Miraflor and Esteli

To get to Miraflor just go to the terminal and ask for a bus to Miraflor, they go to La Rampa or Coyolito, so you have to know which one of them to take. Miraflor was declared a reserve in 1996 and recently became protected area. The background for the protection is for one; according to the innhabitants the use of pesticides caused many birds to die, and affected the wildlife and health of the people so much that the goverment decided to ban the use of pestecides in the area and protect it. Today everything is grown without the use of cemicals, the locals make their organic pestiside from hot red peppers. The second reason is that this area was higly dangerous during the sivil war when the Contras snuck around to cross the border to Honduras while planning to march into Managua to seize political power. A large contingent came through the mountains planning to sack Esteli. The farmers put up restistance and helped turn the Contra War toward the Sandinistas, so Ortega decided to nationalized the farmland and give the land back to the people at thhe behest of the local women. Pure girlpower where in act here to make this area the paradice it is. And the women of the area may look humble but they are surviviors, clever and resourceful, and they have made the life that they have for themselves. Always happy to live in such an incredible area in an amazing country they do the work that women still did themselves in the 40 and 50. They do not want it any other way, and are proud of living their quiet, free and simple life that they have fought for. During the war the area was very dangerous, and families had to hide and be on the move all the time to stay safe. Through the Hostel Luna it is possible to get information about homestays and places from Treehuggers. They will also arrange other low impact tours for you in the area.

                                   Zona Bajo in Miraflor

                                   Flowers from Dona Lucias garden.

I spent 4 nights in Esteli, an university city in the northen highlands of Nicaragua. The trip from Somoto to Esteli was through amazing nature with the canopy of huge trees hanging over the road in many places, reaching out for a tree on the other side, as if they try to embrace each other. In Somoto in Hotel Panamercana I met a wonderful couple from USA and they offered me a ride to Esteli. They live in Managua, so they told me a great deal about Nicaragua. We had some inspirational conversations the evening before we left and  during the ride. The last 3 days I have been in Leon. The busride there was very interesting. I met to funny Spanish girls from Mallorca and they told me a lot about Mallorca. I asked what they work with on Mallorca and they said: "protesting the political system."

                                       Harry Potter forest

                                                   Overflooded small lagoon.

This clever toilet separates urine from "caca". The urine is led by pipes to the corn field and used as fertilizer. There is also a small urinal for men hanging on the wall. This is a typical "latrina" in Miraflor where everyone has outdoor toilet facilities.  

Staying with Dona Lucia and Don Rogelio

The next day Nelson picked me up 08:30 after I had had a nice, and very henavy breakfast with Rosario and Dennis (the son). Nelson had brought to horses, and I was going to ride a lightgrey stallion called Thunder to the next family in El Sontule in the zona alta (highlands) of Miraflor. I had asked beforehand to do a homestay with Dona Lucia and Don Rogelio because of Lucias knowledge of herbal medisine. We rode through some awsome nature, soon climbing up the dirtroad where I had a breathtakeing overview over the magnificent mountains, hills and the valleys between them. All of it gleaming with different shades of green. The landscape changed a lot; from large open grasslands dottet with huge stones, that seemed to have been tossed around by an angry child, and big akasiatrees with their beautiful canopy. There were also other kinds of trees overgrown by bromelias, orchids and and a type of moss they call "old mans beard", they had this ghostly yet dignified look. As we rode on the landscape changed again to thick forrest, and we had to get across a river that had grown huge from the big downpour of rain the day before. Water was cascading down the hillside fastrunning, covering a good piece of road. I urged the horse to cross, and he did so easily in spite of the strong current, on the other side we galloped a short distance before again climbing up a hill. We took off from the main"road", where a bus struggle up and down the dirtroad once or twice a day, depending on how much road is left. Sometimes it might not even come, to ride up into an enchanted forrest of huge trees, all covered in moss and parasitic plants like bromelia, stranger figs and orchid . I had to make a comment about how it is to ride through a Harry Potter forrest. We climed up with the horses through the magical forrest listening for ghosts, pixies, fairies and lost spirits.The forrest has its share of legnends and stories. When the war was forcing people into hiding, some families came up here hiding in caves and in the forrest. Apart from a little bit of conversation everything was quiet, and I was sorry when we came down to Lucias and Rogelios house. Nelson left me there so that I could eat, and rest a bit before Lucia took me to her gardens to show me their organic veggies and herbs. We took in a few veggies and quite a few herbs to make tee. Lucia explained to me how she makes cheese (they make a very salty cheese here in Nacaragua) and how she makes corn flour. Then we cooked dinner together and had a nice conversation. Lucia and Rogelio have 20 cows, many chickens and hens running around, 3 pigs, 2 dogs and a cat. They get their water from a well with a pumping mecanism near the house. The whole community comes to this well to get water. They grow organic beans, coffee and maiz (corn) to sell, and have their small veggie and herb garden.
The next day I was picked up by Uriel, a nice young man to walk to La Perla where I was going to stay in a Posada (guesthouse). No need to say that 2 hour walk was equally beautiful as the trip the day before! After exploring La Perla I took the early bus out the day after. The busride took me through amazing landscapes in the ever changeing Segovia region. Higly recomended adventure!

