Honduras

El Poy

Enter Honduras, HN

I arrived around 7:15 at the border post of El Salvador I entered definitively to Honduras two hours later. The procedure in El Salvador lasted less 15 minutes at the customs, to return the permisio de importacion temporada and the exit at the immigration. On the other hand the procedure was longer in Honduras. At the immigration they were fast, photo of my portrait without glasses, digital fingerprints of all the fingers of the two hands and payment of a tax of US$3. At the customs obtaining the permiso of importacion temporada lasted nearly one hour and half with an outward journey to the bank to pay two taxes, one of 135 lempiras and the other of 584.78 lempiras i.e. US$36. The bank does not change dollars; it is necessary to have to find a changer in the street! In both countries customs did not visit my truck. Then around 9:20 I took the road for the Maya Ruinas de Copan where I arrived around 15:30 to bivouac opposite the entry on a ground by paying 100 lempiras i.e. US$5 for one night without service. On the road, there were police check points. But the police made me pass without anything to ask me.

Copan

As of the opening of the Copan site I surveyed to bleach on grass wet by the morning dew to admire the superb steles carved on the four faces. Some, as Stele C, preserved the origin colors in spite of the ravages of time. Admittedly the site does not have the sumptuousness of Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza and Tikal. But it is its specific character with its very worked steles and its many plazas. The morning passed on the site as well as in the museum at the end of the reconstitution of the Rosalila Tunnel. I remained one day more on the carpark to update the pages of my website.

Ruinas de Copan, click the picture

Museo de Copan, click the picture

Gracias

On Saturday morning the last day of October I left the carpark at L100 per night without service, the shower was a pipe close to the wallow with the pigs. At the Texaco petrol-station I bought two purified water 10-liter cans to fill the tanks of my truck. Then I took the road to the Gracias village at 800 meters of altitude. The Parque Central accommodated me; I found a parking opposite the police where I presented myself to ask for the authorization of bivouac which was granted to me with benevolence. In an adjacent street I found an ATM to withdraw lempiras and a market to buy fruits and vegetables. Then I settled for the daily administrative work.

Gracias, click the picture

Lago Yojoa, Pito Solo

After a peaceful and secure night opposite the police station along the Parque Central I moved towards Lago de Yojoa hoping to find an access to the lake. But its edge is completely occulted by restaurants. Right before the hotel Los Remos accommodated me on the lawn of the bungalows with a shower in one of them and the wifi, to check. Altitude is 650 meters high with a temperature +32°C. The roads in Honduras are of poor quality with many pot-holes and topes which here are called tumulos. As in Mexico driving is painful and wastes the pleasure of the mountain landscape.

Los Remos

Jilamo

On November 2nd was a driving day towards the Caribbean Sea with a roadway without pot-holes! I arrived shortly after midday on the carpark of Martha's Comedor to establish my bivouac. The northern coast of Honduras has a tropical climate, heat and moisture…

Martha's Comedor

Trujillo

On Tuesday, November 3rd I went to Punta Caxinas, the septentrional point of Honduras on the Caribbean Sea. Alas while arriving near Puerto Castilla a door barred the road. Only the authorized vehicles could cross it. After discussion the cerberus authorized me to enter to turn around! Consequently I moved towards Trujillo by stopping at the edge of Bahia de Trujillo for the lunch pause. Then I visited the ruins of the fort built in the 17th century against the pirates and in particular the North-American William Walker shot on September 12th, 1860. It was near Trujillo, on August 14, 1502, that Columbus first set foot on the American mainland. The hostess of the fort indicated a camp-site to me. But after some mistakes an inhabitant of Trujillo led me to it; I follow his pickup. The site is at the seaside with wifi, a swimming pool and banos, no drinking water, no electricity. I decided to remain two nights there.

Accès à Puerto Castilla

Pause lunch

Fortaleza Santa Barbara, click la photo

Campamento

Sabana-Grande

On Thursday, November 5th was a long-driving day towards the border with Nicaragua. Part of the 425 km was on a ground track up to Limones. I vainly sought a bivouac before Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras whose crossing was Kafkaesque. In a maze of work I stopped to request my way from the driver of the car which followed me. The young woman told me that it was very difficult. She proposed to me to follow her. Indeed the way would have been impossible for me only. What a kindness! The rain started to fall and the night was close. On the sideroad I saw a carpark, inclined, and a car entering a property. I asked for the authorization of spend the night. There too the kindness was with go. Alas the road was very attended during the night by very noisy trucks applying the engine brake in descent.

En route

Pause lunch on the trail	Bivouac on roadside

Guasaule, Border between Honduras & Nicaragua

On Friday October 06th I left Honduras, look at the border crossing.