USA issues new travel warning for Honduras

On Christmas Eve, the US State Department issued a new travel warning for US citizens traveling to Honduras. Though the warning states that "tens of thousands of U.S. citizens visit Honduras each year for study, tourism, business, and volunteer work without incident", it goes on to state this:

"The vast majority of serious crimes in Honduras, including those against U.S. citizens, are never solved; of the 50 murders committed against U.S. citizens since 2008, police have only solved two. Members of the Honduran National Police are known to engage in criminal activity, including murder and car theft. The Government of Honduras lacks sufficient resources to properly investigate and prosecute cases, and police often lack vehicles or fuel to respond to calls for assistance. In practice, this means police may take hours to arrive at the scene of a violent crime, or may not respond at all. As a result, criminals operate with a high degree of impunity throughout Honduras. The Honduran government is in the early stages of substantial reforms to its criminal justice institutions."

Apparently the Embassy does not agree with President Lobo's assessment that homicide has decreased tremendously in Honduras this year. If there really had been a reduction, the Secretary of Security would provide the data to the Observatorio Nacional de la Violencia (ONV), an independent academic research institution based out of Honduras’ national university and supported by the UN. ONV has been charged with providing Honduras' official crime statistics for many years and has always worked with the police and media to generate the statistics – until Arturo Corrales became Secretary of Security. Recently, the director of the ONV denounced that based on Secretary Corrales' orders, police have refused to provide any crime information since June 2013. The State Department chose to include ONV's estimate of an increase in 2013 homicides in their warning rather than President Lobo's verbal assurance of a big reduction.

Alianza para la Paz y la Justicia (Alliance for Peace and Justice, APJ) issued a public pronouncement (in Spanish) earlier this month condemning not only the failure of the government to purify the police department but also a condemnation of the Secretary in particular for his inability to reduce murder and violence as well as his lack of transparency and his refusal to provide data to ONV.

APJ demands reforms in the entire justice system, which they say have been obstructed to date. They say that the new president has an obligation to name a new Secretary of Security who is valiant, honest, and professionally capable of fomenting a policy of transparency, accountability, and an open-door policy for the media, civil society, academia, and citizens in general. APJ (Facebook page) is a coalition of civil society, NGOs, and religious organizations whose leading members are among the bravest people in Honduras. They literally risk their lives every day by speaking out against crime and corruption in the government and justice system. One of their member organizations (AJS) is the national representative for Transparency International and another, Transformemos Honduras, has worked with the Secretary of Education to develop numerous improvements in the education system as well reductions in corruption. APJ has my total respect.

The previous June 17th US State Department travel warning as well as a comparison with the November 2012 warning can be found here.

US renews Honduras Travel Warning

Honduran President Pepe Lobo and
Minister of Tourism Nelly Jerez

The US State Department has issued another Travel Warning for Honduras. I thought it would be interesting to compare the wording in this one with the previous November 21, 2012 warning. Below is the June 17, 2013, warning with the new words and sections underlined. The parts changed or eliminated from the 2012 warning are indicated with strikethrough.

Travel Warning
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs

Honduras

June 17, 2013

The Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens about the security situation in Honduras. continues to warn U.S. citizens that the crime and violence levels in Honduras remain critically high. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated November 21, 2012, to include additional information about reported kidnappings, information for victims of crime, as well as the Honduran police force's ability to respond to reports of crime, and also serves to update contact information.

Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit Honduras each year for study, tourism, business, and volunteer work without incident. However, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and the Government of Honduras lacks sufficient resources to address these issues. Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. San Pedro Sula is considered to be the world’s most violent city, with 159 murders for every 100,000 residents in 2011. These threats have increased substantially over the past several years and remain high. Incidents can occur anywhere. In January 2012, the Peace Corps withdrew its volunteers from the country to conduct an administrative review of the security situation.

Click to read more >>

La Ceiba Gran Carnaval is May 25, 2013

La Ceiba Gran Carnival
Image: La Prensa, Honduras

Thanks to a reader who asked the Municipal Tourism folks, I found out that my guess was right. The final big celebration and parade will be on Saturday, May 25, 2013.

I emailed a few days ago to ask for a schedule of events during the two weeks leading up to parade day. If I'm able to get it, I'll report it here. My guess is that it hasn't been finalized yet.

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I ran across this article written shortly after last year's carnival, A 40 años del Carnaval de La Ceiba, by Guillermo Anderson, a singer, songwriter, and musician, one of Honduras' most famous. He believes that the carnival has lost its personality and identity. As a Ceibeño, he misses the focus on the Garífuna music and punta dance. He seems particularly bothered by the political use of the carnival and thinks that political floats in the parade should be prohibited and some esthetic standards should be required for all floats. With this being an election year, I'm sure we'll see lots of politicians this year. His article is in Spanish but translates reasonably well using Google Translate if you don't read Spanish.

If you aren't familiar with Guillermo Anderson's music, you can preview his Costa y Calor selections here and check out all of his CDs here.