 

                                            Vibrant green and muddy after heavy rain.

      Theese old trees are stoically enduring parasite attacs from strangler fig, bromelia, orchids and moss.
                                                 (under and above)

                                           The main road.

My sturdy steed.

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                                          One of the caves in the magic forrest

Homestay at Las Palmas in Miraflor

I slept in the quite beautiful town Esteli 3 nights before I went to see the Reserva Natural Miraflor. On leaving Esteli at 05:30 in the morning, I found that a couple from USA was going with the same bus to another part of Miraflor. An old local lady came on the buss, and the expression: "the cat it out of the bag" came true as one of her plastic bags came to life and suddenly a tiny kitten was crawling all over her. The old lady put the kitten back in the plastic bag to keep it from wandering about, the 3 of us, the gringos, laughet at the sight of the kitten sticking out of the plastic bag. The lady did not mind all the attention she and her cat was given, and soon the kitten got to know all of us as the lady tied a tread around its neck so that it would not get lost in the bus. The busride was beyond bumpy, so the poor thing struggeled to stay on its feet. Not only had the lady a cat in a plastic bag, but she had also chickens in a box. On the bumpy and very slow busride on dirtroad with a ratteling box for a bus, I had a very, very interessting conversation with the couple. She had traveled in Nicaragua before, and I have never met someone who has been as well informed on history and the culture as I usually am. Usually I am like a tourguide with WAY too much information, and people ask me about things. We were so deep in conversation that I forgot to get off at my families house, the father of the family, Dennis, came and picked me up on a motorbike.

