Gracias!

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Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I´m in a town called Gracias in western Honduras at the moment and am having a lazy day. So I thought it would be a good time to catch up on things.

I guess when we last talked I was in Xela just before Christmas. I spent Christmas with the family I´d been staying with. Me mom, daughter, two cousins and a german girl that was also living with them. The typical Christmas meal consisted of slow cooked pork in a tomato based sauce, rice suffle, a salad, tomales, a homemade fruitpunch(non alcoholic) and lots of garlic. It was a pretty mellow affair. We ate drank and talked. All this went down late on Christmas eve. Apparently its traditional to go to church around 9 or 10 that night and then start eating at midnight. I guess waiting until Christ was born. Our family wasn´t that into it so we ate at about 10 and didn´t go to church. No presents either. They can´t really afford it. All the money goes to the food. The german girl and I pitched in and payed for a good share of the feast to try and help out.

I left on boxing day and made my way to Honduras with a night stopover in Antigua. The buses roll pretty early here, which I love 😞 so I pulled an all nighter that night and got on my over crowded shuttle to Copan at 4am. The border crossing was smooth. We the gringos didn´t understand shit but they know that. Just get of the bus walk up and someone tells you to stand in a line. Get to the front and pay $3 to leave Guatemala. Then someone tells you to go to the next line, get to the front and pay $2 dollars to enter Honduras. No worries. I´ve had more hassle trying to get into Canada.

Although not one of the bigger sites, Copan Ruinas is famous for being one of the best preserved mayan ruins in Central America. So I was excited to get there and pop my ruin cherry. Its popular so I got there early and walked around before all the tour groups arrived. Was able to get some pictures without hoards of tourist in them. It was great. The whole scene including the surrounding jungle was really cool.

The town of Copan was a mellow little town. Touristy but not busy busy like Antigua. Lot more laid back which I liked and so I got stuck there for a week. No volcano hikes or spanish classes. Just beer, food and good people. Which I needed, time to recharge my batteries.

Got to Gracias a few days ago. Its on the border af Celaque national park which is the highest mountain in Honduras (2800m). Did some hiking in the park up to the cloud forest which starts at 1800m. Afternoons at the natural hot springs close to town. Not alot of tourists here and the people are super nice. Weathers been crap the last 5 days but the sun is finally making an appearance today. Hopefully to stay. I´ve basically been in the mountains since I got here so I´m almost as pale as when I left Sweden. Need beach soon. Oh ya, after a month I finally got my first session of stomach/bowel issues. Shitty 😉 . Been eating lots of yogurt and switching from beer to rum and it seems to be helping!

I´m leaving tomorrow to start making my way to Nicaragua. Bus leaves at 5am towards La Esperanza and i´ll see how far I make it. Hopefully to Tegucigalpa. Probably have to spend a night there. Then catch a bus to Managua the next morning. Want to try and get a flight to the Corn Islands for some beach time before heading to Costa Rica for the wedding.

All for now.
Take care.
D

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Photos

Santa Maria.
Volcanos here are like cathedrals in Europe. They´re verywhere!