I don't know the dates of the 2013 La Ceiba Carnival, do you?

La Ceiba's Carnival parade

Update: The final big celebration and parade are scheduled for May 25, 2013. I'll post the schedule of events if and when I can get it.

When is the La Ceiba Carnival? That question pops up every year and every year I make fruitless attempts to find an answer including emailing the municipal tourism office. Oh, I know that Wikipedia used to say that it is the third week of May, but that has been corrected to "the third or fourth week of May". Besides, it is a two week event, though most people are referring to the last big day of the parade and all night partying when they speak of 'the carnival'.

I remember one year Ceiba's tourism office set up the dates about a month in advance....and then changed them at the last minute to start a week later. I felt sorry for anyone who had already arranged their vacation and bought plane tickets based on the previous calendar of events. Similarly, the big parade itself can be delayed for hours and hours due to disorganization or waiting on some dignitary to arrive.

Click to read more >>

Should I come to Honduras?

Pineapple fields of La Ceiba
One of my favorite photos

I get so many reader emails about crime and safety in Honduras. The majority are from members of charitable groups planning mission trips to Honduras or worried parents of young people who are planning to come on this sort of trip. Some are from people with relatives in Honduras who they want to visit. They want to know what I think and whether I know anything specific about crime situation in the area to which they are going.

Frankly, I dread these emails. I wrote a whole series of articles on crime and corrupt police beginning in September 2011 and continuing through January 2012 (see the monthly archives for the lists of articles or click on the 'crime' topic in the topic list). The more I learned, the more depressed I became. Finally I had to just stop reading and watching the news for a few months. It was obvious to me that the Honduran government is not capable of taking serious, competent action against crime, not even within its own police department. It took me several months to get back to blogging again.

These reader emails just tie my stomach in knots. I can tell that most of them want me to say "Don't worry. You'll be fine." I don't want to tell these people not to come to Honduras but I'm not going to do what many others do and tell them that it's not any worse here than anywhere else. While I agree that foreigners are not particularly targeted for crimes, it does happen. A British tourist was shot and killed during a robbery on the street in broad daylight in San Pedro just a couple of weeks ago. Robberies of tourists and mission groups are not rare, those types of crimes just don't make the news and they are often downplayed for obvious reasons.

Click to read more >>

La Ceiba, Honduras, airport sign translation

Oops. Bad translation

These photos were taken while waiting at the La Ceiba airport back in 2008. Hopefully they have corrected the translation since then because some of those forbidden items are pretty confusing. I wonder why they left out grenades from the English translation. Maybe they weren't sure if it should be hand grenades or pomegranates.

Original sign in Spanish

Guest blog: The best laid plans

Hedman Alas luxury bus

The following is a guest blog from Gail. Gail is an American who owns a house on the island Utila and has been coming to Honduras for several years.


The plan was simple: take TACA to San Pedro Sula and spend the night, take the Hedman Alas bus to La Ceiba and spend the night, take the morning ferry to Utila and, finally, a dory to the house on the South Shore. It didn’t quite go as planned…

We arrived on TACA in San Pedro Sula at 6 pm, only to be informed that three of our four bags had not arrived with us. This is not unusual – it is rare that we get all of our luggage on time, but it generally shows up on the next flight some hours later. This time, we were on the last flight. The TACA representative assured me that the bags would be in San Pedro Sula the next morning, but we were going to be on the bus to La Ceiba by that time.

I asked TACA to deliver the bags to the Gran Hotel Paris in La Ceiba. We were actually staying with friends in La Ceiba for the night on this trip, but I’d accidentally left my address book with their contact info at home. We had stayed at the Paris on other trips over the years and I knew they could store the bags and would be reliable for their security - plus it was the only idea I could come up with on such short notice.

After filling out the TACA paperwork, we went to La Posada (a Bed and Breakfast in San Pedro Sula that we were trying for the first time – and will be using from now on [Trip Advisor reviews]) for the night. The next morning we were to take the Hedman Alas bus to La Ceiba, but due to the highway closure by protesters, our 10:30 am bus had been cancelled. We wound up on the 3:20 pm bus instead. Hedman Alas was able to contact our friends to let them know that we would be arriving later than we’d arranged, but I didn’t think to ask them to call Hotel Gran Paris so I could explain the delivery of our bags to them. That turned out to be a huge mistake. HUGE!

On our arrival in La Ceiba at 6:30 pm, we went to Hotel Paris to see if the bags had arrived. Marvin (now nicknamed Marvelous Marvin for his efforts) was manning the desk and had some notes from the day shift on the bags. Because we were not registered, there was a lot of confusion. After much back-and-forth in Spanish and English, it turned out that TACA had kept the bags in San Pedro Sula because our luggage tags read Utila as the final destination. End result — no bags today. We would stay over an extra day in La Ceiba to allow them to catch up.