I wanted to do homestay there and learn about the life of the families there and see how they lived, since their life is quite primitive in our point of wiev. What I found is that despite the lack of electricity and the tons of things that we are used to haveing in Norway, is that it is not a primitive life at all. On the conterary it is a very natural, calm and stressfree life that I would not mind living myself. No pressure of owning things, and no loud commercials from TV telling you how unhappy you will be without a certain uselss thing. The house of Estela and Dennis, my first family was so beautiful. The original and simple design of their selfconsttructed home really impressed me. The walls are made of brick and bamboo. The flors are made out of cleansweept concreet. There are 3 entrances into the house, throug the open kitchen area, the "sala" (family room), where the family spends their evenings. They have one bamboo sofa with big pillows too sit on and for the back, and a couple of chairs. One enterance to the small eating area next to the kichen, the wall between the kitchen and the eating area is made of bamboo. In the eating area they have a long table to fit the family and some guests, and plastic chairs. Outside is teeming with beautiful butterflies, hummingbirds and flowers. I was so impressed over the homemade decore, and found myself admireing every detail of the house all the time. It is so clever and resourceful done that I was thinking that it is a perfect house. And indeed, living a natural life, with just the things most nessecary and in the middle of beautiful flowers and trees makes people happy, relaxed and really, really kindhearted. I was so warmely welcomed and comfortable that I did not want to leave. Their children are so lovley, I can never meet anyone like them all over Norway, and to my surprise they said that they could never live in a city, all though they actually have travelled a bit and know Managua, Granada, and even Costa Rica. They are not bored spending a day in their own sole company, thinking about life, riding in the woods and so on. They sang and danced for me, and showed me how they dance the kumbia in Miraflor. But that was in the evening. I arrived at 7:00 am, and Estela made me a delicious breakfast. The guide, Nelson, came to pick me up at 08:00 am and he took me hiking in the area by a 30 m. free fall waterfall where we swam. I had a delicious lunsje with the family and then I got to ask about their farm and life. They have 2 pigs, 1 cow, a few chickens and 2 horses. They grow beans, corn and coffe
organically. They also have a few vegetables, and when they need something they go to the neighbour (the ucmother of Dennis or the cousin of Dennis; Nelson, my guide for the day) and they change: a tomato for a lettuce. Some of the crop they sell as organically certified products from the naturereserve. One of the places where you can buy their organic products is in Cafe Luz opposite of Hospedaje La Luna where I stay when I am in Esteli. They have a few organic veggies and organic coffe.it The children in the family goes to school manday to thursday for 6 hours. The boy, Dennis is 11, the girl Rosario is 16, and a cousin that grew up with them, Daisy is 17. They told me they are like sisters. daisy grew up between the grandmother (also Rosario) and Dennis and Estela. I enjoyed a nice dinner with the whole family, and later all heavens opened up and let out all its waters. We were outside under a leafroof constructed over a comfortable hammock, but even the short distance back to the house were enough to drench anyone that tried to step out of the safety of the roof. I was very tired for sleeping in a dorm.room in Esteli and then get up at 5 am in the morning, so I asked the  family when they go to bed, and that is 20:00 pm! But, they told me, sometimes when they have visitors they stay up until 21:00!!!! The family had a few lights in the house that was connected to a few solar pannels that Dennis got just 4 months ago, he told me. They told me a little bit about the sivil war and how they have had to fight to get the house constructed, and of all the suffering they had to go through to get were they are now. To me they were a really, really content and happy family. And when I asked how it is to be a woman there I was told that it is very good and safe, and also a relaxing and good place for children to grow up. Even though they go to Esteli and Managua frequently, the family has no longing for the modern life with TVs and noisy cars. Since the rain was pouring down so hard I feared that I had to get up in the night to go to the "latrina", outdoor toilet, during the night. But actually it was so quiet there and pitch dark (there are no street lights or any artificial lights so I had to bring my flashlight in case of nature calling in the nightl), that I slept like a baby, and was rested and full of energy to go on a long horsebackride the day after.

Pic. from my hike in the area. The pic are far from giving justice to the beauty and richness of the landscape.
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The waterfal where the hike ended, and where I could swim in nice cooling water in the hot day.

                                   Estela grows her herbs in an old football hanging from the roof.

                                   Herbs grown in old softdrink boxes.

                                              .... and in old plastic bottles...

