as the world was turned upside down. In reading more on the record, this seems to have been the point: they say, “this album is a reflection of us coming to terms with how to find our power in the face of an unfair world… our hope is that women can feel less alone in their journey through the modern world.” There is something in the caramel-thick sweetness of these sisters’ voices that makes a listener feel as though they’ve been bewitched into calm. When I think of this album, I think of the cross-country drive I took at the beginning of the pandemic to make my way home and the happy moments that can be found in darkness. No album touched my heart this year in the way that “Saturn Return” did.

Taylor Swift, Folklore and Evermore

Taylor Swift… can even be said? Somehow, while we all sat on our couches in quarantine, this woman created not one but two musical masterpieces. She begins “the 1” by stating “I’m doin good, I’m on some new shit,” and that says a lot about the album as a whole. She created the 2020 we all wish we experienced: soft, sweet, and gentle. Listening to Folklore feels like visiting a cabin in the woods, with a fireplace well lit. Swift tells winding stories of love, hardship, and mystery and tenderly walks us through the forest of her imagination. This magical feeling was amplified by her release of The Long Pond Studio Sessions, a film in which Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner finally play the album together for the first time after recording it entirely remotely. The setting matches the sound: they play in an album in the middle of the woods, cozy and hidden from the snow. Evermore cuts through the delicate ice of Folklore: it is the color to Folklore’s black and white. Swift combines the soft folk sound of “willow” with some of her country and Americana roots in “no body, no crime,” drawing us in once again. She includes Bon Iver singing in his lower register in Folklore and then in his falsetto in Evermore: two sides of the same magic coin. The work in these two albums is Swift’s strongest ever, and solidifies the fact that no modern artist can really reach her.

Chris Stapleton, Starting Over

Following a three-year hiatus, all lovers of southern rock deeply needed a Chris Stapleton album. In “Starting Over,” Stapleton yet again does what he does best: combines his unique whiskey-tinged growl with the best lyricism present in country music today. This record can’t be captured in any singular fashion, neither musically nor emotionally. The title track sets a high bar for the rest of the record with a reflection on re-remembering what really matters, a message certainly relevant for this turbulent year. Stapleton’s typical outlaw-country brand is present in full with “Devil Always Made Me Think Twice,” “Arkansas,” and “Hillbilly Blood,” but other songs take him in a completely new stylistic direction. “Maggie’s Song” takes on a very classic old-time country feel, as Stapleton weaves sweet and simple stories as he processes the loss of his pup. He harnesses the energy of the Chicks as he angrily lambasts the perpetrators of the 2017 mass shooting at Route 91. The song is a Stapleton-sponsored judgment day reckoning, including the cacophonic sound of a crowd in panic and the shrieks of a gospel choir. In contrast with this energetic high, Stapleton goes deep into his blues side by finally releasing “You Should Probably Leave,” a song he has been sitting on for six years. This one feels just right to sway around the kitchen to. With each listen to “Starting Over” I find new lyrics to write down and remember, new sounds to love.

Bad Bunny, YHLQMDLG

Bad Bunny. Our unproblematic reggaeton prince. In the wake of his many popular features and his collaborative album with J Balvin, Bad Bunny makes it clear that it is time for Balvin to share the throne of popular reggaeton. He features the original reggaeton king Daddy Yankee in “La Santa,” paying tribute to the very classic reggaeton style before mixing it and transcending beyond the classics in the following tracks. “Yo Perreo Sola” is the album’s standout track, accompanied by my favorite music video of 2020. The song is an ode to gender equality and the destruction of the patriarchal norms contributing to gender-based violence. “Yo Perreo Sola,” meaning “I twerk alone,” sets the overarching theme of consent present throughout the song’s lyrics. In the video, Benito’s backdrop references the Argentinian-born “Ni Una Menos” movement, a now global movement against gender-based violence. As if this wasn’t enough to make you adore him, the video further extends its activism to the LGBTQ community, with Benito appearing in full drag, in his normal attire, and at some points held in chains by women. He makes a statement about sexuality and gender expression in the video, twerking solo. The other jawdropper track on YHLQMDLG is Safaera, a perfect display of Bad Bunny’s skill in expanding the scope of reggaeton as a genre. In the same thirty seconds of the song, he subtly samples both “Could You Be Loved” by Bob Marley and the Wailers and Missy Elliot’s “Get Ya Freak On” - a segment I just can’t get out of my head. Bad Bunny’s prowess on this record is rounded out with the aggressive and prideful “P FKN R.” What a masterpiece.

Mac Miller, Circles

A posthumous record that never should have been posthumous. A companion-piece to Mac’s 2018 record “Swimming,” Circles takes a similar tone, one of resilience through pain. The title track serves as a somber introduction, followed by the funk energy of “Complicated” and the GO:OD AM energy of “Blue World.” The song that really got to me, and many other fans of Mac, was “Good News.” It is the pinnacle of Mac’s musical insight and talent. The melody matches the melancholy of the track, as Mac sings of his desire for time and space. The melancholy is matched in “Everybody” with the lines about death feeling particularly haunting in the wake of Miller’s accidental overdose. Somehow, Miller wrote the perfect eulogy for himself prior to his passing, one that will live in the hearts of his fans forever.