The third morning, we started making phone calls early. The goal was to be on the morning ferry to Utila the next day. Marvin had bad news for us – TACA now wanted to send our luggage to Utila, which meant that we would be without clothes and other packed items for another four days, which was when the next flight to Utila was scheduled. Since we were carrying construction supplies for house repairs, this would a major setback for us, not to mention the fact that the clothes we had been wearing were getting pretty ripe by now. Also, we would have to rent a boat to town in Utila to meet the plane — which would cost us one day and about $50 (boat, taxi, lunch, tips), neither of which we could afford to lose. The best solution was to get them to put the bags on the Hedman Alas bus to La Ceiba.

Thank goodness our host was Honduran, because we could have never managed over the phone with our limited Spanish. It also helped that he has the patience of a saint. He was able to reach someone in TACA and explain the situation. The TACA rep promptly told us that there is no way the bags could be sent today because they would only send bags with Hedman Alas (an interesting endorsement of the bus company) and that there was only one bus that left the airport at 6 am. Well, this floored us, since we knew there were four buses daily leaving the airport, all connecting to La Ceiba! A call to Hedman Alas confirmed this.

It took several phone calls and about an hour to convince TACA that it was possible to get the bags onto a non-6 am Hedman Alas bus. She reluctantly agreed to put the bags onto the 2:15 bus. Mind you, this is a matter of walking 200 feet from the airline’s baggage area to the bus office in the same building — it’s not like she had to arrange delivery across town. We were promised a phone call when the arrangements had been made.

Several hours later, we started calling to find out what the situation was. The lady whom we had spoken with had gone to lunch. The deadline for making the bus was quickly approaching, so we begged the person in the office to please try to push the paperwork through. We were elated when she reassured us that it was on the bus that would arrive at 6:30 pm.

With the bags on their way, we relaxed until it was time to meet the 6:30 pm bus. We made sure we were there in plenty of time, paperwork in hand. After the crowd claiming luggage thinned, we came forward to get ours. Nada. The bags weren’t there.

The Hedman Alas ticket man looked up our claim numbers on the computer and confirmed that they would be on the 9:30 pm bus – but we couldn’t get the bags until the following morning because the office would be closed! I suspect we were looking pretty crazy by now. There was no way to make the morning ferry if we had to wait until the office opened. The staff was sympathetic, but had no authority to change the situation. As luck would have it, our hosts had contacts in Hedman Alas who were able to assist us. Phone calls were made. The office staff was authorized to accommodate us, even if they had to stay late.

We went to dinner and returned for the last bus of the day. For one heart-stopping moment, we thought our luggage had not arrived, but it turned up in a compartment on the opposite side of the bus. Success!!

The people working at Hedman Alas proved to be exceptionally helpful. From the woman in San Pedro Sula who came looking for me after I’d inquired about making a phone call to our hosts to explain we would not be arriving as planned (I was trying to find a phone number in old e-mails on my laptop – she was following up to make sure the call was placed), the ticket seller in La Ceiba who patiently searched for our bags in the computer and bravely faced the crazy gringa with courtesy and concern, the manager who was able to arrange for us to get the bags after hours and even the baggage handler Fidel, who was as happy as we were to see the luggage arrive but carefully made sure that the bag claim numbers matched on our paperwork. It was all handled very professionally.

Every time we have taken Hedman Alas, we have been impressed with the personnel. Their security guards, counter agents, and drivers seem to be well trained in customer service. The office workers and management were able to think outside the box in solving a problem. Security is taken VERY seriously. The fact that TACA will only use Hedman Alas to deliver luggage is a testament to their service. The bus terminals are clean and comfortable. I will always use Hedman Alas and have no qualms about recommending them to anyone who travels by bus in Honduras.

Life is always an adventure in Honduras. Hedman Alas makes it a better one.

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Credit were credit is due! While TACA airlines is infamous for not putting luggage on the same plan as passengers, a common joke is that the only things that run on time in Honduras are the Hedman Alas buses. I highly recommend traveling by Hedman as they take safety and security very seriously.

You can find their webpage here which also includes an on-line chat. Hedman Alas also has an active bilingual Facebook presence in case your questions are not answered at the website. And no, this is not a paid advertisement. Just giving credit to a well-run Honduras business.

In case you didn't guess, we were the hosts and El Jefe was the knight in shining armor, as was Aaron Hedman who made sure that the employees had instructions to release the bags after hours.

Spectacular Honduran views from a Long EZ

Take a quick flight out of Villeda Morales Airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to Puerto Cortés, along the north coast until reaching Punta Sal, Tela, and back. Spectacular bird's eye view of the scenery.

Hat tip to Henry for sending the video.

Then I had to see more. Love the music, too. What better way to spend a dark, chilly afternoon?



Fabulous (but quick!) views of Tegucigalpa and the wilds of Honduras.



This one is from the opposite direction, landing at Tegucigalpa's Toncontín Airport, considered one of the most dangerous airports to land in.