                                             Estela, Dennis, Rosario and me outside the house

Nicaragua - Somoto

My first impression of Nicaragua was GREEN. From the border of Honduras i found a taxi to take me 40 min ride to Somoto. I shared the taxi with 6 others. 4 cramed in the backseat and 2 in the passengerseat in the front. I was lucky to sit in the back. We drove through amazing landscape of green hills and mountains. Not a house or village in sight. When I came to Somoto I checked into Hotel Panamericana. Somoto is a pretty little town located in the hills in the northen Nicaragua. It is the captial of the municipality Madriz, the name means Valley of Geese. It is said that olmecs and Aztecs populated this area in pre-historic times. I do not know if there are any signs of them today, nor have I heard about any archaeological sites there. There are few indiginous groups in Nicaragua (I will come back to them later). Somoto is home to Somoto Canyon, a popular tourist attraction in the area. Somoto Canyon was declared a national monument in 2005, and then became one of 78 protected areas managed the Ministery of the Environment and Natural Resources. The protected area covers 170 hectares, 125 hectares is the acctual valley. The valley was unknown to the western world (anyway, the people in the area probably knew about it) until a group of scientist from the Czech Republic and Nicaragua found it and explored it in 2004. The canyon is believed to be 5-13 million years ago, and now, with growing tourism it is in danger of beeing destroyed by grafitti and garbage.

                                      The church in Somoto

                                        Somoto Valley

Passing Tegucigalpa and crossing a friendly border

From Comayagua I traveled to Tegucigalpa (Tegus) early in the morning. My plan was to get to Nicaragua by the time it got dark, to Somoto on the Nicaraguan side of the border. I took a bus that leaves 6:40  from Comayagua, and Tegus is not that far. But, I did not get to Tegus until past 12 o` clock in the afternoon. The busses are unspeakably slow. In Tegus most busses stop in a very ugly and dodgy area, so when I got of the bus, I saw no other option than jump staight into an old, almost torn apart taxi that took me quite a few blocks to the busstop to Choluteca. There was NO way I could have walked, it is the most scary, run down, ugly and desolated place I have seen up until now. The taxidriver took me towards where the company Mi Esparanca stop, but by the time I got to that company we passed another company that was going south, so I asked the driver to stop so that I could see if the bus had the desired destination. And then I experienced the most confusing thing on my travel. I guess I felt more vulnerable because of the robbery, because it was a bit scary what happened next. Immediately when the taxi stopped, a young man opened up the trunk of the taxi and started to pull out my bag. All over the place they were shouting; "Choluteca, Choluteca" on top of their lungs, so all the frantic activity was overwhelming after a long time of stillness. It turned out that 2 or 3 companies stop there. And they just stop there in the street. There are no terminals or offices, or even a parkinglot where the companies operate from. I, almost numb, jumped out of the taxi and said: "Espera, por favor!!" and grabbed my bag before the young man got it out. So what happened next is that the man grabs my other bag and I was kidnaped (it sounds very dramatic, but it was kind of like kidnaping) into the bus of El Benitio (or something like this) bus company! Because the young man grabed my bag and run into the bus with it.. what could I do but to follow? And my big bagpack was put into the cargoroom at the bottom of the bus, and OFF we went! So, I was lucky that I did not have to hang around in the area for hours to wait for a bus. Even 40 min. of waiting in that place and I think it would almost make me pee myself (not really, but you know what I mean). That is how NOT friendly it looked. I was also round eyed going through there with the taxi, wondering how on earth it was able to get its very beaten body up the steep hills, and what I would do if it broke down.
                                 Pic. from San Marcos de Colon