Kali Uchis, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞

I’m not quite sure what to call this record. If I just listened to “la luna enamorada,” a cover of a classic Cuban bolero, I would call it gorgeous. If I just listened to “fue mejor” featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR or “quiero sentirme bien,” I would call it sexy. If I just listened to “vaya con dios,” I would think she wrote the theme music for the next James Bond film. The bottom line of the record is Uchis’ absolute stunning use of her upper register. She hits notes that “Isolation” never would have foreshadowed, painting a dreamland for any listener. She slides back into the energy of her sophomore album in “telepatia,” but adds in moments of her new sound. She incorporates a slower reggaeton beat into no eres tu (soy yo), and dives into a heavier reggaeton sound in te pongo mal (prendelo.) My personal favorite of the record is “aqui yo mando!” with Rico Nasty: it is the perfect display of Uchis’ unique upper register combined with Rico’s trap style. Anyone passing this record up for another “Isolation” listen is missing out.

FLETCHER, The S(ex) Tapes

This record has a story like no other, coming from a woman like no other. This EP was recorded while Fletcher quarantined with her ex-girlfriend, who also happened to film all of the music videos for it. It is this messiness that makes The S(ex) Tapes absolute magic. Fletcher’s own description of the name of the release explains the situation best: “A sex tape is someone being captured in their most vulnerable, wildest, rawest form, and my ex has always captured me that way.” She captures all of the feelings of a breakup with someone you still love deeply, and the relationship relapse that comes with moving past those feelings. Fletcher’s special ability comes in representing these deeply painful experiences in an uplifting manner: this is a sexy pop EP meant to be danced to. Fletcher simultaneously validates all of the emotional tumult, but subtly nudges the listener toward blissful reckless abandon. It almost makes me wish I had a breakup to go through! The abrasive apathy of “Shh… Don’t Say It” and the flippant, angry vulnerability of “Bitter” are paired perfectly with Fletcher’s raw brand of distortion. In an interview with Nylon, Fletcher speaks to this: “Listen, I've done my fair share of just straight-up sad, crying in your bed music. I'm still going through shit, but I want to bop to it. We can still be emo and want to twerk at the same time.” Yes, Fletcher, we do.

Halsey, Manic

Prior to 2020, I wasn’t Halsey’s biggest fan. I wouldn’t have even called myself a fan. I just wasn’t that excited by her music. “I’m Not Mad” was the song that triggered a 180 for me. The heavy, dissonant kick of the drums and her raw, angry lyricism drew me in without hesitation. I suppose this was just the push I needed to fall in love with the rest of her music: the songs with similar bite, “Without Me” and “killing boys,” and the more raw side of the record in “You should be sad,” “929,” and “Graveyard.” Her vulnerability is so much of what makes this record perfect. The album fully made sense to me when I listened to her podcast feature on “Armchair Expert” with Dax Shepard. In it, she talks through the time period covered by the record and gives context to her powerful lyricism. “Manic” is a story of chasing someone she loved into drug-fueled oblivion, and then finally finding the power to leave. The album is brimming with this power, and I just can’t turn it off.

HAIM, Women In Music Pt. III

HAIM is THE soft rock band of the modern era.Women In Music Pt. III, their most mature album yet, solidified this opinion for me in a way that I didn’t expect. There is so much to be said for this record: it is innovative and skilled, with the perfect balance of softness and hardness. Though the record is one of pain and trauma, you wouldn’t know it purely from its melodies. “Don’t Wanna” is a very classic HAIM pop rock number, and “The Steps” follows suit making frustration fun to dance to. Though one may not notice at first, in this record HAIM dives deeper than ever before. “Now I’m In It” does a phenomenal job of sonically representing the feeling of being completely and utterly overwhelmed. “I Know Alone” is a beautifully intimate rainy-day account of Danielle’s struggle with depression. Then comes “3AM” - a lighthearted song about a booty call with Thundercat-type bass and an R&B vibe - just in case you didn’t already know how much range these three sisters have. Everything about this record is filled with talent.

Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

Only Phoebe Bridgers could write a song about murdering a skinhead and fill it with nostalgia. “Garden Song,” the leading single preceding “Punisher,” foreshadowed a record that is just so very Phoebe: melancholy, vulnerable, and heart-wrenching. The eagerly awaited album certainly followed suit, with typical sad ballads “Halloween” and “Moon Song” played alongside more raucous, Better Oblivion Community Center-esque songs such as “Kyoto” and “ICU.” She goes bluegrass on “Graceland Too” with banjo, violin, and layered harmonies from boygenius collaborators Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. In “Punisher,” Bridgers shares with us the wistful catharsis that she is so very talented at creating.