The Rutan Long EZ is classified as an experimental plane and you can build your own!

Afif Saybe has more videos on his YouTube channel.

Enjoy!

What's the Honduran government's cut of your travel costs?

Often we have vague discussions about Honduras and I am compelled to see just what exactly the law or constitution say on the matter. It is frequently very difficult to find a law unless you know the name or number of the law, and when you find it, it's hard to know if a later law may have revised or eliminated it. But I like detective work, so I usually persevere. ;-)

The following events set me on the detective trail:

A law was passed in December 2011 to increase the airport departure tax from around US $34 to around US $60 to generate money for InterAirports to build the new Palmerola airport. The increase in exit fee was not discussed or made public, and only came to light later amidst a ton of bad publicity prompting congressional claims that they didn't http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifknow what was in the contract that they had approved. Ultimately, due to the possible affect on tourism as well as business travel, President Lobo vetoed the decree.

Then in January, the media discovered that yet another increase to the airport taxes had been passed by congress on that very same day. This one was an increase of US $34, or a charge of US $17 on arrival and US $17 on departure for all international travelers. Again it related to a contract, the Securiport contract to provide better immigration control of visitors. Again, the congress claimed to not know that they were approving an increase in taxes. And again, even though President Lobo personally had ordered the contract specifically with Securiport under an "emergency" decree (no public bidding process), he vetoed the decree due to the bad publicity and outrage by congressmen saying that they had been tricked.

This second tax, combined with the other law, would have made the total Honduran "entrance/exit" fees charged to travelers US $94, approximately three to four times that charged by other Central American countries. And that's not even considering the hefty 12% sales tax, 15% liquor tax, and 16% hotel tax that travelers already pay while in Honduras.

Discussion of those new taxes led to comments from travelers like "Honduras already has the highest airport taxes" or "I already pay US $250 in Honduran taxes plus the $34 exit fee", and "We already pay a lot more for a round trip from Honduras than others pay for a round trip to Honduras!" That piqued my curiosity. Was it true that Honduran taxes on air travel were already high even without these new laws?

I couldn't find any law on transportation taxes, so, curious to find out exactly what taxes were charged on airline tickets, I asked people to send me copies of their online ticket confirmations to see what I could figure out. With the initial batches of tickets that I received, it appeared that this wasn't really a "Honduran transportation tax" as it was described on the ticket fare breakdowns, but a sales tax of 12%, the base Honduran sales tax rate. All of the initial breakdowns that people sent me included a tax of 12% of the base fare of the ticket when the originating flight left from Honduras, and no Honduran tax if the flight originated in another country. I thought I had it figured out.

Then a couple of people threw a kink into my theory after sending me ticket cost breakdowns that reflected a 15%, 16%, or 18% Honduran transportation tax. Still unable to find anything definitive, I reluctantly put it aside as one of those Honduran mysteries that I couldn't solve.

Today while looking for another obscure law (which I couldn't find either!), I ran across the Sales Tax Law and decided to see if it said anything specifically about airline tickets. Ahah! The law says that national or international airline tickets, including those emitted by internet or other electronic means, are charged the 12% sales tax, depending on where the orders or tickets (electronic or not) are emitted or in the place that the passenger will board. All of the 20 or so tickets that I initially reviewed were taxed at 12% if the flight originated in Honduras. If the flight originated in another country, no Honduran sales tax was charged.

The tax is charged on the entire base fare plus fuel charges, if any, even if future legs of the journey originate from and arrive in other countries. For example, one itinerary originated in San Pedro and included a trip from Newark to Hong Kong. The entire base ticket price was taxed at 12% by the Honduran government! If you want to save money on a multi-leg journey, you might want to check into booking your later non-Honduran flights separately. The US charges a boatload of taxes on airline tickets, but the total doesn't come close to approaching 12% of the base fare except on lower dollar tickets (under $500 or so).

So the first part of my theory was correct. But what about the tickets which reflected higher tax rates?

Assuming that there was a more recent law, I googled again using "impuesto transporte aéreo honduras" and found several newspaper articles. In March 2010, as a part of Lobo's first tax paquetazo, the sales tax on first class, executive class, and business class tickets was increased to 18%.

Based on the tickets that several Honduran residents sent to me, I was able to determine that only the first class (or similar upgraded) portion of the ticket is charged 18% sales tax so that is why I saw "Honduran transportation tax" being charged at various percentages of the base fare, ranging from 12% to 16% to 17% or 18%. The odd rates were when the traveler flew regular class in one direction and first class the other. If the entire ticket was first class, tax of 18% was included.

So now you know exactly what taxes you are being charged by the Honduran government. They are going to get 12% of your airfare (18% if you fly first class), 16% on your hotel costs, 15% on liquor costs, and 12% on restaurants and just about any other purchases you make ... at least until the next sneaky law is passed in the middle of the night. Yes, the Honduran government would definitely profit from working on promoting tourism more than they do!


