Road trip: El Olvido

The pilot and car on the zipline to El Olvido, Honduras

Amazingly, I still have photos to show you from our road trip.

We passed El Olvido on the Cangrejal Road to Yarucca. El Olvido is a very small village on the opposite side of the river. The only access over the river is by this zipline, an aerial man-powered car. It costs 10 lempiras (about 53 US cents) to cross each way.

The "pilot" said the village is called El Olvido (The Oversight) because they have been forgotten by the government. They have been asking the government to build a bridge for many, many years. I'm a little confused as to whether this is part of El Pital or if El Pital is another place.

I asked the attendant if this was the only access, how were the houses built? I assumed he was going to tell me that there used to be a bridge, but no! All the materials were transported across the river by this zipline.

That is so hard to imagine. Our house, for example took tens of thousands of bags of concrete, while this car probably could not carry more than 10 bags at a time. Then there is the iron and wood and all the other materials involved in building the houses.


A group of women who live here have formed a cooperative which sew quilts in order to try to better their lives. Their products are available for purchase over the internet at this site.

I hope you'll read this internet site and particularly the "women's stories." Their stories are typical of so many of the lives of women I've met here in Honduras. That one page will show just how hard the life is for many Honduran women.


El Jefe and blogger Katrina took the zipline while I stayed behind to take pictures. They enjoyed the ride and said that the trip back was much faster than the trip over.

Hey! Is that El Jefe with his arm around Katrina?