arrival in Honduras

After 2 days of travel we're now in Honduras. I flew in on an American Airlines plane and was told by both passengers on the previous plane and this one that Tegucigalpa's airport is one of the most difficult in the world and AA has pilots especially trained and who only do this landing. It seems that the city is surrounded by mountains and the runway is very short. In fact, the pilot on Keith's flight made an announcement to tell people not to worry as there'd be lots of turns in the air and a very fast breaking when they landed. People applauded on the plane once we were down.

We landed fine and I was more concerned about my luggage arriving all the way from Fiji and 3 flights later. Luckily it did and when I went out I was met by a mob of people. The airport is mayhem and of course people came with their whole family to meet passengers. The drive into town is not long but the traffic is a mess. There seem to be way too many cars for some very small roads. In fact, I read in the paper that they are going to start to introduce road tolls for the city to try and address this. I did see that almost every traffic light had people either performing (fire eaters), selling things (mobile phone covers, sweets) or begging for money due to their condition (handicapped, no legs etc).

Tegucigalpa means silver hill in a local native language. It was the area of silver mining for central America in the era of the Spanish occupation. We've been put up at one of the more luxurious hotels in town which is definitely in the 'rich' area. Between that and the mall across the road I've not seen much of Tegucigalpa (Tegus as the locals call it). I have been told that if I do want to go out I must use hotel taxis and not take anyone from the road and to remove all jewelry etc. It seems it's not too safe here, especially for obvious foreigners like myself.

You do see a lot of armed people around. All security has guns and Keith tells me that he has seen 'normal' people with guns in Juticalpa (where we will live). This is in Olancho which is the largest state in Honduras. It's a rural area with mostly cowboys and ranches. It's also where the drugs get smuggled in from Nicaragua and apparently there is a higher proportion of crime there than elsewhere. Lovely.

But, we will make the most of it and follow all the safety tips that we are being given (from the guy on the plane to Digicel staff and hotel employees). Keith has already spent a week in Juticalpa and he was more worried about me being bored than about security.

We went to visit Valle de Angeles and Santa Lucia which are mountain towns surrounding Tegus. Whist they are pretty with cobbled streets and clay tiled roofs they are also very touristy and have many artisan shops and restaurants.