Off to a Good Start in Honduras

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A fairly straight forward ride today with a reasonable 95km clocked. The biggest surprise was the difference in terrain. I was expecting hot and humid, but instead I got hot and dry. Eventhough this area of Honduras is close to the ocean, it was very arid. As a result, the vegetation was completely different to what I saw along the coast of Guatemala and El Salvador.

I wasn't sure what to expect for accomodations in Honduras, but I was pleasantly surprised with the first hotel that I came across in Nacaome. It was actually one of the nicest I had ever stayed in on tour. The room was increadibly spacious with a non-boxy layout. There was even a swimming pool clean enough to swim in! A couple of hotels I had stayed at during this trip had pools, but they were much too dirty to even think of taking a dip in. The water colour seemed to be more green than blue.

One of the more interesting experiences of the day was exchanging money in town. I went to a bank and they said they didn't exchange dollars??? I know the US dollar has been weak, but this has to be a first. However, they gave me a name of place to exchange the dollars. However, when I got there I couldn't find the building. I asked someone nearby and they directed me to a door, which led to another door (no signage). There was a little slot in the big wooden door for someone to look out and one to exchange the money. The rate was good, and this was a referal from a reputable bank, so I thought why not... It seemed pretty shady though.

One pleasant surprise so far is that no one has been trying to rip me off with prices. They probably get so few tourists here that it isn't worth the effort, but it is sure nice to have one less thing to worry about.

I have sure been helping Coca Cola out with all of the Gatorade I have been purchasing during my riding days. I usually go through 2-3 large bottles a day.

Another thing that has preoccupied my riding days is watching all the vultures. We have seagulls to take care of trash; Central America has vultures to do the same thing. However, they are a lot bigger and a lot uglier than our little white birds back home.

Off to Tegucigalpa tomorrow and the big climb up into the mountains.

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