La Esperanza

I pulled myself out of bed at 3:10am on Saturday. I ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, dressed in warm clothes (as I was headed to the coolest city in Honduras), and was off to catch the bus. The first bus was scheduled to leave Tela at 4:55am. Walking down the darkened street toward the bus stop, a taxi suddenly appeared. I was worried I wouldn't find one this early. I got a ride to the Cristina bus stop (a private direct bus) and, by 4:15am, I had paid the 204L ($10.74) for my ticket. About 5 min. later the bus pulled up and the passengers boarded (all 3 of us). Then the bus drove off at 4:25am. What?! It wasn't scheduled to leave until 4:55am. If I had arrived at the bus stop at 4:30am it would have already departed. Then next bus doesn't leave until 7:40am. I would have been very pissed. Why paint the schedule onto your building if it is not reliable? Typical Honduras.

The ride was quick and I slept most of the way. On these private direct buses you can lean the seats back and they have curtains over the windows. It took about 3 hours to arrive in Siguatepeque. Click here to see a brief glimpse of the ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUaH18NZuw4.
From there, I walked across the street and boarded my next bus for La Esperanza. It took about an hour. We began in the pine forest with great views of the countryside. Then we wound our way down the mountain to the desert-like valley floor. I thought I had been transplanted into the east county deserts of San Diego. Everywhere I looked was brown, dry, and seemingly dead. I even saw the first cacti since being in Honduras. Definitely very different from all the other places I have been in Honduras. Not being enamored by the drab desert surroundings, I was relieved when the bus lurched into the mountains ahead pulling us up out of the valley and back into the pine forest. We arrived in La Esperanza at 9:30am.

La Esperanza is know for a few things. One... it is, on average, the coldest city in Honduras. While I was there it was about 75F during the day dropping to about 58F at night (while Tela has been 78-90F). Two... due to it being the poorest city in Honduras, many short-term volunteers come to this area to intern in the hospital, build homes, or work on other projects. Christina and I have met many volunteers that were stationed in this area. Strangely, while I was there, I did not see one foreigner. Three... La Esperanza is the central marketplace for the Lenca people who live in the surrounding countryside. The Lenca are the largest indigenous group in Honduras. They have preserved their traditional clothing: brightly colored head scarves worn with clashing, but equally brilliant dresses and sweaters. The women are the head of life, working on the farms and running the unions. Four... most of the houses and buildings in this area are constructed with adobe brick. And five... Cerro de Los Hoyos (hill of the holes).
I got off the bus in the dirt lot and just began wandering around the dusty town. All the streets were dirt and rock. The town itself was fairly small with an ubiquitous central park surrounded by a large police station resembling a fortress, a newly remodeled concrete church, a post office, and the telephone company (Hondutel). The streets spread out from there containing comedores (small, cheap restaurants with limited menus), a few hotels, shops containing a wide range of goods, barbershops, outdoor markets, and not much else. Of course there were the ever-present roaming dogs but La Esperanza's were all huge and bear-like. I have never seen dogs that big. Since it had been about 6 hours since my last meal, I walked in the nearest comedor and ordered two baleadas for 18L ($0.95). After eating, I noticed stairs leading up to a shrine at the end of the main drag. I walked towards it and climbed up the large stairs (built more for giants than for the small dimensions of the Lenca people). The shrine was basic with a statue of the Virgin Mary but turning around to face the stairs was a great view of the entire city.There were a few others hanging around and we began chatting. They were from the area and drove me around in their pickup to check out some of the hotel offerings. The first one wanted 400L ($21) (crazy!) but I found one, Hotel Venecia, for just 175L ($9.21). I got a private room with private bath and shower. The shower had a heater (which means water just above freezing) and there was a towel. The room had two beds each with a thick blanket. In the courtyard, they had a box with a cat and her five, 3-week-old kittens. How cute!