P.S. Thanks so much to all of you who sent me your ticket breakdowns. This question was driving me crazy!

Mayan end of the world

The truth about the Mayan calendar

I had a laugh about this cartoon. How about you?

Honduras has a new tourism campaign, touting the supposed Mayan prophesy that the world would end in December 2012 and if that is so, you might as well spend your last days in Honduras. That seems to leave a lot of room for bad jokes that wouldn't be particularly favorable to Honduras tourism.

But Mexico, which does a much better job of promoting tourism, has a similar tourism campaign going on which will include celebrating Mayan rites and incense burning in the historically Mayan areas of Mexico. We can assume this will not include the human sacrifice rituals and partaking of the delicacies of the sacrifices. Aztec mythology included the world passing through the "Nine Hells of Increasing Doom", each one worse than the last, prior to the end of the world.

I haven't done much reading about this so I'm no expert but apparently there are alternate theories that the whole 'end of the world' prophesy has been misinterpreted and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era. The beginning of a new era sounds much better to me!

May 2012 bring the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity for you and for Honduras!

Protect the Río Plátano Biosphere

Paradise in Peril from Skyship Films on Vimeo

Please set aside some time to watch this fantastic video about the destruction being done in the "protected" Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve. The video is about 30 minutes long and well worth the time spent as you'll be seeing a part of the world that not many have seen.

Río Platano
Photo: Friends of Río Platano Biosphere Reserve

The reserve was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1982. It includes approximately 5,250 sq. km. (1,300,000 acres) of mountainous and lowland tropical rainforest, where 39 species of mammals, nearly 500 species of birds and 126 reptiles and amphibians have been recorded. Threatened species include giant anteater, Baird's (Central American) tapir, jaguar, ocelot, puma, Central American otter, Caribbean manatee, among others.

In 1996, the UN declared the reserve to be in danger. It was removed from the endangered list in 2007 due to "significant progress", but was placed back on the list again in June 2011 at the request of the government of Honduras due to the combined threats of illegal logging, fishing and land occupation, poaching and the government's reduced capacity to manage the site, notably due to the deterioration of law and to the presence of drug traffickers. As this video shows, much damage is being done in the protected area.

But a friend of mine says that the narcos aren't the real problem — except that they scare the authorities away — because they like things all jungly where they can hide their mansions and hummers among the foliage. A bigger problem is the farmers and cattle ranchers who cut down all the trees to grow corn or pasture the cows, and the hunters who kill the animals and dynamite the river to kill the fish.

I'd love to tell you a little story about an adventure in the jungle but I'm afraid that it might put my friend in danger.

According to the UNESCO World Heritage website, the site of Ciudad Blanca (White City) within the protected area constitutes one of the most important archaeological sites of Mayan civilization. Archaeological remains include the Piedras Pintadas petroglyphs on the bed of the Plátano River, believed to belong to an unknown pre-Columbian culture.

Find out more about the Río Plátano Biosphere at the UNESCO website or Wikipedia. Join the Friends of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve cause on Facebook.

Or if you are a real adventurer, see it for yourself through a tour with Jorge Salaverri of La Moskitia Ecoaventuras, the guide in this video.

Note: The link to La Moskitia Ecoaventuras has been updated to a more complete website.

Take a ride with me

This is a little video from our last trip to San Pedro Sula. It was taken on the north coast highway, heading west, during the last 5-10 minutes before the Rio Arizona, between La Ceiba and Tela.

I'm posting this for the Hondurans who miss seeing the beautiful scenery of their homeland and for others who may not have seen the highway before. It's really quite nice!

If you live on the north coast of Honduras, you'll probably find the video boring. But every time I post one of my highway videos on YouTube, I received many thanks from Hondurans living in other countries and requests for more, so here you go! You can find more of my Honduras videos on my channel at YouTube (lagringalaceiba).

(Click map to enlarge)

If you aren't familiar with the location of Arizona, Atlántida, Honduras, the above map shows it roughly halfway between La Ceiba and San Pedro as the bird flies. The highway (the thin grey line) does not follow a bird's flight, it follows the base of the mountains, avoiding them at all costs. This map also smooths out all the little twists and turns in the road of which there are many. It is a beautiful drive during the day, but very dangerous at night for those who don't know the road.

The highway is the only way to get from here (La Ceiba) to there (San Pedro). There are no shortcuts or back roads because the entire north coast is divided by hundreds of small creeks and rivers flowing from the mountains in the south to the ocean in the north. The trip generally takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, though our return trip home took about 4 hours because we ran into a heavy tropical storm in which we couldn't see 10 feet in front of the car. We arrived home to find that not a drop of rain had fallen in La Ceiba.

As many times as we've made the drive, I never get tired of watching the scenery. A little bachata music in the background makes it all that much better.

