Honduras
Honduras, the second largest country in Central-America, with an area of 112,090 sq km, is a mountainous country. Around 65% to 80% of the total land area is composed of rugged mountains ranging from 300m to 2850m high, with high-altitude cloud forests, and many highland valleys where pine and oak are the dominant vegetation. Lowlands, with low-elevation tropical rain forests, only exist along both coasts and in several river valleys.
Boardered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, it is seen by those countries as a notably subdued country. The go-with-the-flow nature and the mostly conflict-free history must have played a role in this attitude.
The population of more then 7 million has close to a third of the workforse unemployed and underemployed. Half of the population lives below the poverty level.
In a little less than three weeks I skimmed the surface of this country with cool mountains and a warm Caribbean coast. My fluttery flight brought me five unforgetable stops, ranging from holy Semana Santa in Tegucigalpa, to the indiginous Garifuna people along the coast, to sublime scuba diving and ending with intricately carved stelae (standing stone monuments) in Copán. Some extreme ups and one extreme down were part of all that life had to offer me when I did and didn’t look.
Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, is nestled in a bowl shaped valley surrounded by a ring of mountains. Although the center is gridded, as soon as you start walking into the outskirts of the city, the maze of streets: small, steep, dirty and in every direction made me feel like in play land. I love finding my way around where it’s not obvious. So the day hiking to El Picacho, a huge statue of Jesus with an ajoining park, was very cool, asking the way at every corner and peeking into houses and little alleyways. The view of the whole city was extreme; boy, how much I would have loved to see this mirador at night with all the sparkels and lights coming to life.
On my way down I snapt a photo of some kids playing in a new blow-up pool and got invited to have a refreshment and later some Semana Santa sopa. Those invitations make my day, the whole afternoon was spend chatting and exchanging information; from cooking to insurance to work possibilities. As long as the people have some patience with my broken Spanish, there is a lot to talk about.
Semana Santa, Holy week, the week leading up to Easter, is a widespread celebration in CA. Almost every town has a festivitiy with a parade and a huge mass.
I had totally forgotten that Guatemala and Honduras are the places where Alfombras are made, so running in on the making of them I was happily surprised.
This tradition began in Guatemala in 1920 and came to Honduras in 1950. To honor god and his offering to us, the people transform ten blocks of street in a colorful carpets called alfombras. They are made with aserin (sawdust) deyed in different colors and layed down with patrons. The coloring of the aserin takes a whole week and the making of the alfombras starts 6am Thursday and continues non-stop untill 5pm Friday when the procession starts. Lots of groups make a story with words and images and decorate the sides with flower motives and huge stars.
It did not take long before I found a group who invited me to help them, and the next six hours I was tip-toeing on cardboard and spreading aserin in patrons.
It made watching the parade so much more real, my group who shared the whole atmosphere with me, you know, halfway though you sit on the sidewalk and eat the brought dinner, you chat during the making and the next day you watch together how everything is destroyed.
Yes, the procession, which contains huge platforms with holy people and exprecions of the crusefix of Jesus, carried by many man and another my many woman, walk right over the alfombra’s. Within half an hour the whole carpet is nothing much more then one color of mush. It was fantastic, especially because Jacqualine, 36, Honduras, gave me more information and knowledge this day then any guide could have known.
Meeting Oscar, 26, Honduras, that evening in the park, I had found another friend to visit the two little pueblos of Valle de Angeles and Santa Lucia the next day. Especially the latter was very rustic and with fine views.
On my way to new adventures in the higher mountains I took some long busses to La Union, and found a little town with sand roads and grumpy people; staring at me like I was one of ‘those tourists’. It didn’t make me feel very welcom, but ofcourse there is a way through everything. Not even ten minutes after I sat my ass in the grass near El Campo (the soccerfield) the kids came peeking curiously at who the new blondy in town was. My camera came the hot-rod in town and before long I was the newest playmate. Many photo’s had to made by them, soccer was played and new ‘cheap-thrills’ were thaught.
