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.  

Traveling in Honduras - La Ceiba and crime

                                                      Me in Copan. Below: a parrot now living there

Traveling in Honduras is wonderful. They have proper busses with a lot of space for my legs, and, although very worn out, the seats are wonderful. I think I will not have to catch a single chickenbus here! It is almost like traveling in Mexico, and the people working on the busses are taking care of their passengers and herding us almost like sheep so we will not miss the departure or get lost on the break. I particularily liked Diana Express that runs between San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba. La Ceiba is a big city with a population of ca. 178 300, and the first foreigners coming here was the Garifuna. Today on the bus was the first time I have ever heard the contructed language garifuna, and I had a feeling of beeing in Africa! Not that I know very much about Africal languages, but the Garifuna decend from black slaves, and I guess that the mens deep, husky voices makes me think of Africa. Many men in Honduras are quite attractive, I guess part of it is thanks to their exotic African blood. The Garifunas came here in 1810 from Trujilo, followed by waves of im migrants in 1828 that where fleeing the violence that broke out in Olancho and lasted 50 years. The Spanish did not show up until 1846, and in 1857 French settelers came. In 1872 this was officially a city, and it was called La Ceiba because of a huge Ceiba tree near the coast that was used by the community as a gathering place. The beloved tree, of more than a 100 years old, was cut down in 1917 to make room for a new customs house. There are a lot of Cuban and Arabic settlement here as well. In 1899 Dole Food Company came to the area, and so the making of Banana Republics began. Here in Honduras US fruit companies controle the infrastucture and economy in the North. They own the principal lands, globbing up as much land as they could, as quickly as they could, and the fondation was laid  for increased US involvement in the region with the Spanish-American war in 1898. Since then the fruit companies have been extremely powerful with rivaling companies allying themselves with competing political parties. A lot of missery has been caused by their acctions of bribery, repressive labor practices and use of extremely toxic pesticides on their products. Think of that when you eat a Dole banana! A law from 1962 was designed to redistribute unused land to poor farmers, but it was undermined by the USA fruit companies. And the president that signed the law Ramon Villeda Morales was removed by the military a year later! The health and environmental impact of the Banana barons from USA has been devastating for the country, as has the impact of Canadian silvermining further south.

I have already explored some of La ceiba. Since one of my problems is that my cloth are falling apart (they do not make good cloth any more), I went to find the local Mall here to see if I could find something to buy. I had been walking around for quite a while when I saw one center, but it was not the one I was seeking. I asked 2 women where the center I wanted was, and they told me that it is near, but warned me about walking alone. Take a taxi they said. Do not go alone there! While standing there thinking a car stopped to pick up the 2 women. They called me for getting in with them in their car. I know that women are potentially just as dangerous as men, but they were all nicely dressed with a quite nice car. They offered me a lift to the Mall, it took less than 5 min. to get there. The woman driving  is a lawer who acctually has a client from Norway. They made comments about the latest events in Norway and before I left them they told me to take a taxi back. Being in the situation of knowing how it is to be robbed, I was not about to ignore their advice. So after having bought (just) a dress and a t-shirt, in a mall with the biggest selection of beautiful garment I have seen, I ate some food, and because it was dark by the time I headed home to Banana Republic Guesthouse, and because of the warnings, I took a taxi the few blocks to my hostel. Yes, there is a LOT of nice cloth here. Women in Honduras dress less conservative than Guatemalan women, and it is easy to find colourful long, flowing carribian-style dresses like the one I bought. I can not help to think that if a city of less than 200 000 has this selection of beautiful garment, how is shopping in Tegucigalpa??

According to some the Mara Salvatucha is the most dangerous criminal gang in the Americas. It emerged in Los Angeles in the 1990s from the poor, though streets. A new immigrationlaw in USA had alien criminals departed rather than tried in the US court causing the gangs to take root in the bottomless pools of poor, disaffected youth in Central America. Today there are a 100 000 members between Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), many of its members El Salvadoran children of refugees that were fleeing the USA sponsored civil war in El Salvador, and Mara (M-18), its rival. In Honduras 30 000 young people are thought to be gangmembers (I will write about sextrafficing of Honduras in a later blog). The maramembers are known for their tatoos and their gruesomme attacs with machetes. Mostley the gangs attac each other, but in 2004 there was an assault on a public bus outside San Pedro Sula. 28 people were killed. Former president Ricardo Maduro adopted a hash anti-crime policy known as Mano Dura (hard hand) that made the prisons overflow with prisoners, and so in 2003 a fire at a prison in Honduras killed 68 suspected gangmembers, but investigation showed that at least 59 had been shot by the guards. In 2004 another 104 suspected gangmembers were killed in another prisonfire, the guards of the prison stood by watching. Something similar to military death squads formed by off-dury officers and private security guards has killed more than 2000 children and young adults between 1998 and 2004. That means, in fact, that the goverment is more dangerous than the gangs. In 2009 a military coup has changed the face of Hnduras forever, but the pople here are strong, and you do not hear them complain, or see them live only half a life. They are not smiling quite as much as the Guatemaltecs, but they are not giving up on looking forward, and taking small steps towards a better future. I have just come to realize how much Honduras has to offer in natural wonders. Huge national parks, rainforests, beaches and magnificent islands, and a rich culture. The infrastucture of tourism is not very developed and tourists rarely go beyond Bay Islands where the largest tract of rainforest this side of the Amazon lies. And I was surprized to read that a lot of critters are living very well here. It acctually equals Costa Rica with its flora and fauna and it is so much cheaper!