Why Honduras?

This was the most popular question that we were asked, both by friends before we left, and by Hondurans during the trip. Our algorithm for determining the next destination is a function of the number of tourists (which can be inferred from guidebooks, the amount of material on the web, and the severity of US State Dept advisories), how nice the locals are, weather, vegetarian options, and to some degree traveling conditions. Honduras was a winner on most fronts.

Planning Stage

We ordered all the travel guides that we could find. The three that we used most extensively are:

1. Central America Handbook (Honduras chapter)
2. Moon Handbook on Honduras (by Chris Humphrey)
3. Fodor's Central America book (Honduras chapter)

All of the above have new 2006 editions that were not available before our departure. Another book that turned out to be helpful is Honduras Tips, distributed all over Honduras for free. It is most updated in terms of prices, accommodations, etc. You can get one in advance for $14.95 from the Honduran official website Hondurasweb.com.

In hindsight, the Central America Handbook was the best. It was pretty up-to-date, and covered many more of the areas we traveled in. It was also more suitable for a car-driving trip (whereas the Moon handbook was oriented towards walking/bus-taking and was somewhat outdated).

Tip: reduce your load by taking only the Honduras chapters rather than the entire books.

Several websites were helpful for planning the route, selecting accommodations, and in logistics (such as locations of ATMs -- they are pretty rare!)

1. SidewalkMystic.com
2. A website on Santa Rosa De Copan and the area, by an American expat who lives there (and owns a nice pizzeria called Pizza Pizza)
3. The indispensable TripAdvisor - we scanned the resort and hotel opinions meticulously to choose the place to stay in the island of Roatan. There is also an interesting forum.

Our plan was to spend 4 weeks in Honduras: the first 2 weeks traveling in Western Honduras by rental car, then 2 weeks on the beach in the Bay Islands. We booked accommodations for the first night in advance, as well as for the 2-week stay in Roatan.

Flights: From DCA (our preferred airport in the DC area) to Tegucigalpa via Miami, and back with American Airlines. The connections were a bit tight, and we ended up running through the endless Miami airport (which is under renovations in various parts) to make it in time. On the way to Tegucigalpa we made it right in time. On the way back, we also had to go through immigration, collect our baggage and clear customs before continuing to run to the connecting flight. But we made it! Alternatives are to fly to San Pedro Sula, and other airlines are Taca, United, and Continental. Or, you can fly directly to Roatan, for example with Delta Air Lines. Flying into Tegucigalpa was convenient for our route.

We also liked Tegucigalpa from the day we spent there at the end. However, there are two drawbacks to flying into/from TGU: First, the airport has a short runway, which means that the landing is a bit drastic. I kept a bag in sight. Second, the traffic to/from the airport to the city is quite unbelievable. On our way to the airport it took us nearly 45 minutes to reach a point just a few streets away from the hotel... So extra time should be factored in for the trip. We hired a car through Avis. They seem to be the international company with the most locations in Honduras. We reserved an ordinary Mazda, but were extremely lucky to get upgraded to a 4x4 high-clearance Mitsubishi Nativa. This turned out to be a savior, as many roads required the full moment of the 4x4 as well as the high-clearance. One last preparation was ordering a good map. The one we used was a 1:750,000 map by International Travel Maps in Canada.

Packing List

• Two backpacks - we only carried them from the car to the hotels, but they were much more convenient than suitcases
• Car booster seat - there are no such devices there...
• Medicines - cold medication (night & day), hydrocortisone (soothe itches from insect bites)
• Insect repellent - Autan sticks against mosquitoes, and a couple of Sawyer Premium Insect Repellent Broad Spectrum sprays, for repelling mosquitoes and sand flies on Roatan island
• Money belts
• Clothing - hats, sandals and walking shoes, bathing suits, light towels, 7 days worth of T-shirts and light long pants, underwear and socks.
• Spare glasses
• Gifts - we got a bunch of markers with stampers from IKEA which were lightweight and fun for kids
• Kid-size snorkel and mask
• Wet-ones
• Zip-locks and several plastic bags, and a few plastic containers (always turn out useful)

The Route

Tegucigalpa airport - Zambrano - Marcala - La Esperanza - Gracias - Santa Rosa de Copan - Copan Ruinas - San Pedro Sula airport - Roatan - Tegucigalpa

Day 1 (June 28) - Landing at TGU and driving to Zambrano

TGU airport is currently under constructions and so the auto rental offices are a bit tricky to find. Once exiting the terminal, they are to the left, in a construction area... There are a few tiny booths, one for each rental agency. We were warned in advance that even with a reservation we should not expect to get a car immediately. And indeed, the Mazda we reserved was not there.

