Honduras: Salva Vida, Hormigas, Playas bonitas, y cuidades NOT SO bonitas!!
Hi all.
Well, how can you not LOVE a country where the national beer is called “Salva Vida”, which literally means Save Life or Lifesaver, like one of those circular things hanging on the side of a big ship, that you throw to someone who has just fallen in the water… In guatemala they had bottled water with the same name.. hmmmmm.
My first impressions of Honduras were of extremely helpful and kind folks at the border with Guatemala, who not only guided me to where to pay, but also came to get me at the road side Comedor to point out my bus to me as it arrived. Im learning that guidebooks are helpful to an extent but that, at least here in C.A. a guidebook published 2 years ago is already sadly outdated. The border crossing sounded so complicated in the book, but went rather smoothly. There were 10 guys ready to change your money, lots of women at the Comedors ready to feed you, and a fairly comfortable, airconditioned bus to speed you to your next destination .. (ok, not all days run this smoothy!…)
Honduras also seems more militarized than guate. with guys on nearly every corner with BIG guns. it somehow seems normal to me now, to see dudes walking through the park, carrying huge weapons. What a strange thing to seem “normal” eh?
I arrived in San Pedro Sula and met Belen, a former INEPAS volunteer from Spain, and friend of Bret and Mario, who is now working for an organization called Medicos del Mundo in Honduras. I stayed in her home/office for a few days and enjoyed great hospitality and ended up making a new friend. I didnt get a great feeling for the city, as we stayed in a nice (read safe) neighborhood outside the city center, but the times we did venture into the city, i was happy to be sleeping in the ´burbs! The center was a dirty, noisy, not-so-pretty site. Also, one of my first impressions of the city was how ¨Americanized¨the place is.. You could not drive a block without seeing a McDonalds, Wendys, etc. Scaaary! and we even visited a mall, which was even scarier! a necessary evil, but so interesting to see all the American stores. Unfortunately, i was there on May 1st the day of the boycott, so while i did not buy anything American, i have to report that the lines outside KFC, Dunkin Donuts and Cinnabon were LONG! Que pena!!
We enjoyed a wonderful weekend on the Caribbean coast. We started in Tela, but due to the Labor day holiday and crowded hotels, we were “forced” to stay in a Garifuna village near the town, called La Ensenada. We found a little hotel, had a great lunch of fried shrimp, plantain chips, rice and beans.. sitting at the beach, watching a woman peel the fresh shrimp right before putting them in the fryer was pretty nice! You cant really beat the Caribbean. After a wonderful day at the beach and a great dinner in Tela, we got back to our hotel tired and ready for sleep. Unfortunately, the giant ANTS -hormigas- staying in our room with us had different plans.. EEW. well, it started when we saw about 10 or 15 of them crawl out from the wood paneling..ok, we stomped on them and called it good. But then it continued, as if the ants friends were coming after us. We alerted the woman in charge of the place and she came in a sprayed Raid.. Well, i have never seen anything like it in my life.. luckly i had a fairly bug free childhood.. 100s, and im not exagerating, 100s of ants started pouring out of the walls when she sprayed them.. And though she encouraged us that “No pican” - they dont bite, and kept trying to point out that they were dying.. we were not convinced, as both Belen and i tried to find “safe” places around the room from which to watch in horror. If they had only kept their distance and stayed on the floor it might have been ok, but when they started going for my bed, id had enough..Finally, though im sure she thought “crazy gringas”, the owner offered to move us to another room without wood, and hopefully therefore, without ants. So, we moved to a room with a leaky fan, no water in the sink, but ant free, and slept peacefully!
The next day we enjoyed an ideal day. We drove in Belens Toyota pickup -quote by Lonely Planet, “this road should only be negotiated by 4×4″, about 30 minutes on sand roads to a little Garifuna village called Miami. The journey started by us getting the pick up stuck within the first 3 minutes. But after two nice guys on 4 wheelers pushed us out, they offered to lead us all the way to Miami to make sure we made it. They also gave us -belen- advice on how to drive and even stopped along the way to give suggestions via hand gestures. Though we were nervous and white-knuckeling it the whole way, we made it! The journey was well worth it, as we enjoyed a boat ride through a lagoon, spent time swimming on sunning on a mostly deserted beach, and enjoyed lunch with a family of honduran tourists from the city– fresh fish fried up in a shack right next to our table..Delicious! Belen told me that while i was at the beach the woman from San Pedro was asking her all kinds of questions about me.. where was i traveling, for how long, was i alone etc. And when Belen told her she said “Estas Americanas” -these American girls-.. Neither Belen nor I was really quite sure if she meant im Crazy or Brave. I decided she must mean the latter!