Noah Cyrus, THE END OF EVERYTHING

I always underestimated Miley’s little sister, but here I am writing about her EP before I write about Miley’s in my end of the year roundup. Every piece in this record gave me chills: Cyrus’ lower register allows her to access a somber kind of ballad that I just can’t get enough of. The record starts off at a peak with the slow burn of “Ghost” and somehow manages to get even better with “I Got So High That I Saw Jesus.” This powerful song, even better in the live version where Miley joins her younger sister, builds into an almost gospel-like ode to the idea that everything will be okay. “July,” the single featuring Leon Bridges that pushed Cyrus into the national spotlight, stands as the most beautifully layered song of the EP. The soft guitar picking and choral sound complement Cyrus’ upper register. The whole record, extending through the closing title track, is a comforting, soft emotional analgesic for 2020.

The Chicks, Gaslighter

This record is gorgeous. It is painful. The feelings Natalie Maines expresses in this record are feelings I have felt far too deeply in personal relationships, and they also are feelings everyone is feeling globally in 2020. “Gaslighter” is just straight up fun, a perfect extension of the Chicks’ energy found in “Goodbye Earl” and other older revenge numbers (but with an extra poppy Jack Antonoff twist this time.) “Tights On My Boat” is bitter, funny, and shows off Maines’ upper register with stripped guitar. “Sleep at Night” musically and lyrically embodies the pain of being betrayed. “Julianna Calm Down” is a stunning ballad of female resilience. “Texas Man” perfectly captures the bubbly feeling of moving on. “For Her” and “March March” fit in with the frustrated, betrayed, power-centered theme of the record in a very different way. The Chicks’ dualistic ability to discuss her ex-husband’s cheating alongside the band’s political views is what makes the record special: not only are we watching a woman try to move on and develop her personal strength, but we are also seeing this personal strength harnessed for political impact. They simultaneously denounce the abuse of power in both politics and relationships, while reclaiming that power for themselves in standing up for what they believe in. How very Chicks of them.

Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

Dua motherfucking Lipa. This woman would have been the official owner of 2020 had we been able to dance to this record at bars and clubs. This was proven ten times over by the success of the album’s first single, “Don’t Start Now,” a song that is absolutely the MOST fun. Or so I thought… until I heard “Physical,” “Levitating,” and “Break My Heart.” What poor timing for such a phenomenal dance record, but at least she gave the people some great material for Tik Tok dances! All COVID-dance-related concerns aside, this is a really well done sophomore album for Dua Lipa. The funk elements of the album most clearly seen in “Levitating” elevate Dua’s brand of pop to a new level. The all gas no brakes nature of this dance-pop record works wonders for her - she knows what the people want from her, and she delivers.

Megan Thee Stallion, Good News

THIS! RECORD! If WAP could be an album of the year, it would be, but it’s a standalone single and Megan Thee Stallion proceeded to release the next best thing. The explosion of Megan Thee Stallion has been a pleasure to watch in 2020, with both WAP and Savage leaving the charge. With an artist like her, it’s easy to get lost in the smash hits and ignore the prolific nature of her work. “Good News” is an immaculate rap album, brimming with sass and defiant bad bitch energy. “Shots Fired” kicks off the album with a Biggie sample and a diss to the man who shot her in the foot earlier in the year, personally my favorite track of the record. Other highlights of the record include “Don’t Stop” with a Young Thug feature, “Body” which is now a Tik Tok staple, and “What’s New.” Perhaps the most impressive work Megan does on “Good News” is “Girls in the Hood,” a rework of Eazy-E’s Boyz-N-The-Hood. She inverts the classic misogyny of the original song by emphasizing her control over men like Eazy-E in an indignant assertion of female power. This embodies Megan Thee Stallion’s essence: busting in on a male industry and making her presence known.

Rico Nasty, Nightmare Vacation

Nobody does it like Rico Nasty, and I’m convinced nobody ever will. I saw a New York Times headline titled “Can the Mainstream Catch Up to Rico Nasty?” the other day and I think the answer is a firm no. Rico is abrasive, rude, and outside the box in the absolute best way. Need an album to slap in the car when you’re feeling like a bad bitch? This. is. it. The record kicks off with “Candy,” a song with a wild beat and the iconic chorus line “Call me crazy, but you can never call me broke.” Following is a Don Toliver and Gucci Mane feature in “Don’t Like Me,” a song that truly should have hit the mainstream by now. She gets back to her signature scream-rap in “STFU” and “OHFR.” “OHFR” is the confident standout of the album, along with the reworked re-release of “Smack a Bitch,” making it clear that Rico Nasty is not a woman to be fucked with. In “Back and Forth” with Amine, Rico steps into Amine’s “Limbo” style and does it well. The record’s second single “Own It” is a more classic club banger that unfortunately didn’t get to see the dark of night in any clubs this year. Even if the mainstream never catches up to Rico Nasty, I’ll be following along with her self-labelled “sugar trap.”

Ariana Grande, Positions

I mean, duh. Ariana just doesn’t miss. She surprised everyone with this album’s release in Fall 2020, displaying the bliss of her relationship with later-confirmed fiance. She goes dirtier than usual in the sex-centered “34+35” and “nasty,” rounding the record out with the Craig David-reminiscent “positions.” Ariana allows herself to lust for someone and even love for them in these three, but defaults to her brimming self-confidence in “just like magic” and “west side.” The album is more R&B than pop at times, with the peak of this style visible in the groove of “my hair” and the Mariah Carey ballad-like nature of “pov.” Each album, Grande shifts just a little bit, keeping us attached: “Sweetener”’s cotton-candy pop, the savage pop-trap of “thank u, next,” and the R&B conclusion of the spectrum with Positions.

Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts

This year I anticipated no record more than I did “Plastic Hearts.” Its leading single, “Midnight Sky,” described by Pitchfork as a “cocaine-dusted disco track,” channels Stevie Nicks’ eighties rock-pop era in the absolute best way. Apparently this opinion was even picked up by Stevie herself, as the two collaborated on a mash-up of “Midnight Sky” and Stevie’s “Edge of Seventeen” (the excitement from which nearly led to my passing away, by the way.) Cyrus’ voice is in the perfect place on this record, with “Plastic Hearts” emphasizing her rasp and making me want to spin around a room. She dips into the pop realm in “Prisoner” with Dua Lipa, a song that Lipa clearly influences with an unforgettably sexy music video. Every song is different on this record: “Gimme What I Want” channels the grinding rock sound of Nine Inch Nails, “Bad Karma” allows Joan Jett’s punchy style to run the show, and she slips on the shoes of Billy Idol in their collaboration, Night Crawling. Somehow, Miley manages to wear the shoes well, and 80s copycat record or not, I can’t stop listening. “Never Be Me” is where she shines most deeply, baring her soul, the complicated nature of her past few years’ journey, and her knowledge of who she is and always will be for the world to hear. I’m not sure if I’m blinded to the album’s flaws by my absolute and complete love for everything about Miley’s current persona, but I am a huge fan.

Glass Animals, Dreamland

The sound of this album is such a blissful respite! Glass Animals gives us the fun and funky techno-pop that they always do, but dive into personal lyricism in a way that they never have before. Many of the songs actually have a storyline (an intentionally rare feat for Dave Bayley, first broken with the incredible “Agnes” on their last album.) This record explores trauma and pain in “Domestic Bliss” and “It’s All So Incredibly Loud,” Bayley using the soft sides of his voice to express pained desperation. The boisterous energy of the past two records is not forgotten in Dreamland’s intimacy, however: “Hot Sugar,” “Tokyo Drifting,” and “Space Ghost Coast To Coast” do the trick. “Space Ghost Coast To Coast” is the most intriguing song on the record: at first listen, I had absolutely no idea what Dave was discussing and assumed it was just his typical neuroscience-inspired ear-candy. Upon a deeper dive, the song addresses the factors that encouraged Dave’s childhood friend to bring a gun to school. He disguises a discussion of the risk factors involved in school shootings within his flowery, figurative linguistic excellence. This duality of blissful melody and solemn subject matter is the magic of Glass Animals.

Empress Of, I’m Your Empress Of

This album is an emotional electro-pop masterpiece. This record meditates on the feelings felt in the wake of a relationship’s end. She begins the album with a quote from her mother about the reality and value of struggle, then launching into a synth-filled storm of missing someone. “Love Is A Drug” is the album’s next fun dance track, addressing the addictive quality of touch after you lose someone you love and embodying the urgency of the feeling. She takes a more somber tone with the influence of Jim-E Stack in “U Give It Up,” incorporating quotes from her mother about the difficulty of womanhood and reminiscing on love lost. In “Should’ve,” the post-relationship regret is palpable in her vocal tone and production, and in “Maybe This Time” she contemplates this pain. In “Give Me Another Chance,” her emotions swing the other way, with a bouncing dance beat and pleading vocals. The album concludes with the heartfelt and pain-filled “Hold Me Like Water” and the dissonant “Awful,” leaving the listener to meditate on the mood swings of a broken relationship.

Tame Impala, The Slow Rush

This album came out so early in 2020 that it already feels like a vintage piece of music. Perhaps that was the point. Although “The Slow Rush” had a hard time living up to Kevin Parker’s last epic masterpiece “Currents,” it was the fix many fans like myself needed after five years without an LP. “Borderline,” the single that allowed anticipation of the album to build, stands out as one of the most essentially Parker tracks of the record. He introduces a little Toro y Moi style funk in “Is It True,” and highlights his voice more than usual in “Lost In Yesterday.” “Posthumous Forgiveness” builds in the wonderfully dissonant fashion that fans learned to love through “Eventually.” The bass track on “Glimmer” is so good that I never even noticed it had nearly no lyrics. This record is not groundbreaking by any standards in the way that “Currents” was, but it is intentionally jubilant and energetic in a way that still feels good. Even if he doesn’t shatter any expectations in “The Slow Rush,” Tame Impala’s tracklist still makes the perfect sunset companion.

