First impressions of Tegucigalpa, Honduras
View on Tegus, on the left is the Chile bridge
The last weeks in Costa Rica were more than busy, examens, organizational stuff, good bye sceneries and more were the reason. Honduras looked like balancing on a thin spoon. Lots of problems came up, but everything got solved with help of family and friends. They all know how thankful I am for that.
The 10th of July was finally the day to say good bye. We had survived a weekend of partys and Philipp and Thomas joined me to the Tica Bus station at about 6:30 am. My luggage was enormous, I had to buy a second large bag. Both of them were stuffed more than partly with books which I had collected throughout the semester in Costa Rica. I was hardly able to carry the stuff a block or even some meters. Still the taxi could carry us plus bags to the bus station although it hit the ground several times on the bumpy street in San Jose which seldom have names.
The Tica bus itself was nice and comfortable, 3 axes, tv and plenty of space. Perhaps not if you hadnt had rides in Costa Rica buses for 6 months. I could even stretch one leg a little, what a good feeling. The bus took off like a ship, the air condition caused rapidly an ice age, probably with the intention to preserve its interior a little more. But I brought a jacket and a hat since I had feared that already. I became really relaxed after the take off, kicked back and chewed on a mozart ball chocolate which Philipp had given me before.
There werent hardly any gringo passengers on the bus, mostly nicaraguan folks who got back from work. That is usual there. I shared the seating bench with a farmer, but he was one of those guys who get obviously really scared next to gringo looking guys. So what. I didnt want to disturb him and enjoyed the I-POD (huevo pod- Egg pod) music which I got from Eric the suiss guy. My attention for the landscape was really present till we came to the border to Nicaragua. There the border police did their job really well. I had to open my bags for them, and they found some stomach pills which were stuffed in a old aspirine box, whrapped with tape. It took some time to tell that this arent drugs or so. Sweating and a little pissed, but happy that this frontier was survived, we continued to Managua, Nicaragua. We encountered rapidly a totally different landscape, especially because of the tremendous lake of Nicaragua and the two volcanoes in the middle. Poverty increased too but making a description of a country out of a bus window is not objective.
We arrived in Managua at about 5 pm and I was challenged with my luggage. I had to carry it to an hotel, some 100m away from the bus stop. So I just "rented" a local with a cart and paid him as much as you usually do for a taxi in San Jose(2$), but I was just too tired to negociate for a dollar less. I quickly kicked back in the hotel knowing that I would have to get up at 3:30am at the next morning. The taxi guy also showed up at this time again.
More foreigners were on the bus on the next day. I was sitting next to a guy from Israel who was on all America journey, from Peru the the Estados Unidos. I quickly kicked back again with my huevo pod and got up pretty late close to the border to Honduras. The landscape had became more montainous throughout with progressing time and a destinctive deforestation increased too. Pinian trees showed up instead of the original vegetation.
The border to Honduras was weared, first it looked like an easy passage but then some head police guys showed up an started to check the luggage again. The were starting to open the stuff on the dirty road and it had started to rain before. I got pissed a little since I had so many books there. Now, actually it was like before at the previous border, but suddenly the found drugs in the bag of a dump surfer gringo. And than they started to check everything also in the bus of course. The police really exploited the guy. He definitely had to pay a decent sum just to continue and than he was so stupid again to leave valuables in the bus. So the police obviously took his camera while everybody was outside of the bus. The police guys were still waving their hands on our departure being happy of their succesful coup. You just cant do anything against that corruption of the executive, just stay back. I can recommend everyone: Watch your stuff always very very well.
Honduras is very different to Costa Rica, regarding almost everything. The landscape is different because of those Pinian woods which cover almost everything. It reminds me a little of the Adrian Sea in Europe. Poverty is far worse, I had a class recently about environmental geology and what I have seen there would get stucked in every ones gump if you need to evaluate the local situation. Whole towns made of very basic materials very sitting on very steep hill sides where erosion, and mudslides are certainly present. I really dont wanna know how many homes get just swept away, especially during the rainy season.
Tegucigalpa, the capital, is an interesting city, it is located in the mountains, quite big and so compact. Iam not used to all those narrow streets anymore. The culture is definitely more intense than in Costa Rica which is far more US related on my first impression. I was looking for a cash machine and finally found some after a run through the whole downtown. Then I had a coffee and got quickly in a chat with a local. Something I havent had in Costa Rica on the street.
I had breakfast in the park central and started to chat quickly with Julio Cesar, a Honduran Microbiologist, he introduced me to some of his friends around showed me parts of the city later on. Like a park where they have fakes of the Maya ruins of Copan. Also the park Leona to which you need to walk up but your goody is a great view on the city.
A wonderful day is coming to an end and I am really looking forward to tomorrow.
I will stay now 2 more days in the downtown till someone will pick me up and bring me to the nph ranch. Museums, some hikes, emails and a report which I still need to do for Costa Rica are waiting. I wanna always make myself a better impression of the country quickely.... learn the local slang etc. I keep u guys updated and photos are coming up.
