Honduras Travel

Travel to Honduras – Episode 291
by Chris Christensen
Listen:
Amateur Traveler Episode 291 – Travel to Honduras

Or see more at: http://centralamerica.amateurtraveler.com/2011/07/30/travel-to-honduras/

Las Marias, Honduras – The strip of grass in the centre of Belen village is used for grazing livestock, playing football and for landing small propeller airplanes.

One of the latter is due just now which is a sign for the local kids and assorted cows to get out of the way and let the man behind the controls of the Cessna do his job.

The pilot sets his machine down deftly between the hummocks and cowpats, bringing five passengers back to earth after a 60-minute flight from La Ceiba. The journey has taken them past a dreamy landscape of lagoons, jungle and green-clad peaks leading to the edge of the remote Moskitia region of Honduras.

Frommer’s has just debuted a new travel guide to Honduras.

Nicholas Gill, author of the first edition of “Frommer’s Honduras”, says the Central American country has “a little bit of everything: beaches, active adventures, historical sites, indigenous cultures, wildlife and laidback getaways.”

His recommendations for best travel experiences include:

—Semana Santa in Comayagua, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday when “vivacious daily processions and hordes of pilgrims” show their devotion.

—Diving the barrier reef in the Bay Islands, which the author says is not only spectacular but cheap when compared to diving rates in other parts of the world.

I caught an old Russian prop plane (was good to see the Russian alphabet again) to the village of Palacios. Runway was a narrow grass and gravel stretch between shacks in which the locals lived, which made for a bumpy landing. Was able to arrange transport in a cayuco, which is a small wooden craft about 25′ in length and could seat 2-3 people across, powered by a small motor. This particular one was loaded down with supplies going out to the village of Cocobila, the largest settlement on Laguna Ibans, and didn’t seem especially seaworthy. Trip through the river was smooth, but once we hit the lagoon it was a different story, as the small boat was tossed around like a cork on the water by the waves. It was a three hour trip, and the tune to Gilligans Island ran through my mind more than once, recalling a similar 3 hour tour that didn’t end well. Finally arrived in the small garifuna village of Raista. The area was pretty spectacular, with the Caribbean on one side of the narrow strip of land and the lagoon on the other. In the afternoon I was watching a woman standing in the lagoon washing her clothes and beating them against a log. Turning my head slightly I saw another woman attaching some brush to a long stick for use as broom. A further swivel of the head revealed a man cutting up and getting the meat from a turtle, mangos falling from a tree, and chickens, cows, and horses that could wander where they liked. Really was an amazing place. Place I stayed didn’t have electricity, so it was a night of candlelight.