The Parque Nacional la Muralla turned out to have closed almost three years ago, so hiking here was pretty cool. The paths were overgrown with junlge and I was the only one looking for Quatzales. A pitty, I did not find those extravagant pretty birds, but the forest itself was green and pleasant enough. Hitching here and back was fun too.
Missing the first bus in the morning because my hospedaje told me the wrong time, and missing the second bus because it came half an hour earlier, I thummed a ride which passed the bus and so I made it to the Caribbean Coast. The ride was extremely dusty and hot, the road not being paved and the season being dry.
Wow, what a interesting time I had in Trujillo and Guadelupe, one of the three Garifuna villages that lay right on the sea. Garifuna people are a mixture of African, Carib and Arawak and make up around 2.5% of the population of Honduras. They are an indiginous people, totally black, speaking their own Garifuna language and Spanish and making Tajada (a massa made from banana) and Casabe (a flat bread made from yuka) as local foods.
After spending one day hiking the 20km to a gorgeous 1235m high mountain top with far away views, I made my way to Guadelope with a one night pack and stayed for three days/two nights because again I found a new girlfriend, Darly, 18, and was invited to spend an evening in their family house. It was the first time that I saw so many black people without a mixture of other colors, and not being really aware of my own skin I was highly surprised when I saw photo’s that Darly made throughout the day (my camera was a loved object ones again). Swimming in the lagoon with 20 kids, all climbing on my head, screaming, falling down, wanting to be tossed and using me as a horse, the scene could have been in Central Africa.
Their bodies are firm and muscled, hair braided in different forms and dresses full, colorfull and with a hankerchief on their heads. Everybody walks barefeet (I fitted in on that one at least) and the houses are made from wood and earth. The ‘kitchen’ is a bqq or little fire outside and the day is passed sitting infront of the house, only moving when the shade runs out. Fishing is the main object in the morning and peeling bananas is the other. It was amazing how easily the kids sheltered behind me when the bhoe-man came to scare the little ones (a local pass time of the bigger kids) and Darly’s brother slept peacefully in my arm when I carried him home. At night when it cools down, the people play traditional music and drink some rum, they dance particualr, hipmoving but very suddle. Sleepy I sat in the doorstep when the drums woke me up. There are no words to describe what all of this does to you. Just living my life I often forget how different and unique it is. For me, those experiences are just the daily way of life. I don’t see them as far away, or as a distant world only seen through the TV, to me those experiences are a following of something that I started a long time ago: The will of wanting to living life where ever it takes me.
Islas the Bahía, three bay islands, approximate 50km of the mainland are hot tourist destinations because of the spectaculair diving. The reefs, a continuation of the Belize reefs are the second-largest barrier reef in the world after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and teem with fish, coral, sponges, rays, sea turtles and even whale sharks.
For five days I was kept alive by one of my favorite things on the planet: SCUBA.
Being spoiled with a hundred dives in Australia on the best sides with a huge variety, I was very inpressed with what I found here in the eleven dives I did. The reefs are a fantastic soft and hard corral in beautiful colors and in huge variety. There are swimthroughs, little caves, hangovers, bommies, deep waters, shallow close to shore dives, magnificent walls, several wracks and enough divesides to spend a lifetime exploring. And ofcourse the fish, also plentyfull presented in every color and shape: angel, coral, parrot, squirrel, morays, porkypine, chunk, damsel, hamlets, barracuda’s, tuna, box, and much more. Sea cucumbers, flamingo tongues, spider shrimp, lobsters, hawksbill turtles, flatworms and..................... we saw a WHALE SHARK!!!!!!
Wow, those animals can become 12m or more, the one we saw was about 7m, a little one. He or she skimmed the waters for her food, followed by two sucker sharks. The whole boat jumped in the water and fined like maniacs after this white spotted giant. It was awesome so see this animal in real, like you are in a tru Discovery program.