So WHY this kidnaping of passengers? The buscompanies are private and they compete against each other for customers, and there were 3 companies with ready-to-go-busses standing there, so when a taxi stopped there, and they saw me (white women (and they knew I wanted to go to the border because they said: "vamos Nicaragua!")), they saw a customer, so they went by the law of the jungle. First man to the mill and so on. The more aggressive the helper, the more customers. WHY on earth else would anyone come to that place in a taxi? So, they knew, even before the taxi stopped that there were people in it coming for the bus. In Tegus the companies just stop all over an area that is dangerous at night, and not too safe during daytime. Travelers have to wait for the bus out in the street, in the heat. I was glad the bus was on its way right away. And it was a loooooong ride, but short distance. It should be possible to do the trip in 2 hours. But again, for 4 hours I drifted in and out of sleep, I never had had the chance to go to the bathroom, nor had I eaten anything. I was so happy when the bus made a 10 min. stop after 2 h. and I could eat, drink and go to the bathroom. After 2 long hours more I arrived in Choluteca, and guess what; the terminal is the  markedplace! Nothing wrong with that normally for me, but I was dying of thirst and was hopeing I could fresh myself up a bit, but I was again picked up and herded, into a chickenbus this time. A big yellow, beautiful bluebird, and I was told that we are leaving "AHORA". Yes, vamos a Nicaragua. So I entered the bus, I told the helper that I was dying from thirst, so he found me a man that sold water in small plasticbags for 50 cents. The bus did NOT leave "ahora". 30 min. passed, then 40 min. and I had to surpress all my bodily functions. When we finally moved, we took a "sightsing tour" around town to pick up people here and there. I was quite amazed that they did not go inside peoples houses to tell them that we are now leaving for San Marcos de Colon! Nothing would surprize me at all at that day! And then we went BACK to the marked. I figured that by the time I was told that the bus would leave until we REALLY left, I could have found a bathroom, washed my hands and face, eaten something, gotten a toothcleansing (I saw a dentist right next to the bus at the marked) and maybe a haircut. When we finally were on our way, the bus climbed slowly up amazing hills, going south towards the border, and I forgot all my missery and self-pity, and got lost in all the amazing green that unfolded, and the "birdview" of the valley. And then we came to San Marco de Colon, short distance away, but it took forever to get there. And it was such a nice and quiet place that I decided to stay the night. It was late, I was hungry, and Hotel Colonial was very, very inviting with big a room, nice bathroom, soft bed and cable TV. It is a small place so I explored it in the late afternoon in dusk, and did not leave until 12 the day after. Around midday the next day I went to the marked to find a minivan to the border, I had to wait 30 min. or more for it to fill up, because they leave when they have crammed a certain number of people inside. It took 10-15 min. to get to the border and I had to walk to the immigration to /from Honduras to go out. I was called into the office of the immigrationoffice, that never happened to me before, so I was wondering what was going on. A very nice and smiling officer came in and I handed him my passport. He noted that it was my birthday and congratulated me, he also noted my name and made a comment on my name (that happens a lot. "Linda" is the feminin form of "lindo" which means beautiful, nice, pretty, sweet), and country. Almost flirted a little. Then I walked 5 min over the border and came to the bussinesslike Nicaraguan border. It is the safest borders I have crossed, there are no villages or stores there. The moneychangers are properly dressed, and did not jump me to get me to change money with them. Already I could see that Nicaraguans are very easy-going people.

Architecture and thoughts on stillness (within stillness)