La Gringa goes to Tripoli

On the road to Tripoli

Being the fearless, dedicated blogger that I am, El Jefe took me to Tripoli yesterday to hear first-hand what the people think about what is going on — "What?!!!!", I can hear you asking! You went to Tripoli? Yes, Tripoli, Atlántida, Honduras, that is. ;-) Since we were on a road trip, we swung by Caracas (Honduras) as well. Our initial plan was to visit Paris (Paris de Leán, Honduras), too, but we ran out of time. Traveling on those bumpy, back roads takes hours!

The whole north coast of Honduras, from El Progreso to Trujillo was without electricity on Sunday for maintenance work so it seemed to be a good day for a road trip. No-hay-luz days are like national holidays with everyone heading out to visit with family or go to the beach. Sunday traffic is usually sparse but yesterday it was like rush hour with everyone heading somewhere else. (Click on any of the photos to enlarge for a better view.)

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.

Click map to enlarge

We had our plan in place, including printing some Google maps, mapping out the back road scenic route, and writing down the questions we wanted to ask. I was prepared with four sets of batteries, hoping for some great video interviews. The best made plans, however .... well, you know how that goes in Honduras! We didn't find anyone who had too much awareness about Libya or where the name Tripoli came from, so we went on to plan B, which was to find out more about the life in Tripoli, Honduras.

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.

The little pueblo included no businesses that we saw other than a few pulperías (sort of small mom and pop type convenience stores — read more about pulperías here). The community is somewhat self-sufficient with small crops of bananas, yuca, coconuts, and other staples. Meat is obtained from backyard (or free range) chickens, pigs, and cows. Many people fish in the nearby rivers. The campesinos occasionally travel to nearby Masica or take a longer trip to La Ceiba for more extensive shopping.

A village elder told us that a creek was filled in and the road was built during the administration of Roberto Suázo Cordova (1982-86, the first democratically elected president under the current constitution). The road is gravel but extremely wide by Honduran standards so it will be nice if and when it finally gets paved.


One thing that I really noticed was that most everything was neat and tidy and even some very poor looking homes were well maintained. No piles of trash in front of the houses or strewn along the road as we so often see in La Ceiba.

Our interviewees informed us that Tripoli has had running water for approximately 20 years. A line was run from up in the mountains, then under the highway and on to their village, which the sign says is about 7.5 km. (about 4.75 miles) from the highway. (I'm not too sure about that mileage. We both thought that it seemed much further than that and took at least 20 minutes to drive.) Water is generally available 24 hours a day, unless a pipe gets broken or some other maintenance is needed. I saw water running from an outside faucet during the entire time we were there so awareness of the need for conservation has not arrived.

Tripoli has had electricity only for about three years, but residents have jumped full force into current times with many, many of the houses, even the most modest, sporting these Claro TV satellite dishes!

The people were relatively satisfied with their local mayor who they believe has accomplished some projects for them and with the Masica municipal government. The only complaint that we heard was about the road, which hadn't been graded in more than a year and was quite bumpy and dusty. The mayor has promised to pave it, and "we'll see" was the general attitude. The mayor says (as all politicians do!) that he is hampered by the debts left by previous administrations. They said that the area is muy tranquilo (very tranquil, quiet, laid back) with no crime problems.

When it came to the national government, everyone proudly proclaimed their "colors" (blue = Nacionalista or red = Liberal) without being asked, but admitted that it didn't seem to matter what was promised by the politicians or which color they were, that they were all the same when they got into office and forgot about small communities like this.

Though we didn't even ask, it was interesting is that two of the old-timers brought up President Tiburcio Carías Andino (1933-49) as being the worst president, who "treated the people like slaves", according to Don Jesús. Doña Elsa said that he didn't allow women to have any rights. (Wikipedia states that Carías was pressured to leave power by the US government.) Although these were two separate interviews in different locations, both also remembered President Roberto Suázo Cordova with fondness, saying that he liberated the country and gave rights to women. When asked their opinion about current President Pepe Lobo, we were met with shrugs and "¿Donde están los cambios?" (Where are the changes?), referring to Pepe's campaign slogan, "Cambio Ya!" (Change Now!)

The pueblo includes a nice school that was built during the Maduro administration (2002-2005) and several churches. Initially we were told that the teachers never strike there, but while talking to a younger man who lived across the street from the school, we found out that the Resistance teachers locked out the children pretty frequently last year, but so far this year (two weeks) the teachers hadn't missed any days. He said it was a shame especially because so many of the children walk a long distance with their backpacks from other even smaller villages and are so disappointed when they don't have school.

We had seen a big sign welcoming the Resistance "Martires" at the highway turn off to the town of Masica so we asked this younger man, the grandson of Don Jesús, if there was a lot of support for the FNRP in that area and whether they were admired as martyrs (heheheh — trying very hard not to show our personal opinion in order to get a frank response). He responded with something like "Pfffft!" "More like delinquents!" he said. He told us that those same teachers are the ones who put up the sign.

