HOME	Where the World's Views of America Come into Focus

By Ramon Tejeda

Original Article (Spanish)

Uninhibited, as if she was an everyday tourist, famous actress Cameron Diaz learned "End Dancing," drank Honduran beer and enjoyed all the great things there are do in the "Hog Islands," or Cayos Cochinos.

The Hog Islands are 13 small islands off of the northeast coast of Honduras. "End Dancing" is a practice of the Garífuna, an ethnic group of Honduras. The instruments used are drums for percussion and snail shells for wind instruments.

For Diaz and her entourage, things seemed perfect and everyone was enjoying themselves, but the festivities suddenly came to a halt with the appearance of two photographers. Things went from bad to worse when they realized that one of the tourists partying with them was a newspaper journalist.

The group became very annoyed with their local advisors and with the lack of security, and tried whatever they could to keep this story from being published. They tried everything from attempting bribes and threatening to call in the military, to searching the photographers -- who suddenly disappeared.

THE DETAILS

The actress, dressed in tiny shorts and a striped t-shirt, and her retinue were provided accommodation at a Hog Island hotel for the weekend.

After diving, they warned that they would visit the only inhabited area in Chachahuate [a small island in the Hog Island group].

The agreed upon hour for the Garífuna dancers to perform was 4pm.

About 30 minutes before their arrival on the small island, which is no more than 265 feet (80m) long by 50 feet (15m) wide, a group of people with video equipment arrived to investigate who was there and what they were doing. In addition to the natives, there were three tourists drinking beer. The coast seemed to be clear at the time the retinue arrived.

Cameras, possibly from MTV, were turned on before the boats docked at the beach.

The cameras and microphones were taken down to the beach and were running. The first thing Cameron did was engage in dialog with the natives of the small fishing community.

The children were the focus of Cameron and her partner Justin Timberlake, and there seemed to be a special bond that was formed.

With some caution they walked on the white sand, and the dialogue and the recordings continued. When it seemed the attention had died down, they began washing three live lobsters. This brought attention to them and they were soon surrounded once again by camcorders and photographers.

THE CELEBRATION

The drums began to sound and one by one, the visitors began to arrive.

Soon a two-year-old boy caught Timberlake's attention and ran to bring a refreshment to him. But only after he had taken the time to oxidize the tip of the bottle.

The rest of the group approached with some distrust. Then Diaz began to dance with someone in the group of garífunas, and the atmosphere ignited.

The Charlie's Angels' actress did not hold back and began moving her hips and dancing in a way that surprised the garífunas, their eyes focused on those blue shorts moving from one side to another.

In order to add a little more spice to the atmosphere and to help the garífunas, Diaz took out a $50 bill and threw it in the ground, a local tradition. One of the locals did the same, only a $20 bill was thrown.

The photographers were surprised as they eyed Cameron, who next took the group to a yacht, after which the photographers disappeared.

THE SEARCH

It was 5:30pm when she and Timberlake left. This is when the pleas began for more pictures of the couple, a pursuit that didn't end until almost 11pm.

The next morning the couple tried to get the photographers off the island but were faced with the argument that the photographers had as much of a right to be there as Cameron and Timberlake.

After the lawyers and others failed find a solution, threats began that there would be a house-to-house search to rid the island of the paparazzi. Emotions were high at that point, with tourists and locals alike arguing that journalists had as much of a right to be on the island as anyone else, and that searching their residences without a court order was a crime.

Offers of money then began for the whereabouts of photographers, who they suspected had gone into hiding.

About 10pm they found the house where the photographers were hiding and after being pressured, the photographers left their accommodations, obviously tired, as they had been asleep. In order to avoid further problems, the photographers deleted all of the pictures they had taken.

Diaz reportedly paid the photographers a total of $100, or about $3 each.

Diaz and her entourage could be heard starting their yachts up at 5:30am to leave for Roatán [a city on the Honduran mainland], very annoyed and fleeing to avoid the possible arrival of more journalists.

RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES

The artists made the people who had helped them during their stay in Honduras sign a confidentially agreement.

Cameron Diaz arrived at the island of Roatán at noon on Saturday and was expected to leave for the United States on Friday.