Honduras Travel

From the moment he stepped onto the tarmac at the airport at the foot of the central mountains of Honduras, Ironton businessman Robert Slagel entered a world of shocking contrasts.

“As soon as we got off the plane, there was a guard with a machine gun,” he said. “In the lobby of the airport, there were private individuals guarding luggage with machine guns.”

The Ironton (Ohio) entrepreneur was part of three-person team from Christ Episcopal Church going as first-time missionaries to the poverty-stricken Central American country of Honduras. Joining Slagel were Laurel Baise of Ironton and the Rev. Sallie Schisler, vicar of the church.

We were bad tourists today: After four weeks of insisting on only local dishes, we had Wendy’s for lunch. Then we skipped Tegucigalpa’s Museo para la Identidad Nacional and watched a movie we had downloaded on iTunes while the rain — the whiplash of the tropical storm that was wrecking havoc on the Pacific beaches of Honduras’ neighbors — pounded against the metal roof above us.

Every trip has that point, when you’ve had your fill of cultural experiences and the familiar, even Wendy’s, sounds appealing. In a place like Honduras, that point might arrive a little sooner than in other places. Over the past month, we had quadrupled our life consumption from birth to present of fried chicken.

Honduras is the in the middle of a massive tourism infrastructure build out, which makes now the time for budget travelers to take advantage of increasing accessibility and still low prices. Though the islands offshore have long been a favorite among divers, the rest of the country is experiencing a tourist surge that could significantly reshape many of its quaint towns and bring up prices.

The Central American country, which is slightly smaller than Ohio, packs a punch, offering Mayan ruins, virgin jungle, and pristine beaches.

Continue AOL Travel article here.

Decorated Street in Copan

There are many reasons to visit Copan in the western region of Honduras, but the procession that will march down this street on Good Friday morning (April 6 in 2012, if you want to start planning) is a big draw; arrive early to admire the “carpets”.

I went to Honduras because I wanted adventure, an opportunity to learn more about myself and the world and, most importantly, a year without winter. The bustle and cold of Toronto wasn’t for me anymore.

I’d been there before, a year prior, for a few months of volunteer teaching. Its beauty and its people captured me. I was determined to return to Latin America as as soon as I could.

Tripoli is a little pueblo in the municipio (municipality, which is kind of like a county in the US) of Masica in the departmento (state or province) of Atlántida. We were curious how Tripoli got its name and what the people thought about what was going on in Tripoli, Libya, if they were aware of it.

The 2001 Honduras census lists Tripoli as having a population of 799 living in 180 homes. As the map shows, Tripoli is in a low area, and we found out later that in the early years (1920s – 1930s), parts of it were actually under water and much of it was planted in rice fields. Now much of the area is used for raising cattle and cultivating corn, as well other crops. A current resident estimates that the population may now be about 1,000.