Since I left Guatemala it has been so quiet. I immediatley felt the stillness, and tranquilety of the people and the nature. In Mexico and Guatemala there are constant cars with speakers driving around in towns and cities announcing products and events and /or the loud roars of busses and trucks. People shouting "sickletts" in the street. There is always music blasting out from some stores, cafes and resturants. Sometimes very aggressive music and high volume. And some places seem rather caotic and very crowded. I noticed the distinct difference the first time by the lake Yojoa where it is quiet enough to not disturbe the appreciation of the nature both visualy and sonically. But I also noticed it on a more unconcsious level in Copan. I feel that my eyes have been resting on harmonious green, and my ears have been resting in tranquility. My heart and soul feel rested as well by the uninterruptedness of green hills and mountains. By less traffic and crowdedness. This is how I feel about Honduras and Nicaragua. The only real noice are the occational thunderstorms, but they also have their moments of perfect stillness between thunders that makes the very earth quiver underneath my body when I rest. Then the sky opens up, and an amazing amount of water crashes down from it and tears apart the stillness. I almost feel sorry for the thunderstorms in my part of the world. But to me it is stillness as well. It softens and quiets me. And I understand how people can be carefree and relaxed here. Never in a hurry. This is how it feels to understand what Eckart Tolle is REALLY talking about. I am good at living in the moment when I travel, that is why I love it so much. You HAVE to live in the moment, because traveling alone, as a woman, there are SO many things that are outside your control, and no-one will take responsibility for you, even laws will not protect you in the way we are led to believe that they protect us in our part of the world. If something happens to you here, it is basically your own problem. It is the law of the jungle. The duality of beauty and ugliness. Kali in action. This is how the reality of life is. Utter freedom, with the responsibility of beeing smart and healthy enough to handle life at its rawest. Theese countries have seen enough suffering and sivil war for the people to develope an inner souce of recource and self-precervation that is impressive to me. This freedom is what I can not find in Norway where too many rules saves us from ourselves and other potential maniacs. Where the safetynets are everywhere in the form of regulations. As much as a would NOT like to die in a busaccident because of lack of follwoing up regulations and the law, it provides me with the interesting concept of HAVING TO live in the moment. And accept that this is how it is done here, and so everybody has to live to the fullest every day, and see their family as often as possible, because death might be waiting around the corner. And the only thing that makes people safe and fearless here is faith. Faith comes from within. It can not be given to you, neither can safety nor fearlessness be given to you.

                                Lake Yojoa

                               

                                Los Naranjas

This is the Catedral de la Immaculada Conception, the national pride of Honduras. It is in the old colonial city Comayagua, in Comayagua department in Honduras. It was built between 1685 and 1715 in renaissance, neo-classic and baroque styles inside and outside. This kind of buildings, toghether with big pyramids and impressive ruins makes me realize how much a love and adore architecture. Especially the heavy, goth, renaissance, neo-classic, baroque and ancient architecture. When a building has Moorish domes, coloured glass in the windows, like the pics. further down, and is adorned with statues and carvings I appreciate so  much to look at it. I have come to love architecture more and more when I travel, and even though I have seen my share of churches in this part of the world, am I not really completely IN a city until I have been to the "Centro Historico" to sit in front of the cathedral to soak in the spirituality and faith that it symbolizes. Inside is the oldest clock in the world that is still working (as far as known), built in 1100 by the Moorish people, and given to Comayagua by King Philip II of Spain. Comayagua was the first capital of Honduras before the power shifted and Tegucigalpa (Tegus on the street) became capital in 1880. Comaygua is concidered the best place to go for festivals. There are, of course, national parks in the area.

                                             Arch in the park.

                                  Clock from 1100.

                                View from the tower of the churc.

                                 Moorish domes from outside, and from inside below.

To get to Comayagua: From the lake; bus to Guama and wait for a bus to Comayagua on the road. From the busstation at San Pedro Sula.  

Visiting the biggest lake and a waterfall in Honduras

The beautiful Pulhapanzak Falls is 20 min. by bus from Peña Blanca is the highest waterfall in Honduras and quite impressive. The bus from Los Mochis can also take you the falls, it will pick you up by the dirtroad to D&D (more about D&D further down), direction San Pedro Sula. Tell the helper on the bus that you want to go to the waterfall and they will let you off by the road up to the park and point you in the right direction. If you do not know the Spanish word do not worry, tourists get of either there or in San Pedro Sula so I am sure they will understand where you want to go. The waterfall is a short but hot walk from the main road, or you can get a taxi. At the fall there is a resturant some guides and activities. You can get a tour inside /behind the fall, swim in the pool that forms above the waterfall, be careful, some places are deep, but it is amazing for cooling down when the heat is on.     


