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Published: July 25th 2006
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Intro to Tegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, is a busy, noisy, city nestled in a bowl-shaped valley surrounded by a ring of mountains. At an altitude of 975 meters, it has a fresh and pleasant climate, much cooler than the coasts. The surrounding mountainous region is covered in pine trees. The name Tegucigalpa (Teh-goos-ee-GAL-pa) is a bit of a mouth full; Hondurans often call the city Tegus (TEH-goos) for short. The name, meaning "silver hall" in the original local Nahuatl dialect, was bestowed when the Spanish founded the city as a silver and gold mining center in 1578, on the slopes of Picacho. Tegucigalpa became the capital of Honduras in 1880, when the government seat was moved from Comayagua, 82 kilometers to the northwest. In 1938 Comayaguela, on the opposite side of the river from Tegucigalpa, became part of the city.
Our Experience
We spent three nights in Teguciglapa (which I will lovingly call Te'goose for the rest of this entry). After an eventful "truck-to-school bus-to-greyhound bus" ride from Gracias we arrived in Te'goose around 5PM. We took a taxi from the bus depot (which happened to be a Texaco gas station) to a hotel downtown. The first order of business upon arrival was food. Before hopping in the back of the pick-up in Gracias we managed to grab a bit of a bite to eat. I had a SnackPack pudding and a small bottle of Gatorade. Joe had three pineapple nutrigrain-ish bars and a bottle of OJ. In between buses in La Esperanza, I managed to find some wanna-be Oreos (we each had two) and four caramel hard candies. And that my friend is all we had to eat... ALL DAY... until Te'goose. So, after setting our stuff down in our hotel room we blitzed to the nearest restaurant.
After dinner I wasn't feeling well. A typical Lila reaction to not eating much all day. Joe went to grab water and check his e-mail while I rested in our hotel room letting my body absorb the food
Cathedral with Christian and Indigenous Symbols Above the Altar
See the Sun and Moon in the upper left and right corner of the picture? it just ate. By the time Joe got back I felt a lot better, so I went out to check my e-mail while he took it easy in the hotel room. After our respective outings we took turns showering in one of the coldest, most miserable showers we've had to deal with. It was like an iceberg was pouring (and I mean POURING) all over you. After that we went put our cold selves to bed.
The next morning we decided to drop off some laundry, find another hotel, and then see some of the city... but first... food!!! We found a Pizza Hut nearby and ate a Gigante Hawaiiana. Yummy! After brunch, we walked down to the laundry and dropped off our clothes and then checked out a nearby hotel. The desk clerk said the hotel had hot water so we said: SOLD! We walked back up to our old hotel, packed our bags, and checked into our new hotel! We decided to relax for a bit, read, and enjoy the TV in our new room. Joe really wasn't feeling well, so he decided to stay in for the rest of the day. Later in the afternoon I
picked up our laundry and then took myself downtown to see the churches, scope out the museums, and grab dinner (which was Subway!). After another cold (albeit not entirely miserable) shower, we went to sleep. So much for hot water.
Lila's Note: As many of you already know, traveling with Joe has the added advantage of minimizing the number of "comments" I receive from men... but it does not eliminate them entirely. While hurrying to catch a bus from La Entrada to Gracias a few days ago I had a group of gentlemen (in their 30s more/less) say "I love you" several times... and I wasn't more than a couple of steps behind Joe. (Joe never heard them!) Aside from that incident and a few glances, I have received much less unwanted attention than I did when I traveled by myself in Mexico. However, when I took my solo trip through Te'goose I got a chance to get reacquainted with the attention I'd been "missing." I got several direct comments (usually something along the lines of "mi amor" translated: "my love"), one hiss (eek!), a hand somehow "brushed" my leg, and two gentlemen initiated and extended conversation. Sigh. So
it goes being a woman. On the upside, I have never been threatened. These men tend to act like construction workers... if they can get away with something in passing or from a distance they'll do it, but if you approach them or are in close quarters (taxi, museum, restaurant) they are proper to the point of being shy. It is really a strange behavior. Someone should do a graduate thesis on the topic.
The next morning we went to the National Art Gallery. It was a small museum, but the pieces - in my opinion - were quite good. A very nice survey of Honduran art. After the museum, we went to Pizza Hut for lunch - again! We had a Gigante Pepperoni this time. Yummy - again! After lunch we tried (and failed... quite miserably) to get a bus from Te'goose to the colonial capital of Honduras. The town, Comayagua, was about 2 hours from Te'goose. We wanted to make a day trip of it, but the Honduran bus system got the better of us. Seriously. We couldn't find the bus station or the bus to save our lives. Eventually we gave up and decided to spend
the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the city. After a nice nap we went back downtown, walked around, called home (sorry we missed you again Mrs. North), and had supper. Back in our hotel, we watched TV and took HOT showers!!! It was great, but why wasn't the water hot the night before? The world may never know.
Joe's Note: The hot water was one of the more surprising things I've experienced. I was in the middle of my cold shower when all the sudden the water turned warm. I didn't do anything. Needless to say I left it running for Lila to make sure the hot water kept flowing.
The next morning we got up, packed our bags, and took a taxi to the bus terminal for buses headed to the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. Before catching the bus, we had breakfast at BK. The bus ride from Te'goose to the border took about three hours. I slept, Joe read, and we both looked out the window for a bit. As usual we changed our Lempiras (Honduran money) to Cordobas (Nicaraguan money), went through immigration, and then walked across the border. Immigration was a bit confusing this
time around. Apparently, Joe and I got in the line for Nicaragua before we had cleared Honduras. I was allowed to go through the wrong line, but Joe and the other American dude behind me had to go to the Honduran window (pay $3 US dollars) and then go to the Nicaraguan window (pay $7 US dollars). I only had to pay the Nicaraguan guy $7. Joe was really annoyed that he had to pay more to cross the border, but he eventually realized it was only $3 and got over it. From the border, we shared a cab with the other American to Ocotal which basically honked repeatedly to delay the departure of the bus we needed to get us to Esteli - our first stop in Nicaragua.
Up Next...
Hello Nicaragua!!! Starting with the town of Esteli.
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