Why did the chicken catch the bus?

The people of Honduras greet travellers with openly friendly and smiling faces, and the infectious friendliness of the locals quickly wins you over. This is a country that does not see many tourists but the warm hearted locals make for a very pleasant stopover. My friend and I started our visit with a bus journey from beautiful Leon to the Nicaraguan border through a very undeveloped area of the country. We were puzzled to see three very well dressed chicas jump on the bus in the middle of nowhere only to jump off the bus after an hour or so; still in the middle of nowhere. That will remain one of those travel mysteries! We crossed the border into Honduras with a high five while riding on a triciclero which was certainly a new experience and then proceeded to line up for immigration. I nearly went to another official because his line was shorter but noticed his uniform was slightly different and then had a quick read of the badges. How wonderful, the two officials from Nicaragua and Honduras were literally working side by side: stamp out, crab walk five steps, stamp in. How easy was that!

We jumped on a local bus to Tegucigalpa which is the capital of Honduras and arrived in mid afternoon. Strolling around, having a good meal and then relaxing back at the hostel was the plan after our commute. It is so nice to be crewed up again as I believe us humans are basically gregarious creatures, and I was surprised to see another American traveller at the restaurant in Tegucigalpa who I had bumped into in three consecutive Central American countries. We chatted about itineraries which happened to coincide and now we are a crew of three which is even better. The next morning we caught a chicken bus to La Esperanza and then we got on a crammed and squeezy minivan to the charming mountain town of Gracias by early afternoon. It's amazing how many people they manage to fit in these vans. Again it was nice to be off the beaten track and we were the only tourists in sight. We strolled around the town in the afternoon and greeted the friendly locals as they passed.

Honduras has largely escaped the terrible violence that has beset neighbouring countries during the civil wars of the 1980´s. The Honduran people are known in Central America as being very laid back and as an Aussie I can certainly relate to that! The next morning we were up early again and we needed three connecting chicken bus trips to arrive at the gorgeous little town of Copan Ruinas. The town is only 1km from the famous Mayan ruins of the same name. We had the whole afternoon as downtime and went out that night with some people from the hostel for dinner over a few drinks.

We got up early the next morning and strolled the 1km from town to visit the world heritage listed archaeological site at Copan. I believe that going to ruins first thing in the morning in order to beat the crowds makes for the optimal experience, it was so serene and peaceful and gives every opportunity to stroll around and take pictures at your leisure. The ruins are up to 1500 years old and it is believed Copan supported up to 20,000 inhabitants when the city was at it´s peak. This has been my first experience of Mayan ruins in Central America and I was one snap happy tourist for the morning. In the afternoon we caught a bus back to Santa Rosa which is another pretty colonial town in the mountains.

The people of Honduras have been very welcoming during this brief visit with vivid memories including men in white stetsons, and chickens with their legs tied being taken on the local buses. As a friend from home put it in an email to me: " I know why the chicken crossed the road ... but why did it catch the bus?" Nice one mate! Of course there are also the famous Mayan ruins of Copan to explore dear reader so,................. basically all of you should be here now!

Top 3 Hotels/Restaurants
Tobacco Road Inn - Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Hotel Finca Bavaria - Gracias, Honduras
En la Manzana Verde - Copan Ruinas, Honduras

Top 3 Sights/Activities
Mayan ruins - Copan, Honduras
Strolling - Gracias, Honduras
Chicken bus rides - Honduras

As I continue my travels, until next time it´s signing off for now.

Tom

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