At Lago de Yojoa the biggest lake in Honduras (89 km2), I stayed at D&D Bed and Breakfast and Micro Brewery owned by a young man from USA. He had already lived and worked in Honduras for 5 years when he discovered Peña Blanca and decided to stay. D&D stands for Dale and Dog, but I never saw a dog there. Bobby (Robert Dale) has his own brewery at the place where he experiments with different tastes of beer. He has, among other flavours, apricot beer! I am not knowlegeable about beer, but the second day I was at his place, some USA soldiers, that have their base nearby, visited the place to eat, and have some homebrewed beer, kept buying beer for me and 2 German girls that I went to the waterfall on the picture with the same day. I do not like beer to begin with, so I can not judge, but I know that his beer and place is very popular, and has a steady stream of travelers and locals. D&D is famous in the area, so getting of the bus in Peña Blanca (1,5 h. - 2 h. from San Pedro Sula and 3 h. - 4 h. (because the buses are unbeliveably slow. It is not so far in distance) from Comayagua), all you have to do is ask for D&D and the locals will tell you where to wait for a collectivo taxi (in which you will sit crammed together with as many as they can fit in the car for 5 lempiras (50 cent, ca. NKr. 3)). Or if you are on a bus to Los Mochis (most likely a chickenbus), you just have to ask them to drop you off at D&D. Walk up the small dirtroad, and you will see it. D&D offers everything from jacusicabana (750 lempiras (Lps)) to cheap dormbeds for 100 Lps. And of course beer! They also have a meny, not many dishes on the meny, but the blueberry pancake for breakfast was my favourite. The homemade burritos and kebab is also worth it, and he has a beautiful garden where I observed 3 species of hummingbirdsand weird insects. Even if D&D is located in a communety 3 km. outside Peña Blanca, staying there acctually gives better access Lago de Yojoa (Lake Yojoa). If you should ever find yourself in Honduras, it is SO worth it seeing other places than Copan and Utila. Most people miss out on a lot, and it seem to me that many people are also afraid of Honduras. They rather follow the tourist trail to Copan and Rotan and /or Utila and then get out of the country. I also had that fear, because I got robbed and heard stories, but I decided to not let that dictate my travel. And I have to tell you, that the day I swam in the lake, I thought to myself; I feel sorry for the travelers coming to Honduras never seeing this lake! It has been a long time favourite among bird lovers because it has been recorded 375 species of birds around the lake. I myself saw cranes, ibis, snail kites and various ducks, and went swimming in this wonderful, sometimes mist-shoruded, lake. I thought Lago Atitlan was beautiful, but I must say (even if Lake Yojoa lacks the vulcanos) that Lake Yojoas pristine and pure natural surroundings with the Santa Barbara mountains and quietness was much more revarding. There are no motorboats, no villages in sight. I had the feeling of venuring to an almost utouched area. It might change in the future because it will become a tourist hot spot, but hopefully it will stay the way it is for a long time. In the area there are of course 2 national parks; Cerro Azul Meámbar and Santa Bárbara, as well as the 2 eco-archaeological parks; Lenca and Los Naranjos, and the impressive Pulhapanzak Falls. From D&D it is only a 15-20 min. walk to the canal where you can rent a rowboat (and prefereably a rower since it is very hard to do the rowing on your own, it is also a bit far to the lake. The heat makes it twice as hard) to go rowing and swimming in the lake it is the best way to see the lake because if you are not on it you will not see the beautiful mountainviews revealing themselves as the lake opens up at the end of the canal. It is beautiful also at sunset and sunrise. If like you like fishing then the lake is a perfect place to catch brass, and you can get a guide from D&D to take you.

                                 Lenca eco-park and paradise. Coffe and flowers.

                                Lenca eco-park

                                Lake above the waterfall where we swam.

