Honduras Travel

Honduras is hardly well-known as a tourist magnet, but the Central American country is making an effort to change that. Roatan, an island paradise in the western Caribbean, is Honduras’ claim to tourist recognition.

Already as one arrives at the airport in Coxen Hole, Roatan’s main town, the visitor knows what the island is about: diving, snorkelling, swimming. The plane gets so close to the water’s surface that passengers have the impression that the machine is about to fall into the turquoise sea.

The island of Roatan is some 60 kilometres long, and it has three wooded peaks that rise up to 230 metres above sea level.

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.

Santa Rosa de Copan is located in western Honduras, hours away from the bustling sounds of San Pedro Sula and the capital city Tegucigalpa. It is tucked in between, above, and below rolling mountains. Seemingly untouched by man, these lush mountains offer a glimpse of what this entire region once looked like, and their beauty conjures up hope for its future. These mountains, their highs and their lows, define this city and those that call it home.

As we disembarked for this morning’s tour of the small island of Roatan, Honduras, we were singing off-key (but merrily) “O, ho, ho and a bottle of (Captain Morgan) rum.” On the dock we ran into Johnny Depp, or at least a svelte-looking character dressed in a tattered bandanna, high black boots and a ruffled blouse.

Here we were to take a tour via a small motor boat into the mangroves and where several old shipwrecks were photographed and tales of the pirates told.

Once we were on the pristine beach, we walked over the small pebbles with our shoes off, and we felt like we were being treated to a foot massage.

For somewhere offering superb value, still relatively undiscovered, laid back and off the beaten track. Honduras provides a warm welcome from the local people and dramatic, natural scenery.

Three hours from the capital Tegucigalpa, La Esperanza is populated mainly by the indigenous Lenca people, and the town is best known for its traditional Sunday market. The local area is blessed with magnificent scenery and is fantastic for hiking/cycling. There are natural hot springs nearby where you can bathe and will make a change from the cold showers you will have at the home-stays.