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Published: April 16th 2006
La Tigra
An old growth treeWe are trying to make best of this week in Tegucigalpa....taking day trips, working out in the gym at the hotel, and watching movies on TV.
On Wednesday, we took a local bus to the tourist town of Valle de Angeles. Bill described it as the "LaConner of the Tegucigalpa area". There are lots of souvenir shops and restaurants, horse drawn carriages to ride in and local color in the form of cowboys riding through town from time to time. Valle de Angeles, originally a mining town, is set high in the mountains and the ride up there was the best part. The bus cost $.50 each way.
On Thursday, Bill tried to get his house documents that are supposedly in town, but all the FedEx offices were closed. So we decided to go to another mountain village, Santa Lucia, which is also a local tourist destination. The town was OK...very hilly, but with some nice views of the pine covered hills. The church is quite pretty, but we arrived in town (by foot from the main road...2.5 kilometers..since the buses to the town weren't running because it's Holy Week) just as what appeared to be an entire village
Another church: Iglesia de Dolores
We stopped here on our walking tour of the city. It was closed of course...on the front are both Christian and Mayan symbols. arrived by truck for a funeral. There were pick-up trucks and cattle trucks, each jammed with people standing in the beds. We were able to take a quick look into the church as it filled with mourners, but didn't get to see the wooden Christ carving sent by the king of Spain as thanks for all the gold that was sent to Spain from mines here....
On Friday we had planned a trip to the nearby national park of La Tigra, where there is a cloud forest and many possibilities of animal and bird sightings. However, it seems that most buses weren't running and the hotel desk personnel said we shouldn't be out wandering around, since the streets are deserted! So we wandered around downtown anyway, watched the sawdust carpets being prepared for the procession and got takeout from Pizzahut!
On Saturday, we did go to La Tigra, and hiked for a few hours in cloud forest. The ride up and back in a local bus was almost as interesting as the park itself. As we wound our way up the mountains and out of the city, we passed the ever-expanding barrios (which are usually without water and
On the way up to the park
Bill in front of a decaying building...many streets are this steep... sewer systems) and then giant mansions, surrounded by walls topped with razor wire and electric fencing. After leaving these (and the paved road) behind, we passed small villages where flower growing and selling is one of the main occupations. The bus turned around about 2 kilometers from the park entrance, after having steadily climbed the whole way. We had to hike uphill for 20 minutes or so to the park, which left us ready for a nap...! The park was busy with Honduran families, but we were alone on the trail for much of the time.
We didn't see much wildlife except a squirrel and several birds, but the plant diversity was amazing. The forest had been almost totally logged off in the first half of the 20th century, and the timber used in the mines on the other side of the park. However, there were several really large trees standing that gave a sense of what it had been like. The mines were owned by Americans, who pillaged the forests and took the gold and other precious metals out of the country (and had the local army "encourage" the peasants to work in the mines). Not a proud
moment in our history....
This next part is not travelogue..so skip it if you don't want to hear my political musings...
I am reading Thomas Friedman's book, "The World is Flat", right now, and finding it so discouraging to think where the kids we are meeting are going to be left as world becomes a single marketplace. 44% of the kids in Honduras are malnourished, and therefore would not be able to compete in a world market, even if they had access to quality education. The countries here have been exploited for so long (by the Spanish, by the Americans, and now by their elected officials and gangs) that, as one expat we met said, they are proud of simply being able to survive.
He was talking to us from behind the padlocked gate of his hotel, which he kept locked even in the day time, and telling us how much he loved living here. The criminals here are better armed than the police, who sometimes take several hours to respond to a call for aid. We have never felt in danger, but we realize that robbery is a fact of life here....from pickpocketing to house break-ins
Valle de Angeles
These roosters are typical art work form the area. A few decades ago, an initiative to retrain people here in arts after the mines closed was begun, and this is now a folk art center. I bought a small wooden box here, with an etching done in wood burning. in broad daylight to government officials making off with what little money the country has....
The problems here are so huge (and the country we are visiting next, Nicaragua, is even poorer), that I cannot see a way that this generation of kids will have a decent life....The new mayor of Tegucigalpa has promised to get water to the barrios and to clean the streets, but he inherited a huge debt...I will not miss this aspect of our travels...
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Jose Mendoza
non-member comment
Interesting
Somehow I found this page to see you have very interesting comments and pictures of Tegucigalpa. Places where I'v been too since I live here. I' m sure you enjoyed La Tigra. I'ts such a nice place to be close of Tegucigalpa. Well, I hope you had a great time in my country and you are always welcome here! Since now you are in Nicaragua, well enjoy it too. Sincerely, Jose, jmendozahon@yahoo.com