                                             Pulhapanzak Falls

Utila Cays and moving on

From Utila I went to a tiny island, or more like a giant flat stone in the ocean, called Pigeon Cay. I went there with Capitain Morgans diving schools boat out there to learn how to dive. The only way to get there is by boat, it takes about 20 min. from Utila. A tiny, tiny cay with less than a 100 houses clung together. It is so flat that just half a meter waterrise will cause flooding, and indeed all the houses are on stilts. I guess they are used to flooding during the rainyseason. The people on the cay live from fishing on the coral reefs, and are, in that sense, totally dependent on the health of the coral reefs that are teeming with interesting life; beautiful seacreatures. An underwaterworld of colours and varaity. I did not know if I wanted a diving license, and because of limited time after the robbery, I just did a day of discovery dive. In Utila there are several options for diving and snorkeling. I got to see a lot of underwater life anyway; rays, parrotfish, squids, small eels and snakes and a lot more. My big wish is to see the whaleshark, but I never saw one. Some day I will see them, and snorkle with them!

Since I am heading for Nicaragua it was time to move on after a few days as an islander. I took the passengerferry Utila Princess II at 06:20 in the morning, thinking that the sea would be calm at that time, like it was when I went to Utila. But in the line in front of me I heard people asking for seasickness pills, so I thought that maybe it would be a "bumby ride". Since I am not traveling by boat a lot, I am never sure how seasick I will be. I thought that they are Honduran landcrabs and maybe they just want to be sure that they did not get sick. The sea was really rough on the way to Ceiba, but I sat outside on the back of the boat. I am glad I did that, inside is just a big room for the passengers. The "capitan" and his co-workers are standing in the front, and it smells of oil and engine. The waves were big, but kind of gentle, so even though it would be hard walking around, I did not have the feeling that the boat was beeing tossed around. Sitting in the back I did not see much, just a narrow oceanview to were we came from. It was not possible to see what was going on in the front of the boat. I figured that was just as good, but I had confidence in the "capitan" and the ferry, I knew that if it is too rough the ferry would not leave the dock. Sitting here by Lago de Yojoa, I meet people, that just came from Utila, telling me about a lot of people getting so seasick that they were throwing up. I do not know if there was anyone throwing up when I did the trip, but I saw some people looking a bit pale. I was even more happy that I sat outside, even if I got splashed.

When I got back to La Ceiba I took a taxi (50 lempiras = 15-20 Nkr.) directly to the busstation where I bought a ticked with Diana Express to Tela. Tela is supposedly a very nice city, it is famous for its Carrebian beaches, but to me it was a bit waste to go there, I had had enough of beaches, and it was so hot and humid that I felt totally knoked out. There are two big national parks there to visit. But one thing about Honduras; it is difficult to travel alone. Not because it is difficult to get around, but everything gets more expencive, and not possible to do. All tours need a minimum of people, and Honduras is still an untouched and pristine country. It has not been taken over by mass tourism yet, there are national parks on every corner, and I have to say that naturewise Honduras is more green and beautiful than Guatemala. Traveling in Guatemala you see scars in the nature everywhere. It feels very populated and the nature is interruptet by buildings and villages everywhere, except in the national park of Peten. If you travel in Guatemala, thinking the nature is beautiful, and love it, you will LOVE Honduras. Now during the rainyseason it is so lush and green, and the hills and mountains are stunning. Going by boat out of La Ceiba you even see the slopes of the hills and mountains ending in the sea.



Pigeon Cay, part of Utila Cays by Utila Island outside Honduras. See map by clicking location under keywords.



Anyway, I spent 2 nights in Tela feeling like I was in a detoxprogram. And my skin is indeed softer. And in a bit of agony since I had been in the water and on boats so much on the cay that I was a bit sunburned. I left Tela for Lago de Yojoa, where I am sitting now at D&D bed and Breakfast and Brewery, 3 km from Peña Blanca. Here there are, of course, 3 eco /archeological /natureparks pluss the lake. The biggest body of water in Honduras. Yesterday I walked my feet of in the Eco Finca, a Eco-park with eco-coffeplantation, I saw a lot of birds (this is one of the places birdwatchers should visit), even tucans, and there are beautiful flowers, small creeks and rivers that I could have swam in, but I did not know.  I also visited a waterfall. More in the next blog.