At first they tried to persuade us to take a small Chevrolet Aveo, but knowing that we have 2 weeks of travel we politely declined. We were then offered a 4x4 Mitsubishi SUV. Within an hour they brought the car from the Avis central agency and off we went (after withdrawing the max of 5000 lempiras = US$250 from the airport ATM). The road from the airport to Zambrano is excellent. Zambrano is about 35 miles from the airport in the direction of San Pedro Sula, on a well-paved, wide road. Driving was easy, with not too much traffic and very wide shoulders. There is a slightly tricky turn to get on to the highway to San Pedro Sula. In general, we found that entrances and exits from towns and cities onto highways sometimes looked more like back alleys than roads. But they did connect to the main road again.

We booked our first night at Caserio Valuz in Zambrano (double room for $60-$72, and there is a neat dorm). It was built and is run by Jorge Valle-Aguiluz (email: jorgevalleaguiluz@yahoo.com), a terrific guy. Jorge speaks English and Spanish and knows everything about Honduras and way beyond. The hotel is beautifully decorated and is as serene as it gets. The town of Zambrano is tiny with zero attractions besides the real country life, kids at school, families going to the mill to grind corn for tortillas, etc. No restaurants, and we didn't see any real comedors either (so plan on either bringing stuff or eating at Caserio Valuz which can be slightly expensive). As in most of Western Honduras (except Copan Ruinas) there were no gringos in sight. There was, however, a large house that belongs to an American expat (Jimmy Hughes) called "door of hope", which we heard was some kind of an orphanage.

To get to Caserio Valuz, right at KM 35 there is a sign for an Army post on the left and a nearly invisible sign for Caserio Valuz. Take a left there and just continue straight through he cobble-stoned village until you reach the beautiful palace-like hotel on your right. If you miss that left turn, you will immediately see a gas station. You will also find there a good convenience store to stock up on water, snacks (we got lots of crackers and baked goods), local souvenirs and even some from Egypt! (an Egyptian guy who lives in the area sells some mementos at the supermarket).

Day 2 (June 29) - From Zambrano to Marcala via San Pedro de Tutule and Guajiquiro

We were fortunate enough to have Jorge Valle-Aguiluz (owner of Caserio Valuz) join us for the next two days. Jorge loves to travel and we had a great time traveling together. He guided us through a road to Marcala that ran past the Lenca village of Guajiquiro. We first stopped at San Pedro de Tutule, a small town with a tiny market. People were amused to see us, and we got our first sight of a small Western Honduran town. From here the road changed to an unpaved, rough road. On the way we took several passengers who were hitch-hiking back to their village. A woman and her daughter were returning from the Guajuquiro market with merchandise for their small shop. Whenever we passed someone they knew they smiled to each other ("we're getting home faster than them!"). At some point the road just dropped into a ditch and was completely impassable. Luckily there were two tractors building a steep muddy detour, and within a short while we were thanking our luck for the 4x4.

We arrived at Marcala in the late afternoon, and had lunch at a nice place (Casa Gloria) right off the Parque Central. After cruising through a few hotels and finding out that all the guidebooks either ignored Marcala or were outdated, we ended up staying in the new Hotel Jerusalen (which was originally located in a different place). This was the worst place that we stayed at during our entire stay, given our "upscale-backpacker" standards. We looked at a few musty rooms until we found one reasonable room with 3 beds and a shower. At 200 lempira you can't expect luxury, but still... The rooms are in a motel-like 2-storey building, surrounding a parking area. This means that you get the noise from the parking cars, and more problematic, trucks. Then, the existence of a TV in the rooms is not a sign of luxury but rather a noise-effect that permeates from far away rooms.