Joji, Nectar

Joji’s “Nectar” is just that: sweet R&B nectar, from the minute the first track plays. Joji’s work here is not in the individual tracks, but in the sonic experience he creates with the album as a whole. This is not an album to pick out singles from: it is a full cinematic mood adjustment. Maybe it’s the weed I smoked when I first listened, but the record feels like a wonderful progression of gentle yet rhythmic R&B songs. The transition from the soft and contemplative “MODUS” to the more upbeat trap-infused “Tick Tock” to the full R&B ballad “Daylight” featuring Diplo raises the listener’s energy gradually to a crescendo. “Run” is a gorgeous and sad confessional of disappointment, and “Sanctuary” follows as a soft and uplifting analgesic to that pain. “Pretty Boy” and “777” mark the more upbeat section of the record, filled with Joji’s accounts of living far too fast. The tracks of this record all bleed into each other seamlessly, mixing pain and confidence in an emotional rollercoaster.

Amine, Limbo

My journey to being an Amine fan started with “Caroline,” ended with “Heebiejeebies,” and started back up again when he found depth in “ONEPOINTFIVE.” His 2020 release is exactly why I came around to his music yet again. The record is soulful and fun, with the flute and cocky lyrics in “Woodlawn” and the funky beat and Young Thug feature of “Compensating.” The two songs I absolutely can’t stop listening to however, are “Can’t Decide” and “Becky.” “Can’t Decide” highlights Amine’s singing voice and dips away from rap and trap into the more traditional R&B realm. “Becky” is an intimate account of the difficulties involved with interracial dating, both in public and in the family realm. The two sides of the album, one emphasizing rhythm and immaculate production, and the other lyricism and emotion, are found in these two songs. The punchy “Pressure In My Palms” (featuring slowthai and Vince Staples) and “Riri” round out the record’s light side. In “Limbo,” Amine finds the perfect balance.

Fleet Foxes, Shore

This album is a wave of calm. Robin Pecknold’s soothing voice is exactly what we needed more of this year. Pitchfork described his mission as “turning anxiety into euphoria,” and that is how this record feels. Each song is dynamic and filled with what makes Fleet Foxes so special. There is a choral quality to the vocals of “Shore,” as always, adding to the calm aura of the record. “A Long Way Past The Past” takes the listener on a what feels like a long walk filled with serious conversation. “Going-to-the-Sun Road,” a song that takes its name from the famous cliffside road through Glacier National Park, oozes sunshine in its Tame Impala-Bon Iver crossover sound. “Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman,” truly feels like being cradled in sound. Fleet Foxes has a knack for beginning songs by hitting the listener with a wall of sound, and that is so perfectly represented in this track. This is a seriously beautiful album.

Cam, The Otherside

Cam’s voice is irresistible. She showed her talent for sharing painful ballads in her breakthrough single “Burning House,” and in “The Otherside” she digs deeper. She writes this record in a period of change, and captures this change and dissonance in the nostalgia of “Redwood Tree.” She teamed up with Avicii for the title track before he passed away, and it shows. His signature building melodies and guitar breaks are clear, and they go perfectly with the range of Cam’s voice. She truly shows her range in this track and this record in general, from the highs in “The Otherside” and the lows of “Changes.” “Changes” is another standout of the album, co-written by Harry Styles. This record is a gorgeous account of outgrowing love and outgrowing people after the deep bliss that you felt with them in the past. “Till There’s Nothing Left” and “Classic” are the big love songs of the record, one that melts you and one that makes you want to dance in a field of flowers. The sisterly confessional “Diane” pulls Cam back to her country roots. She ends the record with what made her famous: a beautiful, sad ballad backed only by piano. Her unique vocals are on full display as the record concludes, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Omar Apollo, Apolonio

Omar Apollo had his breakthrough in this record. His work spans languages and genres in a big way in “Apolonio.” “Kamikaze” and “Staybacik” stick to his typical R&B style, better produced than it ever has been. “Dos Uno Nueve (219)” goes a completely different direction, a Mexican corrido track featuring Yellow Room Music, honoring the Latinx musical styles that he expressed admiration for. Apollo also explores his sexuality in this album, fluidly discussing his bisexuality in “Kamikaze” and “I’m Amazing” in an exploratory manner. The whole album is generally quite exploratory, a quality that makes me even more excited for the work that is to come from Apollo.

Also worth mentioning:

Diplo, Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Snake Oil

Thundercat, It Is What It Is

Sylvan Esso, Free Love

Lauv, ~how i’m feeling~

Niall Horan, Heartbreak Weather

J Balvin, Colores

Kelsea Ballerini, kelsea

Dominic Fike, What Could Possibly Go Wrong

#music #2020

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drtanstravels · 6 years ago

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I have finally got around to wrapping up a journey that I had already written three pieces about previously, but this post contains the sole purpose for that particular trip — Anna, her friend and colleague Fatimah Gilani, myself, and some other volunteers going on a mission trip to provide free eye surgery for people in a reasonably remote area of Honduras.

So far on this trek, one that took place almost three and a half years ago, I have covered:

Central America, pt. 1: Christmas in Guatemala: Anna and I had spent a strangely warm Christmas Eve in New York City watching the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, completed a hellish check-in at Newark Airport in New Jersey, flew to Guatemala, and then spent Christmas Day exploring Antigua; chocolate museums, monasteries with deep pits full of human bones, that sort of thing.

