Saturday, September 25, 2004

Week 13 - Siguatepeque, Honduras to Granada, Nicaragua

September 18 - 24, 2004

Picking up the pace to meet a friend in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Saturday - OMOA, CORTES, HONDURAS

Left Siguatepeque by walking to the highway and catching a bus to San Pedro Sula which is the business/industrial center and second largest city in Honduras. Took two more buses, via Puerto Cortez, to get to Omoa. Omoa, population 2,500, is one of the oldest towns in Honduras and lies on the Atlantic. There is a very pretty fortress, San Fernando de Omoa, built centuries ago to protect the land and shipments of silver from Tegucigalpa mines to Spain, from repeated attacks of the British pirates. The fortress was later used as a jail, and is now a National Monument. This town is a very welcoming, Caribbean style, beach town. Very tranquil, peaceful, and not overly developed.





Sunday - GRACIAS, LEMPIRA, HONDURAS

Backtracked to San Pedro de Sula and caught a bus to Santa Rosa de Copan. Met a Hondurian who convinced us to spend a night in his town of Gracias instead. And so we did. Awesome decision. Gracias, population 19,380, is an amazing, undiscovered, beautiful place. The town is a colonial jewel waiting to be found (or ruined?). Like Omoa, it is one of the oldest and most historic settlements in Honduras. In 1544, for a time, it became the administrative center of Central America. It is surrounded by mountains, including Montana de Celaque - highest peak in Honduras at 2,849 meters above sea level. It is also extremely forested - simply gorgeous.

Our friend, Walter Murcia, took us to many places around town including - the oldest botanical garden in Central America started by his great grandfather, hot springs, and a fort overlooking the city.

Botanical garden...



Natural hot springs...



Walter at the fortress...



We made a new friend and got so much out of a town that we did not expect to even visit. A highlight in Honduras!!



Monday - LA ESPERANZA, INTIBUCA, HONDURAS

Left Gracias at midday for La Esperanza (which means "The Hope"). The town is difficult to get to via this route due to low traffic and no pavement - unreliable travel, especially during the rainy season. We hitched a ride to San Juan del Caite in the back of a truck. There we waited for almost three hours before finding a second ride to La Esperanza.

Hitchhiking...waiting...



Ahhh!! Found a ride...in the back of a pick-up truck...



The two journeys were about 60km each, through pine forested, mountainous, amazing land. Of all our routes on this trip so far, this one was in the top three for sure - especially when riding in the back of a truck - open to see in all directions. Spent the night in La Esperanza.

Such a pretty route...



Tuesday - DANLI, EL PARAISO, HONDURAS

Left for Danli - had to stop and change buses in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. It means "Silver Hill" and was a huge sliver mining camp in the late 1500's. Danli, population 30,000, is a town know for cigar making and is also very pretty.

Wednesday and Thursday - MATAGALPA, NICARAGUA

Left Danli for Nicaragua - took a bus to El Paraiso (meaning, The Paradise) and another one on to the border settlement of Las Manos (meaning, The Hands). Went through Hondurian and Nicaraguan immigration - very friendly border crossing - no problems. Welcome to Nicaragua!



Check out what we saw on a truck at the Honduras/Nicaragua border!..



Took three buses to Matagalpa via Ocotal and Sebaco. Arrived to a town, at night, with no electricity or water - pitch black, dark and dry. It was a bit scary walking around an unknown city without being able to see anything at all...literally. No street lights, no lights in stores, houses, etc...dark, dark, dark. Found a hotel and managed to find dinner all by flashlight and candle. Ah,m how romantic! Electricity finally came back a few hours later - however, no water until the next day. Really makes you realize how much we take for granted.

Friday - GRANADA, NICARAGUA

Left by bus to Granada - three buses via Tipitapa and Masaya. Granada is a lot like Antigua but more open - not crowded. It is next to a huge lake, Lago de Nicaragua. It is also less touristy (or perhaps the tourist season is dying down). Possibly one of our favorite cities so far. Maybe a bit too hot though...for us anyway. With a population of 111,506, Granada is the oldest city on Latin American mainland. It is a very friendly, beautiful, colonial port city. It was founded in 1524 and was attacked at least three times by British and French pirates. It lies on the shore of Lago de Nicaragua which can be accessed from the Atlantic Ocean via the San Juan and Escalante rivers. Also lying at the foot of Volcan Mombacho - it is gorgeous.





Somebody just passed away...horse pulled hearse on the way to the burial grounds.



Here we coincidently bumped into Claudia, the friend from Germany that we first met in Uspantan, Guatemala. Had dinner and enjoyed swapping travel stories.

Claudia and Sarah...



Tomorrow perhaps we will leave by boat for the world's largest fresh water island containing two volcanoes.

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