Catacamas - caves of the glowing skulls

The next town along from Juticalpa is Catacamas. This is a similar town, though with wider avenues and less congestion. It also is the place of Olancho's main historical site: La Ceuva de Talgua. This is a large cave that goes down to 800 metres underground and has an underwater river (it is known as a living cave as there is wildlife, bats etc. living there). In 1994 the burial cave was discovered by amateur spelunkers. When they shone their torches in the cave they were met by 'glowing' skulls. This is due to the limestone and calcite that covered the bones over the years. Research has shown that they are from about 1000 bc and much older than any previously discovered Honduran remains.

It was interesting to visit and we even got a chance to go into the 'burial' chamber. Most of the remains are in museums in Tegus though so there wasn't much there.

Juticalpa - our new home town

Juticalpa is the capital of Olancha and is two and a half hours from Tegucigalpa. The drive is mountaineous and drops down from the height of Tegus. Juticalpa is surrounded by mountains and this makes it scenic. It's very green and you pass through villages and see trucks on the side of the roads selling fruits etc. You see cows, donkeys and horses but unfortunately also vultures who are eating dead carcasses.

The road is mostly paved, and the last part into Juticalpa is a straight concrete road. The rumour is that this is used at night for small aircraft to land from Nicaragua with drugs which are then transported by land from here. I've since heard that the flights do come, but they land near the villages.

Juticalpa has about 30,000 residents and is a typical grid town with a plaza and church in the middle and roads going out from there. There is a market at the plaza and the odd small stores, restaurants and cafes. There is even a small mall in town, though it's limited in terms of shops. I'll have to wait for my trips to Tegus to do any proper shopping - or visits overseas.

I have yet to find a comprehensive supermarket and it looks like I'll be visiting multiple stores to do the weekly shop. So far we've found one restaurant that serves a little more than tortillas, frijoles and meat - or even chicken and chips. Believe it or not, I am missing salad and vegetables and I can't wait to have a kitchen again so I can prepare food! Or we can buy roasted elote (corn) which you see along the sides of the roads.

I'm enjoying discovering more about Juticalpa and Olancho.

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.