The next morning we went to the market to have breakfast. Jorge found us the best place and it was the best tipico breakfast we had in the entire trip! A small room in a row of such rooms in the market holds comedors. Everything is freshly made. We had milk directly from a cow (Noa will remember that forever), and a good tipico plate: avocado, refried beans, fried plantain, scrambled egg, a white grainy cheese, a salty creamy substance called mantequilla ("butter" in Spanish, but this was not butter), and small warm tortillas to wrap up the goodies into tasty bites. This is accompanied by good cafe negro (more like a Turkish coffee than "coffee" in the US) and good pickles. At first we were ordering two plates and sharing them among the three of us. But at some point, when Noa started another growth spurt, we moved to ordering three plates. An interesting thing we found out was that generally kids were not treated as separate entities at comedors or restaurants. We always had to ask for another fork ("un mas tenedor, por favor"), another plate, and another cup of water.

We walked around the very nice market. Everything is neatly ordered, and there is a pleasant narrow pathway that leads you from the veggies, toys, spices, etc. There is also a good supermarket which is well stocked. We bought different groceries and snacks, as well as an electric mosquito killer by Raid which works for 45 nights (they don't sell them in the US, but they really are a life saver if you can't sleep with mosquito buzzing and bites). In fact, since the electric sockets are the same as in the US, we brought this device back home, with a few refills. Finally, we had some ice cream, from a locked freezer in the supermarket. There are two brands in Honduras that we found in most places: Sarita is the equivalent of the Unilever brand (with they delicious Magnum and Solero ice cream). And Eskimo is a central-American brand that has lower-quality (but still good and refreshing) ice cream. We also stocked up on Aralen (chloroquine - a malaria prophylactic) at a drugstore which is much cheaper than in the US (50 lempiras for a strip of 10 250-mg pills). For Noa, we crushed a half-pill into powder and mixed it in a spoonful of jam, which she was able to swallow. This is after we found out that she could not swallow the half-pill, and she really tried (chloroquine is terribly bitter!) .

Finally, we visited a coffee-exporting office, right nearby the Jerusalen hotel. They invited us to a good cup of coffee and told us about the coffee and exporting. Apparently Honduras produces a lot of coffee and is exported mainly to Germany, and sometimes via another Central American country, to the US. Unfortunately, most of the good coffee goes to export, and we did not find any great coffee anywhere.

Day 3 (June 30) - From Marcala to La Esperanza

The road from Marcala was one of the worst: it is not paved, and you literally are driving on the mountain rock. Again, the 4x4 was well-used most of the way. It took 2-3 hours of slow driving. But the views are magnificent. We counted 11 vehicles from the exit of Marcala to the entrance to La Esperanza. They were all zooming by faster than us, and were loaded with standing passengers in the back. La Esperanza has a nice and tranquil feel. The Parque Central is nice and shaded. A few vendors sell cotton candy and home-made corn chips. The town was pretty dusty (they say there are two seasons there: the dusty season and the muddy season), but it was fun walking around. For accommodation we checked out a few places. The recommended Hotel Esperanza turned out to be a bit stuffy to our taste, and over-priced (600 lempira for a double with bath). Besides, they were renovating, which was creating a lot of noise (something to keep in mind when kids are taking naps in the afternoon...) We found the clean and quiet hotel Mejia Batres close to the Parque Central (300 lempira for a triple with bath). Across the street was a nice new restaurant, with antiques and lots of ambiance. This is where we first learned about Anafre, also called fonditto: a small fondue bowl which sits on top of coals, which has a combination of refried beans and cheese, and comes with nachos (corn chips). This appetizer goes well with beer. And we really liked the local beers (Port Royal and Salva Vida). Beer is very cheap everywhere, and is always served cold. In comparison soft drinks (refrescos) are sometimes warm and served with a glass full of ice cubes. The real highlight of La Esperanza was the road trip out of town: there is a circular road that runs through a small lagoon and snakes into the heart of beautiful landscape: green everywhere, cows grazing, tiny farms dotting the green, and perfect sunshine. Bull carts pull small wood logs, with kids and their fathers walking nearby. Two girls took a ride with us back to La Esperanza to take computer lessons. The road took us back into town right near a large soccer field. We saw such fields in several other places, even quite remote villages. In comparison, while the world cup in soccer was going on (and we made sure to watch all matches), the locals did not seem very enthusiastic to watch or talk about the world cup. That was a surprise. For breakfast we headed once again to the market and looked for the comedors. Now that we had the comparison of the excellent breakfast at Marcala, we could tell that this was not as good, but still fresh. We were also beginning to learn that the concept of vegetarians is not easy to explain in Honduras... We were not expecting a vegetarian's paradise, and were slowly adjusting to the tipico dish for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner.