The weather was always good and the water extremely pleasant, there were no times of coldness. The sea was calm, the rides to the dive sides short and the team easy. Every day I dove with different dive masters and new divers and everyday I felt more and more a butterfly changing into a fluttering, colorful flatworm. I absolutely LOVE diving and have to promise myself to do it more often then what I’ve been doing. The underwater world is so new and different, anyone who has not been diving or even snorkeling has to put it on his/her list of things to do; why not make it your next vacation destination? Untill I find my own seahorse in the deep blue, I will never stop.
Besides diving, there was a lot of other fun too. A backpack Island like Utila does not come without the bars, drinking and hammocking. I was mouthy enough to be taken away by Steve, one of the divemasters, for a motorbike tour around the few roads and some walking to interesting bars. If you’re here, don’t miss a daytime visit to The Jade Seahorse. This bar is a dreamworld of mosaic and fantasia, Park Gaudi in Barcelona is nothing compared to this maniac.
One night we had a blasting booze cruise and a snorkel test, and I properly lost a few hours of my memory, but all to the good, the next day I was diving early morning with an even bigger smile.
Because the islands were inhabited by mostly African, Carib and European, the main language spoken is English, it was weird to start every conversation in English to local people after being in CA for 5 months. Well.... almost everyone speaks English, only the police has a knowledge of nihil and can hardly write up a report that is puzzeled together out of my broken Spanish. Why? O, just because my two months old camera got stolen for the fourth time in ten months. Nothing to worry about, I just lost about 400 photos from Honduras and all the sweetness I just told about. I have no idea why those electronics have no connection with me, but it looks like I need to sew the next one permanently to my body to not loose it again.
The day of loosing my camera was also the day of finally g...................... I will fill those blanks in two weeks.
Well people, There is one more stop in Honduras, the Mayan temples of Copán, but I will leave them for a next time. Four pages is enough bla bla for one seccion.
To be truly honest about the people in Honduras, I was not very impressed with the over all friendlyness. Often I was looked at with norsh eyes and closed lips. Conversation did not get very far and time was more spend towards friends then a friendly smile or Buenas dias. Myself i think that a part has to do with the places I visited, over run with backackers. The more remote you often go, the more tru the people are.
Till soon, and don’t forget to drink water!
Greetz Mathu
Boardered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, it is seen by those countries as a notably subdued country. The go-with-the-flow nature and the mostly conflict-free history must have played a role in this attitude.
The population of more then 7 million has close to a third of the workforse unemployed and underemployed. Half of the population lives below the poverty level.
In a little less than three weeks I skimmed the surface of this country with cool mountains and a warm Caribbean coast. My fluttery flight brought me five unforgetable stops, ranging from holy Semana Santa in Tegucigalpa, to the indiginous Garifuna people along the coast, to sublime scuba diving and ending with intricately carved stelae (standing stone monuments) in Copán. Some extreme ups and one extreme down were part of all that life had to offer me when I did and didn’t look.
Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, is nestled in a bowl shaped valley surrounded by a ring of mountains. Although the center is gridded, as soon as you start walking into the outskirts of the city, the maze of streets: small, steep, dirty and in every direction made me feel like in play land. I love finding my way around where it’s not obvious. So the day hiking to El Picacho, a huge statue of Jesus with an ajoining park, was very cool, asking the way at every corner and peeking into houses and little alleyways. The view of the whole city was extreme; boy, how much I would have loved to see this mirador at night with all the sparkels and lights coming to life.
On my way down I snapt a photo of some kids playing in a new blow-up pool and got invited to have a refreshment and later some Semana Santa sopa. Those invitations make my day, the whole afternoon was spend chatting and exchanging information; from cooking to insurance to work possibilities. As long as the people have some patience with my broken Spanish, there is a lot to talk about.
Semana Santa, Holy week, the week leading up to Easter, is a widespread celebration in CA. Almost every town has a festivitiy with a parade and a huge mass.
I had totally forgotten that Guatemala and Honduras are the places where Alfombras are made, so running in on the making of them I was happily surprised.