I was surprised to see that Tripoli had a Centro de Salud (health center) in which we were told that a nice lady doctor attended to people 5 or 6 days a week. It looked like a tidy, well-maintained little building (lost the photo). I had no idea that Centros de Salud were available in such small towns. Don Pedro, who had agreed to be our guide, also pointed out the two nice soccer fields for the young people. We all laughed about him being our tour guide since Tripoli basically only has the one street.

Don Pedro, who is originally from Ocotepeque, described Tripoli as a 'zona de trabajo' (work area) and a very nice place to live. When asked about availability of work in the area, both Don Pedro and Don Jesús stated that there was agricultural work, but that was all. Many of the people that we talked to during the day had sons or other relatives living in the larger Honduran cities or in the US and seemed sad about that. Oh, in case you aren't familiar with the term, 'Don' and Doña (for females) are common terms of respect when referring to others, especially older people.

I love these road trips out into the country and the small villages. I have a ton more photos from Tripoli and the various pueblos of Burgos, Orotina, El Gancho, Cáceres, and Caracas that we drove through that I'll be posting soon. These last two photos are of the mountains as we neared the highway when leaving Tripoli.


I also want to tell you more about Don José de Jesús Medina, Don Pedro Alberto Flores, and Doña Elsa Gloria Ventura from Tripolí, as well as Don Leonidas Flores Espinosa and his wife Norma Medina from El Gancho. I promised some of them that I would post their photos and mention them by name so that their family in the extranjera could see them. There may have been some disappointment that we weren't from "the media", but the mysterious internet .... well, at least that's something. ;-)

Beautiful!

La Gringa went to paradise

It was only supposed to be a quick two day trip but I couldn't come back! I ended up staying five days and it was the best, most relaxing time I've had in loooooong time. No phone, no television, no news, no internet. I even left my computer at home. I'll admit that I had a few twinges of withdrawal the first day or two, but after that....nah! Didn't even think of it.

Where was this paradise? It was the island of Utila, Honduras, an hour ferry ride from La Ceiba. Our friends had been inviting us to join them for ages but we could just never get away for various reasons. This time we did and we hope to be going back soon!

I had seen photos of the house before, but seeing it in person was a different thing. The house just exudes tropical relaxation. I just kept walking around saying, "Oh my God! Oh my God! I love it!" El Jefe really got into the fishing and we both had fun snorkeling over the reef. The water was the absolute perfect temperature.

Look at "our" bedroom!

Look at this porch!

Look at this beach!

Look at my friends' coral-studded, reef-surrounded beach!

Look at this pelican!

Look at my treasures!

I came back with over 200 photos plus a bunch of videos. I guess that I have just been intimidated about trying to figure out how to share them, or at least some of them, with you. Or possibly, Utila had me so relaxed that I couldn't get back into the blogging groove.

I'll be back soon with more photos, but while I try to figure out how to organize and pick out the best ones, let me leave you with this taste of paradise:




Did you see the low clouds in the distance? That is the cloud forest over La Ceiba. From Utila, the mountains around La Ceiba look huge. There was one day that we could see the mountains clearly but I failed to get a photo. Maybe next time....

Discover Honduras!

Take a four minute trip around Honduras. Enjoy!

Everyone 'helps' in their own way

Guanaja beach
Photo: Bob Barbanes

Mel Zelaya, Patty Rodas, and others of his supporters have traveled the hemisphere, not only to garner support for Zelaya's restoration, but to promote sanctions against Honduras, the second poorest country in the hemisphere.

The Honduran economy is really hurting right now − more from the after effects of US economic crisis than the current political crisis, except in the areas of tourism and voluntourism, which are suffering tremendously from misinformation and the unwarranted, politically motivated US travel advisory.

Any kind of economic sanctions always end up hurting the poor the most. Tourism is a growing industry in Honduras that provides an estimated 155,000 jobs. Misconceptions about violence in Honduras has decimated the tourist industry in the past months and many workers have lost their jobs.
So, everyone "helps" to hammer Honduras in their own way, but somehow, former Minister of Tourism Ricardo Martínez just takes the cake! (photo - La Prensa)

Honduran Tourism Minister Ana Abarca and other representatives of Honduras' tourism institute were not permitted to attend the Central American Travel Market, the region's largest international tourism trade show of the year. Ricardo Martínez attended as the officially recognized representative of Honduras.

Martínez didn't tell travel reporters about tropical islands, beautiful coral reefs, Mayan ruins, colonial architecture, or exciting river rafting trips. Instead, he presented a video, set to revolutionary music, of rioters clashing with riot police in Tegucigalpa. I cannot even imagine the reaction that must have received at a travel convention.
Here is an excerpt from the TIME article, Honduras' Tourism Minister: "Don't Visit My Country!":

[Martínez] wants tourism to come back to Honduras, just not on Micheletti's watch. "I'm not saying I am encouraging travel to Honduras, because I have shown you that the situation [for tourism] does not exist," Martínez told the journalists in El Salvador. "But what I am saying is please don't forget us, because we are going to solve this crisis and once we do, we are really going to need your help."