Days 4-7 (July 1-3) - La Esperanza to Gracias

Leaving around 9 AM, we headed towards Gracias, after parting with Jorge. The road was again not great and mostly unpaved. Until San Juan it was completely unpaved and the scenery magnificent. At some point two small kids jumped to the road and sold us a bag of several pounds of some type of berry for 20 lempiras. We had no idea what it was, but wanted to help them out and eventually gave them to the kitchen at the restaurant in Gracias. From San Juan there is a tiny back alley that leads back to the road - this time a perfect paved road that ends after a few miles and continues once again as an unpaved road. There is even a point where the road got swept away and there is a detour. There are some more stretches of perfect paved road, intermittently until Gracias. The trip took us nearly 3 hours, but we did drive slowly, taking in the scenery. At Gracias we headed to the Guancascos hotel and restaurant. We reserved a room there by phone the day before, but when we got there around noon we received the last of the crop - a very clean and comfortable room (2 large beds + bath) in a building that seemed slightly unfinished (room #5). There were no screens on the window (oh no! Mosquitoes!!), and the roof was undone thereby creating a heat trap which the ceiling fan was unable to handle. After some complaining we got the attention of the Dutch owner. She brought us another fan and nailed a screen to the window. Plus, the mosquitoes were not ferocious. The beds were great - firm and clean, the TV allowed us to watch some good world cup games while Noa was napping, and the restaurant had a magnificent view. The menu even included some nice vegetarian options like delicious bean soup with veggies, and cheese sandwiches. Great fruit juices and beers, of course. We stayed three nights here. The first day we walked around town, ate ice-cream and bought some good coconut sweets from the street vendors around the Parque Central. There was a crowd nearby and we found that a group of musicians from the area were being recorded for the local radio station. Three guitars and cowboys singing with everyone watching. There are several nice day trips that we took: The best was to the village of La Campa, where there is a very nice new visitors center and a small pottery museum. They also have a good gift shop with T-shirts and handmade pottery from the area at very reasonable prices. The real highlight is the area near the Iglesia, a huge grassy area that reminded me of a kibbutz. The municipal building is also beautiful, with a room for each department. Noa played ball with kids there - no need for conversation, they were all laughing after a short while. From La Campa we continued to the beautiful village of San Manuel de Colohete. A bit of a rough road, but well worth it. There is a beautiful Iglesia, and if you go behind it you will find some interesting gargoyles as well as a nice view over the valley. People in town have horses and there are nearly no vehicles. The locals look like real cowboys, and even the kids walk around with machetes. We found the single comedor in the village and had a good tipico lunch there. We then headed back and took a local cowboy with us. In general people who asked for a ride always offered to pay us at the end (which of course we declined). That probably means that only people with a few lempiras to spare would even try to hitch. We also went to the aguas termales (thermal pools) nearby Gracias, where it was not really refreshing to swim in 37 degree Celsius water when it's hot outside... But nevertheless it was interesting to see the locals enjoying it. In Gracias we saw an entrance to a botanical garden, but every time we checked the gate was closed. There is also a German woman who works at the new bilingual school, one block from Guancascos (it appears that most of the expat kids go there), who bakes very good breads and sells them at the little yellow house. She also sells good jam, made by Germans in another part of Honduras. Seems like there is a group of expats here and just a handful of foreign tourists.