One of the main reasons I came to La Esperanza was to see Cerro de los Hoyos (hill of the holes). So I unloaded some things and headed off for my hike. First I had to figure out how to get to the right road for the trail. I asked a bunch of people along the way to confirm I was headed correctly (surprisingly some of the residents had never heard of these "famous" holes). Many tried to dissuade me from walking, claiming that it was very far. They suggested I get a ride but I was determined to hike there on my own (a little foreshadowing, maybe?).

I finally got to the base of the hill. The entire hike was uphill in the middle of a pine forest. After only about 30 min. my feet were already blistering, my calves sore, my knees aching, my backpack getting heavier and heavier, I started to wheeze, and I recalled that I hadn't applied any sunblock thinking I wouldn't need it here (I wasn't about to turn around a get it now). I began to realize that maybe I like the idea of hiking much more than the reality of it, especially when it is uphill the entire way. At least it was cloudy, there was a nice breeze, and the fresh pine scent was delightful. About every 15 min. a pickup or cattle truck (with people, instead of cattle, herded in the back... kinda disturbing) would drive past. A truck! you say, why didn't I get a ride? I could have easily flagged one down but for some illogical reason I continued to convince myself to hike. At one point I moved over for a car and in the process slipped and fell on some rocks. I scraped up my knee (through my jeans) and got a good bruise on my hip. So, in addition to the miserableness from above, I was now limping. But for some reason I persevered and continued letting the cars pass me by.There was one worthwhile aspect to hiking, the amazing, expansive views of the entire region. Around every bend, the view would get even more magnificent. And the town I started from, even further. Many of the houses were adobe brick or constructed of whatever they could find lying around... apparently. A few even had outdoor ovens. I would occasionally come to a fork in the trail. Miraculously, at every fork, there was a house strategically placed (seemingly) with a nice Lenca woman outside to give me directions. This was good fortune as every path they directed me to follow was inevitably not the one I would have picked. I asked a few if I could take their photo but each declined, this was true the entire weekend (maybe they're sick of tourists treating them like zoo animals, I honestly just appreciated their great sense of style and wanted to capture it).After about two hours (did I mention it was all uphill?), I finally found Los Olivos school. This was a landmark the guidebook mentioned indicating the holes were only 1/2 km away. Glad to find I was on the right path and my destination was near, I happily trudged along. I soon passed a group of men building a house and they indicated I had gone too far and missed a turn. I explained that the last switchback I passed had a private property sign. They insisted that was the correct path. As I turned and walked in that direction, a boy began following me. It became apparent that he was sent to be my guia ("guide"). (He was in 3rd grade at the Los Olivos school and extremely shy.) And it also became apparent that I would have never found it without him. He led me through a narrow walkway surrounded by barbed wire. When it split off, I asked which way and he indicated that we were to crawl through a small opening where the barbed wire had been pulled apart (was this legal?). When the path forked again, he again indicated that I needed to crawl through the barbed wire fence. I inquired as to how much farther it was and he pointed. My eyes followed his finger and there were the holes. (I paid my guide for his excellent services.)The holes were really deep (the guidebook says up to 60 feet) and about 3 feet wide. The ground was covered in fallen leaves and the holes were maybe about 5 feet apart so you really needed to keep your eyes on the ground and watch each step. Nobody knows how they formed. There is a lot of volcanic glass all over the hill so many think the two are related somehow. I maybe spent 10 min. looking at the holes. I mean after all... they're just holes and they're all the same. How long are you going to look at them? So a 2-hour hike for 10 min. at the holes... it was absolutely worth it.Heading down, I hiked about 1/3 of the way until I reached the main "road". There I found a group of ladies sitting on the roadside. (As all conversations in Honduras, the following occurred in Spanish.) I asked if they were waiting for a ride and they said yes. I sat down and joined them. After about 10 min. a truck passed. No one said anything. Then 5 min. later a woman began laughing and asked me, "aren't you waiting for a ride?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Well why didn't you wave down the truck."
"I thought we were all waiting and none of you waved for the truck."
Then she laughed more and teased me, telling the other ladies I think a bus is coming. I'm not a idiot. I knew a bus wasn't coming. I thought maybe they were waiting for the cattle truck. The ladies then changed their story and claimed they weren't waiting for a ride at all but were just waiting to start their union meeting, which they proceeded to do. I felt embarrassed, angry, and confused so I just picked my backpack and started walking down the hill. A few minutes later a truck passed and gave me a ride to town. No thanks to those ladies!

