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Published: January 19th 2009
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We arrived to Honduras on Saturday the 10th of January.
Honduras seems to be much less populated than Guatemala. There also seemed to be much more European blood in the people of Honduras as compared to Mexico and Guatemala; people in Honduras more frequently had lighter skin, hair and eyes.
The landscape in Honduras was very scenic, although most of the time we were there it was raining.
We began our travels in Honduras in the city of Copan Ruinas, a small town one kilometer away from the ruins of Copan.
We started our stay in Copan Ruinas by finding a place to stay. Hotels ranged from $20 to $120 USD; hostels were less. We decided on the Hotel Calle Real, located about three blocks uphill from the central park. Our room was about $20 per night with two double beds, secure parking, intermittent cable TV, ceiling fan, and warm water that dribbled from the shower head. Breakfast at Hotel Calle Real was offered by a local lady who rented the restaurant area of the hotel in the mornings. We had baleadas (a flour tortilla with beans, meat, cream and cheese), coffee or tea, and juice for
about $5 USD. Dinner meals ranged between $10 and $20 USD in restaurants. A much better option is to catch street vendors serving tacos for about a dollar each (skewers of pork with cabbage, tomatoes, cilantro, cream, onions and salsa).
From Copan Ruinas visitors can arrange for many tours and activities. There was a coffee finca, hacienda, butterfly and orchid garden, museums, zip-lines, horseback riding, Mayan ruin sites, hot springs, and waterfalls. We visited the museums, ruins, and butterfly and orchid garden. Horseback riding costs about $10 to $20 USD per hour; the shortest route taking about two hours. Trips to the area haciendas or fincas cost about $30 USD per person.
There were two museums in town that we visited. Casa Kinich is geared primarily towards children. It teaches Mayan language, math, astronomy and history through interactive museum exhibits. The regional archaeology museum features an impressive collection of artifacts from the ruins of Copan. It is sure to enhance a visit to the nearby archaeological site. Admission at the two was nominal; only a few dollars per person.
The butterfly and orchid garden is owned by an American expatriate and his Honduran wife. It is located just
outside of town at the interchange of the highway to Guatemala. There were many different kinds of butterflies here; the owl butterfly seemed the most prominent. There were also houses where butterflies transition safely from larva to adult. The gardens also feature many different types of orchids, although only a few were in bloom when we visited (not the right time of year).
The ruins of Copan are described with pictures in a separate blog entry.
Shops in town sell everything from duty-free liquors and souvenirs to snacks and necessities. There are laundry services and two banks with cash machines. Copan Ruinas offered an abundance of stores, restaurants, hotels, internet and telephone cafes, tours, activities, and transportation; really a great place to visit.
From Copan Ruinas we drove to Lago Yojoa to visit the family of our friend Dina. Along the way we stopped at the Mayan ruins of El Puente and Los Naranjos after a short stop for chaos.
Roads in Honduras were not bad, but they are mostly two lane only with many blind spots. Semi-trucks, combis or colectivos, and road repairs can quickly slow your travels. On one occasion workers were putting down
new blacktop on one half of the road and there was not sufficient notice. Likely because of this, in the other lane there was a head-on collision between a semi-truck and a passenger vehicle. In Latin America lanes are more a theoretical idea than an actual practice (we refer to driving there as playing a combined game of leapfrog and chicken). So, traffic backed up quickly in both directions. There was only one police officer, who was very frustrated because who was pretty well entirely ignored. Never mind the fire truck and ambulance trying to get to the accident. The everyday game of leap frog chicken quickly escalated beyond logic and control. It was instant chaos! So we turned on some Led Zeppelin and waited for our chance to advance out of chaos.
El Puente is about an hour drive from Copan Ruinas. The site is small with two main structures leading to a central plaza. The museum is also small but offers a nice collection of artifacts with corresponding interpretations, maps and historical details. To get to the main structures and plaza visitors first walk along a shaded dirt road sided by a milpa and cattle. Just beyond
the plaza is a riverside picnic area and nature trail. Again, admission was nominal.
On the north side of Lago Yojoa is the eco-archaeological park of Los Naranjos. Another side bar; on the way to this site we had to stop for a cattle drive. It is a good idea to always allow more time than you figure you will need. The park of Los Naranjos includes visiting Mayan archaeological ruins (mostly covered with grass, plants and trees) as well as walking nature trails along Lago Yojoa, over an area river and a swamp area, through the jungle, and when the lake is high also through crop fields of beans and sugarcane. Although the Mayan ruins are not much to speak of, the site is worth a visit for the trails alone.
Or first night at Lago Yojoa we decided to camp lakeside in the van. We paid about $5 USD to park in the lot of Hotel Los Remos. The parking area was next to the lake and there were benches, tables, a boat launch, playground, pavilion for rent, pool, patio, and a restaurant. Rooms were about $15 USD.
We arrived to Dina’s family on Thursday the 15th
of January. We found the Zavala family store at the main interchange in town, where Dina’s grandmother was working. She introduced us to her daughter Enma who brought us to their house on the edge of town. We had a nice afternoon and evening with the Zavala family and a very good tostados for dinner.
The next morning, after having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Dina’s grandma, Teodora, we headed north to the coastal town of Omoa. We stayed at Roli’s Place, a hostel with private rooms and camping area on the road to the beach. Private rooms cost about $15 USD and a camping spot is just under $7 USD. At Roli’s Place guests are provided with showers, a wash bin and clothes lines for laundry, hamacas, and bicycles. Hotels along the beach range in price from $20 to $50 USD. We went for dinner and drinks and decided on the restaurant next to Hotel Flamingo. The service was slow, the bathrooms were very dirty (overflowing urinals, spider webs, and roaches), and we paid $20 USD for two drinks and a beer. We decided to skip dinner here and instead went to the restaurant across the street;
“Aqui Pancha”. For the same price we had a fabulous shrimp dinner, the same two drinks and a beer with quick and friendly service and clean bathrooms for the same price.
The Omoa beach was kind of dirty and it was raining so we decided the next morning to head back into Guatemala.
We enjoyed our time in Honduras, we always felt safe and welcome. It was wonderful to spend an evening with the Zavala family and we hope to someday return.
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Dina
non-member comment
Gracias!
I have to tell you thank you for posting pics of my family, it is nice to see them. When you get here you have to sharre them. To bad it was raining. LOL, Dina