One of the first nights of heavy rain during my trip happened while in San Pedro and i was reminded that the rainy season is in fact, coming. It was louder and harder than any rain ive heard in my life.. woke me from a sound sleep and in my delirium i thought a plane was landing on the rooftop!!
Spent another day hanging out with Belen in San Pedro. Finished the time there with a nice dinner and Spanish wine., Sad to say goodbye to my new friend, i moved on the Copan Ruinas the next day.
5/2- Copan Ruinas was a charming town, only 1km from the Ruins themselves, but amazingly not overrun by tourists. My own personal tour guide greeted me at the bus station -okay, so there were 10 guys there clamoring to get everyone to stay at their hotel and i just picked the first one.. ha- They were virtually unaviodable and Nelson didnt take my polite No for an answer as he simply followed me up the hill and started showing me around town. I agreed after looking at a few, to stay at “his” hotel- what they hell, he probably gets a dollar for sending me there and it was a decent place.
The next few days i spent visiting the ruins, horseback riding, and enjoying the small town, relaxed life. The Mayan city of Copan probably started in about 1200BC and ended around 800 AD. The ruins were really interesting– not as impressive size wise, as say Tikal, but they are known for the number of stone sculptures and altars. The stelae maintain carvings with impressive detail, and sometimes original paint. Copan also has the longest inscribed text in the new world, called The hieroglphic stairway, which tells the story of all the rulers of Copan.
Woke up at 4am to a Latin American norm, it seems. Fireworks.. oh, and blaring Ranchera music. Were told that they do this to mark an auspicious ocassion, like a birth or wedding.. hmmmm. Sounded like it was in the patio of our hotel. It is funny how different things are here, i actually was lying in bed thinking, “oh, surely someone is going to put a stop to this..” or “wont the police to something?”.. ok, i didnt really think the latter, but its just a small example of how different little things are here, everyone just listened to the music and fireworks for a few hours, and no one seemed too bothered!
Our horseback ride took us through vegetable fields and up into the mtns. around Copan Ruinas, where we visited a community called La Pintada. A community of about 70 families, that recently got electricity thanks to a Japanese govt. project. They also have a small school with 3 teachers for 75 kids, most of whom walk about 3 hours roundtrip each day just to attend school. The community has a womens artesania -handicrafts- cooperative, run by Japanese volunteers, who have taught the women how to make dolls and how to weave so that they can have a product to sell in the markets. Met some beautiful women who were wiling to let us watch them working, and got to chat with some of the school kids as well. Our guide took us to the home of one woman in the community so we could see her home, watch her making tortillas and of course, drink warm Coca Cola to “quench” our thirst. We really could not turn down the thirst quenching beverage after such hospitality! This womans house was amazing. Basically twigs and earth mixed with leaves for walls, dirt floor, cooking over open flame, “beds” on the floor, chickens running in and out of the house and a little dog chasing after! Ive seen houses like this before, but still, each time it seems to make an impression on me.. just imagining living in those conditions and remembering how lucky i am -
I ended up in Tegucigalpa my last night in Honduras, where Santiago, the uncle of my friend Angel was nice enough to book me a room in a nice hotel. At first i was hesitant because is was bit over budget but after another 8 hour day on the bus and after seeing Tegus up close, i was glad to stay in a nice place! the city is Dirty, brown, noisy –is this a theme with Latin American cities??– and frankly a bit scary! traffic was a nightmare so it was a 2 hour, sticky cab ride to the hotel. During the journey ***** Mom, aunties, anyone else who might worry too much about me, YOU ARE WARNED TO SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAGH HERE….*****, the drivers were weaving into and out of eachother in the traffic and my pushy cab driver nosed his way in front of an SUV, whose driver was less than pleased. Well, in stead of just honking madly like your average city driver, this dude whipped out a gun and started flashing it at my cabbie..the best part is I was the only one who noticed, and while the cabbie was oblivious, I kept my eye out the back window the whole journey to make sure SUV guy wasnt following us!!!! nice.
Got to meet Santiago, Angels cousin, his wife Sandra and 9 month old baby daughter the next morning, when they picked me up to bring me to the station. Unfortunately, we only had time for a quick visit, but they were so kind to drive me there! I apolgized profusely that we werent able to have coffee or breakfast, but Santiago insisted they were happy to meet me! besides, he said “IF Angel finds out you came through the city and we didnt meet you, he will KILL me!”.
On to Nicaragua it is then!!!!
Until next time, take care.
j
2 comments Posted by jennie on May 12th, 2006