HONDURAS EARNS AN A++ RATING...........

From the beautiful Shore of Lake Yojoa at Monto Verde:

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I haven’t said much about Honduras yet, so here goes. I got a little bit of a bad first impression at the border and close to the border. Remember,I had to drive in 50 kilometers to get my car permit. I think a bad first impression will always be the case. Once I got as far as the small city of Tela on the Gulf Coast, that impression started to vanish.


I had driven down to the beach to look for a hotel. It was getting late, and I wanted to settle in for the night. I spotted this huge resort hotel and resort complex. “Hmm, I probably won’t like the prices.” I got out of the car to talk to the guard gate. “It must be very expensive here.” “ Yes it is, but they have “promociones.” Promociones, that’s the magic word for me. I think I’ll ask.


Si senhor, the normal rate is US $156. But we have a promotional rate of $70.00. “Sold!”


The place must have been 5 star. A sprawling complex with shops, restaurants, bars, everything, gymnasium, a pool that must have covered 3 acres, and right on the beach.I stayed there for the night, and left for La
Ceiba the next morning after a leisurely breakfast.

I put some photos of Telamar Villas at the bottom of the blog yesterday along with some from Cabanas del Viajeiro in Guatemala (Rio Dulce).


I passed a very relaxing night at Telamar, and then off to the city of La Ceiba to visit friend Carlos. We talked about his time in the Honduran Army, time when he and Julio lived in New Orleans, and a lot about politics and about me. He showed me around a little, made some good suggestions as to where to stay in La Ceiba. And had a couple of beers in the process. He has a fairly large house but a lot of family living with him. So we decided I would stay downtown at the “Gran Hotel Paris”. A lovely place right on the central plaza. And not very expensive. Carlos made a phone call and set me up.There was good parking in front of the hotel. I could walk around some, but not stray too far into the outlying areas. The next day was off to the Sambo Creek Spa and Canopy Tour.

The Tour has 18 separate cables on which you go whizzing through the treetops and over a beautiful stream and a waterfall. Once my guide got stuck on a branch that had fallen. He motioned me to come on down. He pulled me through the limb and vines that had fallen with it. After that it was clear whizzing. It takes over an hour to do all 18 cables and it is great fun. The longest wire is 300 meters.

After the wire whiz, you get to relax in the thermal springs. It’s amazing, the pools go from super cold to boiling. They are fed by seperate springs. You can sort of pick your temperature. After the exercise, I opted mostly for the coldest one. I have some pretty good pictures of the ride and spa and will post at Blog’s End.

After that, I headed out, ambling toward the Nicauraguan border which is about a 2 day trip from here. The owner of the Canopy Tour, a wonderful guy from Nebraska, (I lost his card but held onto the brochure.) spent a lot of time telling me where to stop and where probably not to stop in Honduras and Nicaragua. He was easily the most helpful person I have met down here And I have encountered quit a few expatriate Americans. I was him that steered me to Lake Yojoa.

The scenery in Honduras is just mind boggling. You are constantly swiveling your head and saying “Wow, look at that.” I have gotten one photo from the balcony of the hotel here which actually captures a small bit of the grandeur of this country. I will post that.

The only other funny thing that happened was an encounter with some fruit vendors. I stopped in what I would call “El corridor de las Frutas” Three vendors them came running to where I was, all of them carrying multiple bags of fruit They started giving me samplesof each type of fruit, so I joked with them that I would eat the samples, then leave. They all gave a friendly laugh, and said “Oh no, Senhor.” Once you become friendly down here you are almost obligated to buy something. So I bought a small bag from each of them. I have pictures of the vendors and of the fruit. I bought two kinds of lychees and something called a “Mangita”.

I ate as much fruit as I could last night and again this morning and gave the rest to the security guard here at the hotel. His name is Jose and he totes a sawed off shotgun (at night).

This morning I'm off to the town of Danli, cigar and tobacco capital of Honduras and close to the Nicaraguan border.

Hasta la Vista, Baby,     Guy

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