Central America, pt. 2: “Hey! Let’s Go Climb an Active Volcano!”: We ate a heap of incredible food including pig face stew, went through some pretty cool markets, and climbed an active volcano, all before getting plastered in a hidden mezcal bar on our final night in Antigua.

Central America, pt. 3: Our First Visit to Mayan Ruins: We then flew to the Guatemalan city of Flores to explore Mayan ruins, as well as some flora and fauna at the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

In this, what was initially going to be the second instalment of my ‘Tales I’ve Forgotten to Tell‘ series, I will look at some old photos, check up Wikipedia, and ask Anna a bunch of questions, as well as try to recall whatever I can to tie up the loose ends and complete the story of what was one epic two-week getaway. As is always the case with these types of posts, there will be a ton of pictures.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015 Similar to how we had spent the previous day, Wednesday was also going to consist of walking around Mayan ruins, this time the ancient city of Tikal:

Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala’s Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces.

Also worth noting:

There are thousands of ancient structures at Tikal and only a fraction of these have been excavated, after decades of archaeological work. The most prominent surviving buildings include six very large pyramids, labelled Temples I – VI, each of which support a temple structure on their summits. Some of these pyramids are over 60 metres (200 feet) high. They were numbered sequentially during the early survey of the site. It is estimated that each of these major temples could have been built in as little as two years.

We spent most of the day on a guided tour around Tikal. One of the highlights was when our guide told us about an area where the ancient Mayans used to play a ball game resulting in a team, sometimes the winning team, being sacrificed to the Gods:

For the Maya, human sacrifices were associated with the ball game. The game, in which a hard rubber ball was knocked around by players mostly using their hips, often had religious, symbolic or spiritual meaning. Maya images show a clear connection between the ball and decapitated heads: the balls were even sometimes made from skulls. Sometimes, a ballgame would be a sort of continuation of a victorious battle: captive warriors from the vanquished tribe or city-state would be forced to play and then sacrificed afterwards. A famous image carved in stone at Chichén Itzá shows a victorious ballplayer holding aloft the decapitated head of the opposing team leader.

This was our tour guide’s reasoning as to why Guatemala are terrible at football, they simply killed off all of their best players. Anyway, a bunch of photos can probably describe the place better than words can. Some of these pictures may also begin to look similar after a while, but Tikal definitely was beautiful:

Where we’d be strolling around

A scale model

These people traveled halfway around the world to take a photo with the first punk they’d ever seen

Might steer clear of there

Lemurs?

Our first pyramid

Looking down from the top

One of our tour guides

Me inside a temple

I secrete my own salt

After Tikal we showered and went back into town to grab some dinner and find a bar to kick back in. We might have washed ourselves, but we were still so sweaty that if we did tequila shots, we wouldn’t need the salt, we could just lick our arms, which is probably what I did (right).

Thursday, December 31, 2015 It was New Year’s Eve and the plan was to travel down to Guatemala City to ring in the new year, but first we went to have a look around Lake Petén Itzá, as the city of Flores, where we had stayed for the previous three nights, lies on an island near the lake’s southern shore. Once done with the lake we went to the adjacent municipality of San Benito, another small town, but this one had somehow managed to double in size over a period of 10 years! Again, we ate well, had a look around a really sad shopping mall and some markets, having our photos taken with random strangers and trying to fight the urge to buy fireworks, before stumbling upon one of the most miserable looking amusement parks I’ve ever encountered. The park had a giant billboard for the Bolontiku Boutique Hotel, a beautiful five-star resort, however, the park itself was located directly in front of Hotel Pinita (not to be confused with the far nicer Hotel Leo Y Pinita), a place that looks like the kind of motel in which hookers get murdered in seedy films and TV series’, and one which is so bad, even their Facebook page doesn’t have photos! It’s hard to tell if the amusement park was still operating, but I doubt it, either that or they haven’t had any fatalities requiring them to move to another town yet, hence why the grass was so long. We wandered around the deathtrap rollercoasters and Disney knockoff rides before stopping in at a bar prior to making our way to Guatemala City.