Days 8-10 (July 4-6) - Gracias to Santa Rosa de Copan

An easy drive out of Gracias took us all the way to the main city of the area: Santa Rosa de Copan. Here we found lots of restaurants, a host of hotels, a nice tourist information booth at the Parque Central, and some good walks around town. We stayed at Hotel Elvir, the most upscale hotel, yet pretty affordable (700 lempiras for a double with bath). However, they showed us several rooms that were all terribly musty until a reasonably aired one was found (room #218). They have a nice little swimming pool on the rooftop which Noa loved, and an adjacent bar that was mostly occupied, and unfortunately too noisy until late at night (we had to call reception at 1AM to ask them to turn down the music and lower the giggling voices).

The hotel restaurant was pretty good, and after navigating through the menu we managed to find a terrific vegetarian delight: tortilla soup! This is made with small cheese dumplings, coriander, fried strips of tortilla, and good fresh avocado slices (added after the soup is cooked). We ate in the hotel small outdoor courtyard, where they had 7 turtles swimming in a tiny man-made creak. One evening the hotel worker fed them meat(!) and pieces of tortilla. Noa was fascinated. We found a terrific new sports bar/restaurant called Zots (on Calle Centenario, a couple of blocks from Pizza Pizza), where we watched the two soccer games of the world cup on a large screen. The waiter didn't know what to do with us vegetarians, and so the chef came by, easily understood us, and prepared us a lovely platter of vegetables with the day's special sides. With a few beers and refrescos we kept coming back.

We also went twice to Pizza Pizza, owned by an American expat married to a Honduran (his step-son is a receptionist at the Hotel Elvir, and helped us a lot). They have a nice small play-structure for kids, which Noa greatly appreciated (and so did we!). The pizzas were a nice change from the tipico. We were surprised at how few people were there. I guess I was expecting many more tourists in the "capital" of Western Honduras. Another neat place that we discovered for breakfast is comedor Julie on 1 Calle and Avenida SO (one block west of the Park). She serves a good tipico with cafe negro at a very reasonable 40 lempira or so. The hotel reception people were extremely helpful. They helped us book our flights to Roatan by talking to the SOSA airline agent (our Spanish was insufficient for that...). We also called to reserve a room at Casa de Cafe in Copan Ruinas, and reconfirmed our AA return flight. They also have internet in the lobby at a reasonable $1/hour.

Here there are two ATMs and we stocked up again on lempiras. We've hardly used a credit card until this point (only at Caserio Valuz in Zambrano and at hotel Elvir). We just hung around town, walking down the streets in different directions and chatting with locals. There is a large college, and around 6PM lots of students are out and walking the streets. There is also a friendly small cafe that opened right next door to hotel Elvir. They have decent frozen drinks and croissants and a small selection of crafts and books. And finally, a good supermarket on Calle Centenario.

Beside strolling around town, a major attraction is the Flor de Copan cigar factory. Tours are available at 10am for US$2 per person, but they do not allow children into the fermentation area because of the strong fumes. The factory produces only hand rolled cigars, and you can see every step in the process, including the manufacturing of the beautiful cedar wood boxes.

We took a great day trip from Santa Rosa de Copan to Corquin and Belen Gualcho. On the road, right outside of the city there were lots of pineapple vendors, and then two vendors of sugar cane juice (jugo de cana). We gave them a bottle which they filled with sweet juice that was extracted right there. It took around 45 minutes to get to Corquin, on a well-paved road. Then, another hour from there on a rough road to Belen Gualcho. A nice iglesia there, and then we just hung out at comedor Raquel. We had lunch there and also stayed to watch a world-cup game with the family's grandfather and another couple.

Tip: The only travel agency in Santa Rosa de Copan, which is located down by the central bus station, only works with Atlantic Airlines and Taca. We heard from different sources that SOSA is the most reliable. You can book a ticket by phone, and then purchase it at the airport.