So far, a big last costarican Pura Vida!
The last weeks in Costa Rica were more than busy, examens, organizational stuff, good bye sceneries and more were the reason. Honduras looked like balancing on a thin spoon. Lots of problems came up, but everything got solved with help of family and friends. They all know how thankful I am for that.
The 10th of July was finally the day to say good bye. We had survived a weekend of partys and Philipp and Thomas joined me to the Tica Bus station at about 6:30 am. My luggage was enormous, I had to buy a second large bag. Both of them were stuffed more than partly with books which I had collected throughout the semester in Costa Rica. I was hardly able to carry the stuff a block or even some meters. Still the taxi could carry us plus bags to the bus station although it hit the ground several times on the bumpy street in San Jose which seldom have names.
The Tica bus itself was nice and comfortable, 3 axes, tv and plenty of space. Perhaps not if you hadnt had rides in Costa Rica buses for 6 months. I could even stretch one leg a little, what a good feeling. The bus took off like a ship, the air condition caused rapidly an ice age, probably with the intention to preserve its interior a little more. But I brought a jacket and a hat since I had feared that already. I became really relaxed after the take off, kicked back and chewed on a mozart ball chocolate which Philipp had given me before.
There werent hardly any gringo passengers on the bus, mostly nicaraguan folks who got back from work. That is usual there. I shared the seating bench with a farmer, but he was one of those guys who get obviously really scared next to gringo looking guys. So what. I didnt want to disturb him and enjoyed the I-POD (huevo pod- Egg pod) music which I got from Eric the suiss guy. My attention for the landscape was really present till we came to the border to Nicaragua. There the border police did their job really well. I had to open my bags for them, and they found some stomach pills which were stuffed in a old aspirine box, whrapped with tape. It took some time to tell that this arent drugs or so. Sweating and a little pissed, but happy that this frontier was survived, we continued to Managua, Nicaragua. We encountered rapidly a totally different landscape, especially because of the tremendous lake of Nicaragua and the two volcanoes in the middle. Poverty increased too but making a description of a country out of a bus window is not objective.
We arrived in Managua at about 5 pm and I was challenged with my luggage. I had to carry it to an hotel, some 100m away from the bus stop. So I just "rented" a local with a cart and paid him as much as you usually do for a taxi in San Jose(2$), but I was just too tired to negociate for a dollar less. I quickly kicked back in the hotel knowing that I would have to get up at 3:30am at the next morning. The taxi guy also showed up at this time again.
More foreigners were on the bus on the next day. I was sitting next to a guy from Israel who was on all America journey, from Peru the the Estados Unidos. I quickly kicked back again with my huevo pod and got up pretty late close to the border to Honduras. The landscape had became more montainous throughout with progressing time and a destinctive deforestation increased too. Pinian trees showed up instead of the original vegetation.
The border to Honduras was weared, first it looked like an easy passage but then some head police guys showed up an started to check the luggage again. The were starting to open the stuff on the dirty road and it had started to rain before. I got pissed a little since I had so many books there. Now, actually it was like before at the previous border, but suddenly the found drugs in the bag of a dump surfer gringo. And than they started to check everything also in the bus of course. The police really exploited the guy. He definitely had to pay a decent sum just to continue and than he was so stupid again to leave valuables in the bus. So the police obviously took his camera while everybody was outside of the bus. The police guys were still waving their hands on our departure being happy of their succesful coup. You just cant do anything against that corruption of the executive, just stay back. I can recommend everyone: Watch your stuff always very very well.
Honduras is very different to Costa Rica, regarding almost everything. The landscape is different because of those Pinian woods which cover almost everything. It reminds me a little of the Adrian Sea in Europe. Poverty is far worse, I had a class recently about environmental geology and what I have seen there would get stucked in every ones gump if you need to evaluate the local situation. Whole towns made of very basic materials very sitting on very steep hill sides where erosion, and mudslides are certainly present. I really dont wanna know how many homes get just swept away, especially during the rainy season.
Tegucigalpa, the capital, is an interesting city, it is located in the mountains, quite big and so compact. Iam not used to all those narrow streets anymore. The culture is definitely more intense than in Costa Rica which is far more US related on my first impression. I was looking for a cash machine and finally found some after a run through the whole downtown. Then I had a coffee and got quickly in a chat with a local. Something I havent had in Costa Rica on the street.
I had breakfast in the park central and started to chat quickly with Julio Cesar, a Honduran Microbiologist, he introduced me to some of his friends around showed me parts of the city later on. Like a park where they have fakes of the Maya ruins of Copan. Also the park Leona to which you need to walk up but your goody is a great view on the city.
A wonderful day is coming to an end and I am really looking forward to tomorrow.
I will stay now 2 more days in the downtown till someone will pick me up and bring me to the nph ranch. Museums, some hikes, emails and a report which I still need to do for Costa Rica are waiting. I wanna always make myself a better impression of the country quickely.... learn the local slang etc. I keep u guys updated and photos are coming up.
So far, a big last costarican Pura Vida!
posted by Dani @ 9:12 AM
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