After a short flight and a couple of run ins with some dodgy characters we were in the squalid heart of Guatemala City, but there was a bit of a problem — It was now 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve and we were staying in what was supposed to be the safest area of the city, mainly surrounded by embassies and very little else. We found ourselves walking around looking for a bar to celebrate in, but initially with little success as the few that were there were either full or closed. At first only two options presented themselves; there was the bar in a nearby hotel, which was where we began, one that had a two-piece band and contained a combination of some lonely-looking friends of the band and a couple of elderly people who very probably were crying into their drinks, or there was the local Hooters. Yes, we almost ended up spending New Year’s Eve in a Hooters. Hey, at least we know the wings would’ve been good, but it too was closing when we arrived. We had had a great time in Antigua and wished we had just stayed there, but we eventually found ourselves in a relatively empty bar, possibly even crashing their staff party, because it seemed that everybody drinking in the room was an employee or at least dating one. One of the significant others’ of a bar employee was an osteopath from a small town in the USA whose girlfriend only spoke Spanish, thinking this gave him a licence to say whatever he wanted in English, as she had no idea what he was saying. I got talking to this douche while Anna danced with his lovely, friendly girlfriend and it turned out he was simply an awful person. I told him that we were in Guatemala for a holiday, but were traveling to Honduras so Anna and some others could perform volunteer eye surgery in a rural community where it is difficult for the citizens to seek medical attention. His response? He said he does similar mission trips, but he doesn’t see the point because you don’t know where the money goes. I tried to explain to him that that wasn’t really the point and that it was more about helping people, a statement that led to a rather loud argument and him demanding to speak to my wife about the subject instead. This was a rookie mistake on his part, because he probably assumed that not only wouldn’t Anna be able to speak English particularly well, but she must also be yet another subservient Asian woman who will just go along with whatever he says, boosting his fragile ego. However, nothing could be further from the truth — First of all, English is Anna’s first language and secondly, anyone who has ever met Anna knows she does not back down from anyone and this guy had just opened a can of whoop-ass when he asked to discuss what he thought were the cons of Anna’s biggest passion with her. She explained the auditing process that is involved with mission work, but he tried to point out that he himself was a big deal because he works with orthopaedic surgeons. He then went on to tell us in front of his oblivious girlfriend that you simply can’t help Central American people due to them being lazy and continued to use a lot of other disrespectful terms, knowing he could get away with it, because we were among the only other people in the bar that spoke English. This just triggered Anna further, igniting a heated argument between the two. By this time it was almost midnight so we counted in the new year with the staff, had a few more drinks while ignoring that particular asshole, and then made our way back to the hotel. We couldn’t have a massive night anyway, we had to fly to Honduras the next day. A look at the final day of 2015 from our perspective:

Anna on Lake Petén Itzá in front of some cool houses

One of those houses

Our view during lunch

Not a bad place to stop off as long as you don’t have a gun. That bug on my arm is enormous!

One of many sculptures scattered around San Benito

A good example of the locals in town

So many fireworks if one were so inclined

Tempting…

Anna and a pillar

A guy who makes wire ornaments in a mall that wanted a picture with me

Approaching the dilapidated amusement park

The luxurious Hotel Pinita

I like the clown at the back the best

Michael Mouse?

A good place to stop before we get on our flight

The sad hotel bar we went into first in Guatemala City

What we thought was our only other NYE option…

…until we found this

Anna dancing with the American guy’s girlfriend. Shame she had no idea he was such a prick.

Friday, January 1, 2016 It was the first day of the new year and the main purpose of our Central American journey was finally here. We’d be flying into Toncontín International Airport, located just 6km (4 miles) from the centre of Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, and the one that was ranked second on the History Channel’s Most Extreme Airports. In fact, interestingengineering.com listed Toncontín International Airport as the eighth most dangerous airport in the world due to this little tidbit:

As you may be noticing, airports in mountains become very hard to land at due to the variant terrain and often short approaches. Toncontin Airport is no different. In order for planes to prepare for the descent, they must make a quick 45-degree bank turn to reach the runway in a valley. After this bank, planes must rapidly drop in altitude, being careful not to scrape the terrain directly underneath. High altitude makes flights to this city a real challenge.

Yes, we needed to land in one of the world’s most dangerous airports from a technical standpoint to arrive in what was once the world’s most dangerous country from a murderous point of view. I’m not kidding!:

In 2012 Honduras had the highest murder rate in its history. It also had the highest murder rate in a non-war country. In 2012, 7172 homicides were recorded. On average, there were 20 homicides a day. There was a 6.2% increase in homicides compared to the previous year. 83.4% of these homicides were committed with firearms.

Between 2011 and 2015 the murder rate in Honduras decreased by 30% (rate claimed by government, not independently confirmed). Homicides went down from 88.5 per 100,000 residents to 60.0 per 100,000. Homicide rate decrease stopped in 2016 when the murder rate did not present any significant differences from 2015. In the first semester of 2016 a rate of 14 deaths per day equalled the murder rate in 2015.

Due to the high levels of impunity in the country, the majority of murders in Honduras are never punished. In recent years only 4% of homicides have ended in a conviction. The lack of justice has produced a lack of trust in the police and other authority figures, which is not good for creating civic participation.

That’s crazy for country of just over nine million people. To put those numbers in perspective, in 2012 Honduras averaged 20 homicides per day, whereas in the last count done in 2016, Singapore had 18 (0.32 per 100,000 people) and Australia had 227 (0.94 per 100,000 people) for the entire year! Even the USA’s most recent murder rate was only 5.35 per 100,000 people, compared to Honduras’ then 88.5 per 100,000 people! At least the Honduran government had claimed the murder rate had gone down by 30% by the time we arrived, but that was only factoring in residents, however, tourists are also a big target as well due to the poverty in Honduras, along with gang problems. We weren’t going to be spending our time in Tegucigalpa though, we were going down to the city of San Lorenzo, just 34 km (21 miles) from the border with El Salvador, the newly crowned first-place on the murder poll, although with a percentage still slightly below Honduras’ personal best just a couple of years prior. Anyway, enough about the killing, let’s find out a bit more about our home for the next five nights, San Lorenzo:

San Lorenzo is a municipality in the Honduran department of Valle.