This tradition began in Guatemala in 1920 and came to Honduras in 1950. To honor god and his offering to us, the people transform ten blocks of street in a colorful carpets called alfombras. They are made with aserin (sawdust) deyed in different colors and layed down with patrons. The coloring of the aserin takes a whole week and the making of the alfombras starts 6am Thursday and continues non-stop untill 5pm Friday when the procession starts. Lots of groups make a story with words and images and decorate the sides with flower motives and huge stars.It did not take long before I found a group who invited me to help them, and the next six hours I was tip-toeing on cardboard and spreading aserin in patrons.
It made watching the parade so much more real, my group who shared the whole atmosphere with me, you know, halfway though you sit on the sidewalk and eat the brought dinner, you chat during the making and the next day you watch together how everything is destroyed.
Yes, the procession, which contains huge platforms with holy people and exprecions of the crusefix of Jesus, carried by many man and another my many woman, walk right over the alfombra’s. Within half an hour the whole carpet is nothing much more then one color of mush. It was fantastic, especially because Jacqualine, 36, Honduras, gave me more information and knowledge this day then any guide could have known.
Meeting Oscar, 26, Honduras, that evening in the park, I had found another friend to visit the two little pueblos of Valle de Angeles and Santa Lucia the next day. Especially the latter was very rustic and with fine views.
On my way to new adventures in the higher mountains I took some long busses to La Union, and found a little town with sand roads and grumpy people; staring at me like I was one of ‘those tourists’. It didn’t make me feel very welcom, but ofcourse there is a way through everything. Not even ten minutes after I sat my ass in the grass near El Campo (the soccerfield) the kids came peeking curiously at who the new blondy in town was. My camera came the hot-rod in town and before long I was the newest playmate. Many photo’s had to made by them, soccer was played and new ‘cheap-thrills’ were thaught.
The Parque Nacional la Muralla turned out to have closed almost three years ago, so hiking here was pretty cool. The paths were overgrown with junlge and I was the only one looking for Quatzales. A pitty, I did not find those extravagant pretty birds, but the forest itself was green and pleasant enough. Hitching here and back was fun too.
Missing the first bus in the morning because my hospedaje told me the wrong time, and missing the second bus because it came half an hour earlier, I thummed a ride which passed the bus and so I made it to the Caribbean Coast. The ride was extremely dusty and hot, the road not being paved and the season being dry.
Wow, what a interesting time I had in Trujillo and Guadelupe, one of the three Garifuna villages that lay right on the sea. Garifuna people are a mixture of African, Carib and Arawak and make up around 2.5% of the population of Honduras. They are an indiginous people, totally black, speaking their own Garifuna language and Spanish and making Tajada (a massa made from banana) and Casabe (a flat bread made from yuka) as local foods.
After spending one day hiking the 20km to a gorgeous 1235m high mountain top with far away views, I made my way to Guadelope with a one night pack and stayed for three days/two nights because again I found a new girlfriend, Darly, 18, and was invited to spend an evening in their family house. It was the first time that I saw so many black people without a mixture of other colors, and not being really aware of my own skin I was highly surprised when I saw photo’s that Darly made throughout the day (my camera was a loved object ones again). Swimming in the lagoon with 20 kids, all climbing on my head, screaming, falling down, wanting to be tossed and using me as a horse, the scene could have been in Central Africa.
Their bodies are firm and muscled, hair braided in different forms and dresses full, colorfull and with a hankerchief on their heads. Everybody walks barefeet (I fitted in on that one at least) and the houses are made from wood and earth. The ‘kitchen’ is a bqq or little fire outside and the day is passed sitting infront of the house, only moving when the shade runs out. Fishing is the main object in the morning and peeling bananas is the other. It was amazing how easily the kids sheltered behind me when the bhoe-man came to scare the little ones (a local pass time of the bigger kids) and Darly’s brother slept peacefully in my arm when I carried him home. At night when it cools down, the people play traditional music and drink some rum, they dance particualr, hipmoving but very suddle. Sleepy I sat in the doorstep when the drums woke me up. There are no words to describe what all of this does to you. Just living my life I often forget how different and unique it is. For me, those experiences are just the daily way of life. I don’t see them as far away, or as a distant world only seen through the TV, to me those experiences are a following of something that I started a long time ago: The will of wanting to living life where ever it takes me.Islas the Bahía, three bay islands, approximate 50km of the mainland are hot tourist destinations because of the spectaculair diving. The reefs, a continuation of the Belize reefs are the second-largest barrier reef in the world after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and teem with fish, coral, sponges, rays, sea turtles and even whale sharks.
