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.
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.
posted by Galit Shmueli at 7:00 AM
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