Days 11-13 (July 7-10) - Santa Rosa de Copan to Copan Ruinas

Days 14 (July 11) - Copan Ruinas to Roatan via San Pedro Sula airport

The drive from Copan Ruinas to San Pedro Sula is mostly eventless on a good, paved road. There are plenty of gas stations on the way, many more than are marked on the map. It took us about 4 hours to get to the airport, by avoiding driving through San Pedro Sula.

At some point we entered the "Free Zone", where there are huge factories surrounded by barbed-wire fences. All of a sudden there were signs in English instead of Spanish.

Finding the shortcut to the airport by avoiding the city is a bit tricky. After turning left onto the San Pedro Sula - Tegucigalpa highway we drove several miles until a large Toyota dealership was on the right. We then took a right turn onto a road that lead to the airport. At the very end there is even a short toll road (4 lempira per car).

The car rental return is not obvious: pulling up by the departure area and walking through the glass doors brings you to the row of rental car booths. We returned the car to Avis and went to purchase our tickets which we reserved over the phone in advance. They actually do take credit cards as well as cash. And of course there is an ATM to stock up on lempiras. There is also a pretty good eatery (NOT the Wendy's!) which has lots of vegetarian stuff, and ice-cream.

Our SOSA flight left nearly on time. A small Jetstream 31 flew us first to La Ceiba, where everyone deplaned and waited in an air-conditioned room. Then shortly afterwards we got on another similarly small plane and flew to Roatan.

Days 15-27 (July 12-24) - Palmetto Bay Plantation in Roatan

From the tiny Roatan airport we were picked up by the kind Palmetto Bay Plantation's driver. The small minibus (busito) drove easily on the paved road, until a surprising sign pointed up the hill on a rough unpaved road "To Palmetto Bay". It was somewhat nerve-wracking to see the 2-wheel-drive busito climb the road, but the following trips it was much better. Before going up the hill, we asked the driver to take us to a supermarket nearby to stock up on groceries. At Palmetto Bay we rented a 2-bedroom house with a kitchen, as we planned on lots of cooking. There is a well-stocked supermarket called Eldons, right nearby at French harbor. They even take credit cards. We later learned that 5 minutes away by car there is a new great bakery called The Bakery at Plaza Jackson. They have very good bread and excellent bagels (the best ones I've ever had).

The road climbs up to the tip of the hill, cutting through the island. At some point there is a view of the coasts on both sides of the island - a magnificent ride!

Palmetto Bay Plantation is a group of houses built on stilts among lovely gardens. There are 2- and 3-bedroom houses, all with a full kitchen, dining area, sitting area, and small balcony. The houses are owned mainly by North Americans and a rental office rents them out for them. Several of the houses had "for sale" signs, and there always seemed to be a real-estate agent hanging out by the pool. The swimming pool is very nice, and it was the meeting point on many hot afternoons. The weather was unusually rainy (with one or two showers during the day rather than only during the night). From the Palmetto Bay website it was hard to figure out what kind of beach they have. It does look very lovely, and it's a perfect place to sit and sip something. But it is not good for swimming. The reef is very close, and there is a wide band of seaweeds that are not very pleasant to walk on. There is, however, a nice wooden walkway that leads to a deeper spot. We jumped in twice, but after Noa got stung by a jellyfish we resorted to pool swimming...

Our next-door neighbors turned out to be a lovely Canadian couple from British Columbia who have decided to try and retire on the Island of Roatan. They were staying at Palmetto Bay until they complete building a house on a small nearby cay. If not for them, we would have stayed in Palmetto Bay the entire 2 weeks except for supermarket hopping. But they took us around the island, and we saw all the new development going on. To me it was quite disconcerting to see the flashy condo complexes with artificial lakes and the palace-like houses built on the best spots in the island. The reason is that these were all catering to people from the US, not the local Hondurans who cannot afford it.

Another big difference from the mainland was that on Roatan English is widely spoken. The population there is black and Hispanic, and has the British influence. There are two parallel economies: one in lempiras for the locals (reasonable food prices, etc.) and one in US Dollars for the gringos. For instance, we were offered a massage for USD 40/hour! That's when the hourly pay is around $5.