For five days I was kept alive by one of my favorite things on the planet: SCUBA.
Being spoiled with a hundred dives in Australia on the best sides with a huge variety, I was very inpressed with what I found here in the eleven dives I did. The reefs are a fantastic soft and hard corral in beautiful colors and in huge variety. There are swimthroughs, little caves, hangovers, bommies, deep waters, shallow close to shore dives, magnificent walls, several wracks and enough divesides to spend a lifetime exploring. And ofcourse the fish, also plentyfull presented in every color and shape: angel, coral, parrot, squirrel, morays, porkypine, chunk, damsel, hamlets, barracuda’s, tuna, box, and much more. Sea cucumbers, flamingo tongues, spider shrimp, lobsters, hawksbill turtles, flatworms and..................... we saw a WHALE SHARK!!!!!!
Wow, those animals can become 12m or more, the one we saw was about 7m, a little one. He or she skimmed the waters for her food, followed by two sucker sharks. The whole boat jumped in the water and fined like maniacs after this white spotted giant. It was awesome so see this animal in real, like you are in a tru Discovery program.The weather was always good and the water extremely pleasant, there were no times of coldness. The sea was calm, the rides to the dive sides short and the team easy. Every day I dove with different dive masters and new divers and everyday I felt more and more a butterfly changing into a fluttering, colorful flatworm. I absolutely LOVE diving and have to promise myself to do it more often then what I’ve been doing. The underwater world is so new and different, anyone who has not been diving or even snorkeling has to put it on his/her list of things to do; why not make it your next vacation destination? Untill I find my own seahorse in the deep blue, I will never stop.
Besides diving, there was a lot of other fun too. A backpack Island like Utila does not come without the bars, drinking and hammocking. I was mouthy enough to be taken away by Steve, one of the divemasters, for a motorbike tour around the few roads and some walking to interesting bars. If you’re here, don’t miss a daytime visit to The Jade Seahorse. This bar is a dreamworld of mosaic and fantasia, Park Gaudi in Barcelona is nothing compared to this maniac.
One night we had a blasting booze cruise and a snorkel test, and I properly lost a few hours of my memory, but all to the good, the next day I was diving early morning with an even bigger smile.
Because the islands were inhabited by mostly African, Carib and European, the main language spoken is English, it was weird to start every conversation in English to local people after being in CA for 5 months. Well.... almost everyone speaks English, only the police has a knowledge of nihil and can hardly write up a report that is puzzeled together out of my broken Spanish. Why? O, just because my two months old camera got stolen for the fourth time in ten months. Nothing to worry about, I just lost about 400 photos from Honduras and all the sweetness I just told about. I have no idea why those electronics have no connection with me, but it looks like I need to sew the next one permanently to my body to not loose it again.
The day of loosing my camera was also the day of finally g...................... I will fill those blanks in two weeks.
Well people, There is one more stop in Honduras, the Mayan temples of Copán, but I will leave them for a next time. Four pages is enough bla bla for one seccion.
To be truly honest about the people in Honduras, I was not very impressed with the over all friendlyness. Often I was looked at with norsh eyes and closed lips. Conversation did not get very far and time was more spend towards friends then a friendly smile or Buenas dias. Myself i think that a part has to do with the places I visited, over run with backackers. The more remote you often go, the more tru the people are.
Till soon, and don’t forget to drink water!
Greetz Mathu
posted by Mathu @ 22:48
2 Comments:
Hello Mathu !
I am so jelous of you and that whale shark !! But I must tell you that I was able to swim with four sea turtles in Hawaii...wow the underwater world is totally other to our comfortable air and dirt.
Your horsewoman friend,
Vanessa
Again very beautiful pictures.
Ralph
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