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.

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.  

Human tragedies - Human trafficking

Prostitution is not ilegal in Honduras but still sex tourism is not as obvious as in the Dominican Republic or Costa Rica. In these countries there are dosens of websites advertising sex-tour packages. The prefered victims in Honduras are children, and in 2006 a 58 year old man from Florida was arrested by the FBI for arranging trips to Honduras for men interested in having sex with underaged girls. The man was a navy commander in the US Navy Children`s program. He was teacheing young people the navy values of honor, courage and commitment. In 2004 a pediatrician from Brooklyn was sentenced to 21 years of jail for having tricked chilrdren in Honduras and Mexico into sex. It has been reported that between 8 000 and 10 000 children are involved in sex work in Honduras alone, as Honduran teenagers are among the most frequently trafficked children in Central America. Most of them are going to brothels and resorts in Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador, where the patrons are American, European and Australian men. Groups like Casa Alianza have worked to raise awareness of the problem, which in their opinion has grown in the wake of of crack downs in Thailand and other Asian countries that have been known for a long time for their pedophilia rings and prostitution. The Casa Alianza had to fire their own director in Tegucigalpa in 2004 when it was known that he himself had paid a 19-year old to stay in a group shelter for youth to have sex. The director was a British citizen, well known as a children`s advocate. He had even won a medal of honor for his work with homeless children. The Order of the British Empire Medal. That was in year 2000.  In year 2000, also, the USA was pressured to pas a law against human trafficking. The law has been particularily effective in Asia where trafficking rings have been broken up, and the victims returned to their homes. Latin America has been slower to respond, but Honduras has now trained 7 000 police, prosecutors and judges, and 10 000 students have been trained on Human trafficking. Due to corruption the law can be hard to enforce.


http://www.blog.polarisproject.org/2011/07/21/graphic-meth-ads-and-their-similarities-to-human-trafficking/

blog on Meth ads and their similarity to human trafficking

http://www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/client-services/survivor-stories

More about sex and labour trafficking in USA.

Caribbean dream in Honduras

The pictures speak for them selves. Underneath: Utila Princess II that runs between La Ceiba and Utilas only town, East Harbour, 2 times a day; 9:30 am and 4:00 pm from La Ceiba and 6:20 am and 2:00 pm from Utila. The ride takes one hour and a bit, and going in the evning I have heard can be very bumpy and caotic ride. It is best to ask the capitan if yopu will need a pill against seasickness. I left La Ceiba with the boat 9:30 am and the sea was calm. The boat is overbuild, so you sit inside a large room that with just benches for the passengers and nothing more. It was still a pleasant ride. As you travel from shore at La Ceiba you see the mountains coming up from the ocean, it is beautiful.  

                                                       The church.

 Buildings are made of mahoganytree wood. It reminds me of Belize. This is the dentist.

                                       Old pirate house.

                                     If you are nuts for pizza :)

Utila is a quite small island lying far out in the Caribbean sea outside Honduras. It has a much bigger neighbouring island called Rotan in the east, even further out in the ocean, they belong to the Bay Islands (Islas de la Bahia). The history of the islands is very interesting; They were inhabited by AD 1000 for sure, but the inhabitants are unknown, and also where they came from. Christopher Columbus landed on the island called Guanaja in 1502 and met a large indigenous population there as on Rotan and Utila. Spanish slave traders kidnaped islanders and sent them to work at platations in Cuba and silver mines in Mexico. In the meanwhile, English, among them the famous Henry Morgan, Dutch and French pirates established hideaways on the islands and used them as bases to launch raids on Spanish cargo vessels laden with gold and other treasures. There were 5000 pirats on Rotan alone in the 17th century. The Spanish captured Port Royal on Rotan in March 1782 killing most of the pirates and selling the rest as slaves. Rotan was unoccupied until 1797 when the British marine dumbed 2000 black Caribs there. They setteled in the town Punta Gorda on Rotan and became known as Garifuna. Until 1859 Bay Islands were contolled by the British, then it became territory to Honduras. It is strange to see how white, black and mixed people and Spaniards live in such harmony here. The population is very diverse and I hear different languages. English is spoken with the Carib accent, like the people of Jamaica, then there is the Garifuna that is constructed language and Spanish. The Spanish is a bit difficult for me to understand. I see a lot of European looking and I thought they were tourists like me, but they are decendants of early Irish and British settlement. that came here over a centery ago. But there are settlers from the US, Israel, France and England that came here traveling and then just never left. They work in the tourist oriented businesses.

Honduras: The Ruins of Copan

Since many people have asked me to write my blog in English I took the opportunity to do so after I was (brutally) robbed of my dear Lenovo laptop, and am now stuck with a Spanish speaking laptop. Sometimes it speaks Spanglish as well, if I am lucky, but basically now I HAVE to learn how to read Spanish with its technical terms.

The film that is above is where I am going in the next couple of days, and I am really hopeing that this trip will snap me out of the my deep crisis after what happend! It is not that I am not fine! Even if the thought of going to Honduras seems more dangerous now, because Honduras is a country that has seen a rise in violence through 2009 /2010, than before, when the whole world was my safe Disneyland, if one can use this kind of expression. Now I am faceing some existential questions, and I think the only thing keeping me on this wnow is stubbornness. But I know that I want to come back to Latin America when I leave here one day. So dangerous and so beautiful, this se two expressions go hand in hand most places I have been on this planet, and I guess that I, reluctantly or not, fall in love with just that.

I will come back with photos and info on Honduras and Copan. Photos if I find out how my Spanglish speaking camera works. It even has a touch screen! It sounded so hip that I had to have it. It is cheap however, and will have to do for the rest of my travel. The Republic of Honduras is south of Guatemala, bordering El Salvador in the west and Nicaragua in the south. Before the Spanish came in 1524  it was home to many native tribes, among others the Maya. The main interest of the Sapniards were silver mining, and the natives were used to do the job. The natives, however died of disease brought from Europe, so slaves were brought from Africa to replace them. The decendants of the slaves now form the Garifuna culture along the Carribian coast, with their own constructed language, food and colourful garments and festivals. Like all countries in Latin America Honduras has had a lot of problems. One of the reasons of the violence and poverty is that it was made one of USA bananastates in the 20th century, with little economical growth for Honduras, but with US fruit companies controlling substantial land and infrastructure in the north. In addition the hurricane Fifi 1974 and Mitch in 1998 both caused destruction in the country. Especially Mitch that caused 50 years of progress to reverse, according to president Carlos Roberto Flores, with its massive and widespread destruction of nearly all bridges and secondary roads, 70 % of all crops and 33 000 houses.      5 000 people were killed.

More on Honduras next blog.