A real treat was the vegetable truck that arrived every Tuesday and Friday at the Palmetto Bay restaurant. We would buy almost every fruit and vegetable on that truck. Each delicious and full of flavor (unlike the plastic ones we get here in DC).

We spent two weeks doing nothing but reading, cooking, chatting, drinking the local beer, and teaching Noa to swim in the pool (which she mastered pretty quickly).

Day 28 (July 25) - Roatan to Tegucigalpa

Flying back from Roatan to Tegucigalpa was actually faster than we expected: the small plane did not stop in La Ceiba, probably because everyone was continuing to Tegucigalpa. One thing with those mini-planes is that their A/C is practically non-existent. We were seated right behind the pilots and could see the millions of switches that were all over the ceiling above them and the walls that surrounded them. I even located the A/C switch, but didn't see them touch it at any point. Once in the air it becomes a little cooler. In any case, it is a relatively short flight (less than an hour).

Arriving at Tegucigalpa airport we headed out to get a taxi. There are a few "official" dispatchers who claimed the cab ride is 200 lempiras ($10). Knowing that the price is $4, we simply walked to one of the parked cabs and after a short negotiation he agreed to the standard $4. The cab driver was a young, slightly rough guy. He drove a bit aggressively even through the very congested Comayaguela market that is at the entrance to Teguc. He had no clue where the Hotel MacArthur was, but after a little asking we found it. Hotel MacArthur is an extremely pleasant hotel. It is very clean with both A/C rooms ($50) and fan rooms ($40), all with private bath. We originally booked an A/C room, but the weather was so pleasant (perhaps after we were used to the Roatan weather), that we switched to an ordinary room. They have a very nice swimming pool and even a small play structure for kids. We did, however, move to a different room after we found out that the frying odors from the cafeteria were overtaking the room. The better rooms are towards the pool.

We strolled from the hotel to downtown Teguc. The city is built into the mountains with some seriously sloped streets. But the downtown area is relatively flat. There are tons of stands and shops selling almost everything. The nearby Iglesia Los Dolores is pretty, with lots of doves to feed. It is surrounded by stands and people selling all kinds of food, from fresh tortillas, hot corn, vegetables, freshly cut watermelon and other fruit, etc. There is also a good, simple, and cheap comedor there.

We roamed the streets for a few hours, feeling completely safe everywhere. We had a good dinner at a neat Greek restaurant called Restaurante Mediterraneo (but skip the desserts). Lots of vegetarian options that are not on the menu.

We felt that we have not spent enough time in Teguc, and would have liked to spend there a couple of days more. People scared us so badly of Teguc and San Pedro Sula, that our original plan was to try and avoid them as much as possible. In retrospect, that is probably a mistake.

Day 29 (July 26) - Flying back home

After less than 24 hours in Teguc, and after having a good breakfast at the place near the Iglesia Los Dolores, we headed to the airport to catch our noon flight to DC via Miami. The taxi ride, which we thought would take 45 minutes, ended up taking double that time. We were stuck in traffic from the very beginning, and after 45 minutes I realized that we were maybe 5 blocks away from the hotel... The taxi driver, though, was very relaxed and didn't honk his horn even once. Eventually we managed to get out of the stalling traffic and arrived at the airport with plenty of spare time. But that's something to consider...
We were left with too many lempiras, and found out that there is no money exchange at the airport. But just as you walk out and seem like you're looking for something, someone approaches and asks if you want to change money. And at a surprisingly good rate! At the Teguc airport the Espresso Americano serves some very good pastries and cookies. They actually accept credit cards! We stocked up on pastries and proceeded to the gate. There is actually only one small sitting area, and it appears that there are only two gates. The airport is still under renovations and so there are hardly any shops (a small souvenir stand, a sweets stand, and a doughnut place). A few "Honduras Tourism" employees walked around and asked tourists to fill out a survey about their Honduras stay. The survey seems like they are interested in figuring out how much you spent in the country more than anything else. Our plane left on time, and off we were -- adios Honduras!