The city was established by Spaniards as a village in 1522 but not granted city status until 1909. It is the primary Honduran port on the Pacific coast and lies on the Pan American Highway.

According to the 2001 Honduran National Census, San Lorenzo is the 20th largest city with a population of 21,043. According to census, the population was divided between 19 colonias and barrios. It had a population of 15,294 in 1988 and 9,467 in 1974.

This mission trip was organised through Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International, a nonprofit organisation based out of Santa Barbara, California, and they arranged all of the accommodation and transport from Tegucigalpa to San Lorenzo, as well as within San Lorenzo to the hospital, complete with an armed detail. That’s right, nobody was allowed to travel anywhere without the company of several guys with machine guns. I’m not sure what time we arrived in Tegucigalpa, but by 4:30pm we were on the road and were on our way to San Lorenzo

Saturday, January 2, 2016 On the first day of volunteering they needed as many people as they could find to get down to the hospital early in the morning and help set up. This is an area whose economy is based around the seafood industry and agriculture, particularly fruit, but it’s difficult to make a living from fishing or farming if your eyesight isn’t the best so it was absolute madness when we arrived, with hundreds of people that were seeking help barely kept from storming the hospital early in the day by even more armed guards already in place. Take a look at the mayhem:

In the van on the way to the hospital

Our first glance of the waiting crowd from the van

A few more patients than expected, probably should set up as quickly as possible

Arranging lenses

Sticking up eye charts

The view from the inside

Almost done

Time to let them in slowly

Anna, Fatimah, and the crew trying to keep some semblance of order

One of the older patients (not the last time you’ll see her)…

…and her husband

Some weren’t doing so well

The scene out the door to the left…

…and to the right

Even the administration work was stressful!

Vision test

Another of the many volunteers

Anna doing her thing

These guys were the only thing stopping the hospital being overrun

Keeping things civil outside

It wasn’t a lot of fun for those that had to wait out in the heat

Anna conducting more vision tests

Fatimah doing similar work

Sunday, January 3, 2016 – Wednesday, January 6, 2016 The rest of days at the hospital followed a similar pattern, but also with patients from the previous day returning for checkups or to have the other eye worked on if a procedure were necessary. The only difference was that for the final two days I wasn’t permitted to travel to the hospital, despite the fact that I had made myself available to run errands or do any labouring work that was needed, due to the fact that leaving the resort where we were all staying was deemed an unnecessary safety risk for me. Instead, I was forced to stay back with nothing much else to pass the time but to kick back with a book, which was fine by me, but I did spend most of that time just hoping in the back of my mind that everyone got back safely, relieved when I heard the van arrive home each evening.

The people at SEE International did a fantastic job organising this mission trip, but I did have one major problem with the whole thing; a lot of the American non-medical volunteers and fundraisers who were present for the trip in San Lorenzo, but spent all day kicking back at the resort, were devout Christians from the same church and also appeared to be spoilt trust fund kids. None of them were struggling for cash. Lunch was a standard meal at the resort and supplied to the volunteers at the hospital, but a buffet of home-cooked food was provided for dinner at the resort every night, generally an hour or so before any of the volunteers or guards had returned back from an extremely tiring and busy day of free labour. I saw on the final nights that before each dinner they would say grace, saying how they were doing God’s work and thus they were blessed with the bounty they were about to consume, and went on to eat almost all of the food, leaving hardly anything for the people who were really getting their hands dirty when they returned from the hospital! It was disgusting. At least on the final night they took everyone else out for dinner and drinks to thank all of the surgeons for their hard work in improving the lives of many Hondurans who normally couldn’t access or afford the help they received. Some more photos from those final days in San Lorenzo, Honduras:

They seem pleased with the results

Anna and Fatimah take a lot of pride in doing this type of thing

Anna checking up on the previous day’s procedure

Some more people back for checkups

And more

I think that was intended for her eye

Another satisfied customer

There were still a lot waiting outside each day

Definitely meets the criteria for being a wheelchair

The local media interviewing some patients

A typical lunch for the volunteers

These guys were literal lifesavers, it all would’ve been a lot scarier without them around

Finally time to unwind

The view from our restaurant on the last night

Everyone involved having dinner

Sorting out what needed to be returned and what could be chucked out before heading back to the US

On the way back to Tegucigalpa

Outside Toncontín International Airport

The final leg of this particular trip was an unusual one — Checking out ancient ruins is always fun, especially in a place like Tikal, we had one of our most anti-climactic New Year’s Eves ever in Guatemala City, and doing volunteer work in Honduras was at times terrifying, but ultimately satisfying, something that couldn’t have been achieved without the hardworking people at SEE International.

I finally got around to writing about the sole reason we went to Honduras three and a half years ago I have finally got around to wrapping up a journey that I had already written three pieces about previously, but this post contains the sole purpose for that particular trip -- Anna, her friend and colleague Fatimah Gilani, myself, and some other volunteers going on a mission trip to provide free eye surgery for people in a reasonably remote area of Honduras.

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