HONDURAS - 26th November to 1st December 2009

Introduction

One cannot help but be in awe of Honduras ' natural charms – rugged green mountains to the beaches of the Caribbean , but that's where it ended for us. 90% of the population is Mestizo with the remaining comprising indigenous tribes and coastal Garifuna.

Background and History

Humans are thought to have roamed this land from 10000BC settling into farmers around 3000 years ago with the Maya in the north and ancestors of today's indigenous tribes migrating up from South America's rainforests. Columbus arrived in 1502 and Spanish germs and warfare then eroded the local population. Honduras was at the mercy of global powers for centuries despite independence from Spain in 1821 and its separation from the Central American Federation in 1838. Post independence it has experienced hundreds of coups, power seizures and electoral irregularities – especially from the end of the 19 th century when the lucrative banana industry had the USA influencing affairs (hence the phrase banana republic). With the USA 's support it escaped the conflicts in the region in the 1980's but with it being used as a base for the Contra wars against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government. Local opposition to US militarization eventually had the US out in 1988 and the country ruled democratically (but with the military exercising power behind the scenes).

Our Experience

If ever there was inefficiency and just plain stupidity, it's concentrated in Honduras customs! We had to pay $3 each to clear immigration which was painless but it took 6 hours of waiting for officials to prepare a single paper to allow Tipperdee through. No inspection, just complete ignorance of the procedure and for this we had to pay $35! Just the arithmetic of currency conversion and finding the stamps was a mission that stretched our well worn patience. By 2pm we were eventually armed with a 90 day permit for ourselves and the vehicle and headed for Santa Rosa de Copan. As we drove through the mountainous terrain we passed pine trees at 2000m then cloud forests and fertile highland valleys supporting subsistence farming.

Every ½ hour or so, we had to present our documents at police stops, where they perused it without any real intelligible demeanour. One could only feel sorry for the local person's harsh basic living conditions and them having to deal with such an inefficient bureaucratic system. As the sun set we parked alongside a gas station on the outskirts on La Entrada for the night. We decided to give the Maya's southernmost ruins at Copan a miss after having visited quite a few and felt the need to chill at a beach after all the frustration. Rain however accompanied us all the way to the Caribbean coast and just outside San Pedro Sula , police at another road block found a reason to extort $35 from us. Threatening to keep my drivers licence and preferring not to write a ticket for our lack of safety belts, they harassed us as local vehicles (with 5 or more people in the front seat) crossed barrier lines! The rain pelted down heavier as we reached Tela on the coast and by late afternoon we settled in at La Ceiba and bush camped opposite the Caribbean 's brown sea. This supposedly tourist party town was just a polluted unkempt mess with unappetising beaches and we cocooned ourselves in Tipperdee watching hours of the 24 series. Foul weather persisted, discouraging an excursion to the Bay Islands or exploring the surrounding wet muddy countryside. As the bad weather appeared a fixture, we headed back west to explore Tela. His however was not much to look at with pricy restaurants and the adjacent Garifuna villages were even less of a draw with their rubbish-strewn properties along poorly maintained dirt roads. An hour before sunset we gave up and set up camp near a beach and rather finished the final 6 hours of 24.

On the 29 th the road took us along the fertile coastal plains with banana, palm oil and pineapple plantations to El Progresso where lunch at last included tapado (a soup like Garifuna stew of shrimp, conch, crab, coconut milk, plantain and cassava). An hour later picturesque Lago Yojoa nestled between lush mountains was far more pleasing than the coast, especially the nearby 43m Pulhapanzak waterfall on the Rio Lindo where we camped for the night. We spent the next morning enjoying the natural water-park and later learnt that the country elected a new President that day, shelving the recent political turmoil. What a mission to find the poorly sign posted D&D B&B Micro Brewery near Pena Blanca, but it paid off with great local brews and pop – thanks to a Native American from Oregon . It was also a great base to relax, do school and do the general washing routine. Early the next morning, Ricardo a local with an unbelievable knowledge of birds and a keen eye took us on a little boat trip down a canal and skirted the edges of the lake for 3 hours. He picked out toucans, egrets, iguanas and a host of other species. The serene beauty of this jungle-like setting was our highlight of the country.

By noon we were back on the road to Comayagua, the former colonial capital with a legacy of ornate churches and pretty plazas. The 40km per hour progress over typical Central American roads with road works and police checks to the current capital, Tegucigalpa ended in a typical sprawling chaotic dirty metropolis. Impatient fume-belching traffic jams, frenetic crowds and shanty towns clinging to the surrounding mountain sides did not paint a pretty picture. In our desperation to bypass all of this to Valle de Angeles, we took a wrong north towards Juticalpa, mistaking it for Jutiapa! At least we were free of the city and after about 20km we found a safe looking gas station just as the last rays of light were vanishing. However a change of shift around 8pm with the gas station looking rather deserted, forced us into a different course! A rather intoxicated guard wielding a shotgun, demanded $10 from us to park here. After trying to explain in broken Spanish that we just wanted to park for the night, we thought it prudent to retreat back towards the city in search of another sleeping option – a police checkpoint seemed a safe bet and for once the authorities were on our side! Unfortunately we still had to backtrack through the mess of a capital the next day as we headed south east to the border town of Las Manos – thankfully a helpful local guided us through the traffic jams and set us on the highway to Danli. It was amazing how the countryside improved with greener, cleaner and a more organised appearance as we left the urban jungle.

Exiting Honduras was relatively quick, though disorganised with immigration demanding another $3 per person to stamp our passports (something that is not apparently required on this CA4 agreement!). Adios.

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