And further damaging the tourist industry helps Zelaya in what way? Does anyone else see this as purely vindictive?

There has been no violence and very few, if any, protests in the tourist areas. The Islands of Roatán, Utila and Guanaja are as peaceful as ever. Roatán and Utila each had one march, but it was a Peace Parade to show their support for the the government. (Please take a look at those links!) Cruise ships come to Roatán every week, which they would not do if there was any sign of unrest.

Copán Ruinas, La Ceiba, Trujillo, and Tela are all tourist areas where you would have a hard time finding any signs of a political crisis. Not only are the tourist areas safe, but many hotels throughout Honduras are offering two-for-one specials where you can receive two nights stay for the price of one. Other hotels are offering discounts.

Honduras Tips is a good online site to find out more about the different areas and to get basic tourist information. A new Moon travel guide for Honduras was recently published. If anyone would like to leave a link to a great hotel, please feel free to do so in the comments section.

Honduras sights and sounds

Himno Nacional de Honduras video
National Anthem of Honduras



Algunas lugares - Honduras video
Some sites in Honduras

¡Disfrutalos!
Enjoy!

Hat tip to Jim.

Utila: Another little island that could

Peace march on the island of Utila, Honduras,
July 7, 2009

Proud of his flag

Peace marches continue in cities all around Honduras. Large pro-peace and democracy marches in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro, La Ceiba, and Villanueva on Tuesday and Wednesday were not covered by the international media.


The island of Utila held a peace parade on July 1 and again on Tuesday, July 7. These photos and video are from the July 7 parade. Thanks go to Andi Schluker and John Arne Loken for the photos.



The smallest of the three main Bay Islands, Utila is off the North Coast of Honduras in the Western Caribbean. The population is estimated at about 5-6,000.

As one organizer put it, "Utila is united as an island and a nation". Since no reporters are stationed there, Utila didn't get much Honduran media coverage so I'm going to try to rectify that as best I can.

Surrounded by coral reef, Utila is famous for its scuba diving. Likened to a “Key West of 20 years ago”, Utila is quaint and unspoiled with no chain stores or fast food businesses, and there are less than 20 cars in total on the island.

The town of Utila is perfect for exploring on bike and foot, and you can safely explore the surrounding areas and neighborhoods. There are a number of friendly dive shops, bars, restaurants, and local stores, owned by both locals and ex-patriates, where you can meet visitors from all over the world.

The Bay Islands, which include Roatán, Guanaja, and Utila, have experienced no violence or disruptive protests and are perfectly safe for tourists, despite the impression given by the media.

It's interesting that the islanders, who generally feel somewhat forgotten and isolated by the Honduran government, are now showing their unity and support for the new government in a way that we never thought we would see! We have Mel Zelaya to thank for that.

Following are three short videos of the Utila parade:

Enjoy the videos! They are short.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If anyone would like to send me photos from the peace marches in your town, I will be happy to post them.

Roatán: The little island that could

Parade for peace and democracy, Island of Roatán,
Honduras, July 3, 2009
Photo courtesy of: Angela Agnew

Largest of Honduras' Bay Islands, Roatán is a beautiful place and Honduras' most popular tourist attraction. The island has had its share of tensions in the past months with a flood of immigrants from the mainland looking for work which wasn't always there.

Yesterday, July 3, Roatán had its peace, pro-government (did we ever think we would say that?) march. Black, brown, and white. Young and old. Rich and poor. Hondurans, Americans, Brits, and a few flags that I didn't recognize. They all came together united in a common cause.

Maybe we should thank Mel Zelaya. He is responsible for a new patriotic pride and empowerment of the people all across the country.

The title of this article came from a sign I saw in one of the parade photos: "The little country that could." That is the attitude that I am seeing. Such pride in the country and the stand the government is taking against the world. Nothing is impossible.

Angela Agnew put together a beautiful photo slide show that can be seen here. Please take the time to view it. You'll enjoy it, I promise, especially if you've been as stressed as I have for the past week. It even has soothing music.

Notes from the road

Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge
Photo: La Prensa, Honduras

Erik of Notes from the Road sent me a link to his beautiful photo essay of his visit to La Ceiba, Honduras, and a trip to the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Reserve, called Coconut train to Cuero y Salado

Gorgeous photos! I went there in 2000 and enjoyed it so much. We hope to go back soon. We had a wonderful guide who spotted monkeys, crocodiles, bats, and more for us. I'm going to have to dig out my old photos to see if there are any worth scanning...or hopefully, I can get some better ones when we visit. (Let me clarify: I mean 'better' than my old photos, not better than Erik's! Hah! That would be the day! In my dreams.)

The section titled The Isthmus includes several other photo essays of Panamá, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, and Nicaragua. His site also includes photo essays of many other parts of the world. Well worth a visit.