Back in town, I plunked down at a cute licuado (smoothie) bar and enjoyed an icy banana-choco drink for 18L ($.95). All my energy spent, I went to the nearest comedor and ordered up some tortillas con quesillo (small fried corn tortillas with cheese melted in the middle and salsa on top). They weren't the best but it was cheap and they had a cold beverage to go along with it all for 36L ($1.90). Even though it was only 6:30pm, I headed back to the hotel. I was tuckered. I showered in the lukewarm water. The shower had the typical Honduran water heater that attaches to the shower head. At one point it turned off so I grabbed the metal handle while soaking wet to turn it back on... zzzz! I got a nice little shock (hence the nickname "suicide shower"). When I was done showering, I cleverly used my towel to turn off the metal handle so I could avoid being shocked again. That Sara, she's always thinking. Then I laid down to read. It was a little chilly so I wrapped myself in both blankets like a burrito. After a few hours I went to sleep. It was the most restful night I have had in Honduras. It was so quiet I slept for 11 hours.

Sunday morning I awoke to an aching body. I swear you could hear my knees creak. My calves were so tight I walked with a limp. I still managed to get around well enough to find a restaurant serving panqueques (pancakes). Then I went to the popular Sunday market. It was jam-packed with people. The main market was about 5 blocks long with vendors selling from makeshift stalls, large sacks, or plastic baskets lining both sides of the already narrow street. Most people were selling fruits and vegetables but you could also find seafood (odd since it was not on ice and we were hours from the nearest ocean or lake), flowers, and other very random items. I bought some blackberries, strawberries, and a beautiful bunch of giant red lilies. While trying to get a photo of some of the sacks, some Lenca women actually hid their faces thinking I was trying to get a shot of them. I explained I only wanted a photo of their sacks and they giggled. (The one below I found online. I try to be a good tourist by always getting the person's permission before taking their photo.)I wanted to check out a nearby village but I was worried about missing my return bus home. Instead, I just began by journey back home. First I took a bus to San Pedro Sula. It took about 3 hours to get there. I then had to transfer to a bus going past Tela. The ride was smooth. We had to wait about 20 min. to cross the (still) broken bridge (re: "Christina's sister and a water park"). About 10 min. later I noticed the bus slowing and people came running out of their houses pointing. All of us passengers stuck our heads out the windows to see what all the commotion was about. Right in front of our bus was an overturned dump truck blocking the entire 2-lane highway.Traffic immediately piled up in both directions and the crowd around the truck grew. Realizing that we would be stuck here for awhile, people began exiting the bus. After about 15 min. nothing was happening yet. I began thinking maybe I should just walk around the accident and get a ride on the other side. I asked some other passengers and they said they heard it would not be moved until tomorrow. They kindly showed me how we could lay the seats back to sleep on the bus... ha, ha. I decided to wait awhile longer. To my surprise, a guy pulled up in his bulldozer. The crowd gathered 'round to offer up instructions. He ended up just pushing the tail of the dump truck so that it twisted around 90 degrees. It was still in the center of the highway but now only width-wise so the 2 lanes of traffic could pass on either side of it. We re-boarded the bus and were off. The accident created a lot of excitement and camaraderie among all the passengers. We were all gabbing excitedly when another car came straight at us and veered quickly to crash off the shoulder. The whole bus was buzzing with what a strange day it was. About an hour later, I got off in Tela and walked down the road to mi casa. There, I put my pretty flowers in some water and my berries went in the freezer for future use in licuados (blended with soy milk, ice, and bananas... delicious, healthy, and refreshing).