HONDURAS – How we survived Honduras – 3rd Part

by | 20 Aug 2017 | Honduras, On the Panamerican road | 0 comments

Date de dernière mise à jour : le 30 July 2018

Or “How we survive Honduras on the Caribbean coast (but we fought against sand flies and they won…)”

After a short day of travel we arrive on the Caribbean sea, in Tela. We are the day after Easter. After the flow of tourists that have invaded the beach these last days. And indeed, the beach we have been told about and which was supposed to be quiet and wild has tracks of this week full of parties. Bottles are lying on the ground and garbage is everywhere. The perfect free spot won’t be our boondoking tonight.

We finally go to a campground owned by a French guy, François, who explain to us that the place is empty now but, the day before, it was full of thousands of people.

We arrive after the battle, and it is not so bad! We slowly set up with Visiterra and we enjoy the pool and the washing machine available just for us. Luxe!

The two following days are made of… not so much! Laundry and farniente!

The third day, Visiterra decide to take the road to the south to meet some friends, and we head to the north, direction Miami! Well, Miami, Honduras. It is a Garifuna village, the black population who live along the Caribbean coast, from Belize to Costa Rica.

Miami (in Honduras)

The beach is beautiful, between coconuts and white sand.

Despite all of this, there is not much to do or to see in this small village. It looks like paradise but it would be difficult for us to imagine our life here, between the laguna and the blue see.

We search for a restaurant. Nothing is open and the cooker we meet doesn’t seem to be motivated to cook.

After a small walk, we decide de move and take the road back to the south. We stop at the Lancetilla botanical garden where we heard that it is possible to spend the night. We arrive after the closure but the security officer tells us that it is possible to sleep inside. Perfect.

But it is not guarded.

And we will be alone.

Ah.. OK. Well, can that be a problem? He answers that there have been some security issues and that we have to stay close to the soccer field. And about price, we don’t really understand if it includes the garden entrance fee or not…

Anyway, after 10 minutes of discussion, we decide to go back to François’ campground and to go visit the garden the next morning.

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The garden of Lancetilla

After a night in the campground, we arrive early in the botanical garden. We are alone and enjoy the place during a couple of hours. We don’t understand the gardens limits and we walk around, sometimes near occupied houses.

 

The parque nacional Cuero y Salado… or at least the road that should lead to it

We finally go back on the road to go to the Cuero y Salado national park. We have to take a dirt road for 30 kilometers, which is full of washboards and huge holes. At least, we will be alone in the park, this road is surely not used by a lot of tourists!!

Yes, so in fact, there must be no tourist at all who take this road. We arrive at the end of the path and there is nothing. Well, yes, a small lake and some canals that seem to go into the jungle. But no park entrance, no parking lot and no people who would provide some boat tours. OK. Tikal is not really waterproof. We take the road on the other way.

 

 

Trujillo: a paradise on the Caribbean sea?

We decide to meet Visiterra at Trujillo. They are sleeping for free in the parking lot of a hotel, so we park beside…

After our last night with our Romanian friends, it is now time to say goodbye: they take the road north and we continue south. We will see each other again, for sure, and the possibilities are vast: Quebec, France or even maybe Romania, it would be funny.

It is now time for us to find a new campground, the hotel parking lot is only good for one night… And we find a wonderful place: a beautiful green grass and a desert beach, just for us! Banco. After a lunch in town to celebrate my (Dana) 31 small years, we set up on the terrace of our camping restaurant to work on the blog.

 

And then, the attack starts. THE thing that made that birthday unforgettable. In France, we have mosquitoes and that’s it. For me, it is quite enough because I attract them like honey. But in Central America they are mosquitoes and plenty of other small beasts which stinks or bites and on which it seems I have the same effect: hornets, ants and flies. Yes, flies. Small ones. And their stinks are pain for days.

So they start to attack me at the sunset. It is still 40 degrees but my pareo is my friend. But it seems not enough. We decide to use some repellent. But still nothing changes. The attack becomes more powerful. We finally go back into the van, thinking that we will be safe inside. But no. They are the devil. Yes, well, I said that they are “small” flies. So small that guess what? They can go through the nets. We are forced to close all the windows and to sleep under the sheet to avoid the thousands that are already inside…

The first night of my 31’s year was a white night!

The morning after, I start to be attacked during the sun set. We take all our things back and we run! We finally lived a horror night in Honduras, and that made us run from the beach. Yes, because of the sand flies.

On the road to Nicaragua

We go back on the road, direction the Nicaragua. And we decide to take a shortcut.

Yes, so we might have already made this king of mistake once. And shortcut in kilometers is not always a shortcut in time. The road is… well, let’s say there is sometimes some pieces of a road between the holes! And thanks, they are still some bridges!

 

After 110 kilometers of happiness, we finally arrive on the parking lot of a hotel, few kilometers before the boarder. And as a bonus we have now a weird noise coming from the rear wheels…

Tomorrow is another day. For now, we enjoy the pool and a good resting night before crossing to the Nicaragua tomorrow.

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