HONDURAS

Photos to follow

We leave London on a cold wet Sunday morning for a 3-week trip to Central America. Having been to Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and Costa Rica before, it is now time to explore Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua – a mixture of rain forest, ancient ruins, volcanoes, lakes and oceans, not to mention cultural contrast. The flight to Miami with BA is the smoothest we have ever experienced – even prompting some research on the aircraft. It turns out to be an Airbus 380, the world’s only two-level airliner that can hold over 500 people. On the upper deck it provides an immaculate 10-hour flight to Miami, where we require a one-night stop. Immigration takes 30 minutes but the formalities are easy with the ESTA visa system doing its job without any hitches. It’s then 15 minutes and $40 to the hotel, of which booking.com has proudly stated: “You’ll pay when you stay at Aloft Miami Airport.” It is functional in the extreme with the barest of help yourself breakfast facilities and a one-man bar. When I mention where we are going, the guys at the bar are incredulous. “Jeez man, whadya wanna go there for? What’s wrong with AC? Hope ya got plenty of bug spray!” Quite.

The next morning we negotiate the joys of Miami airport once more. Even fast track security takes a good solid 30 minutes and the flight takes off 30 minutes late. The weather is good, and the views over Western Cuba with its deserted coastline are spectacular. Just over 2 hours later we land at San Pedro Sula in Honduras, behind two other flights, which makes immigration an unpleasant one-hour experience. Customs is the worst aspect. While queuing you are told to download an app which offers over 20 questions in Spanish. After a lot of guesswork and some help, we receive our QR code and get through. Our guide picks us up for what turns out to be a longer drive than expected to Pico Bonito National Park, high up in a tropical rainforest and dominated by fast-flowing rivers and waterfalls. Nearly five hours later we arrive in darkness, have a couple of decompressing drinks and a meal, and retire for a nine-hour sleep. Various thoughts and observations occur on the journey. Despite this being Spanish Catholic, there are no churches to be seen en route, unlike many countries in this part of the world. Palm oil trees are the dominant feature, something last seen in huge quantity in Malaysia. These crops are a disaster mainly because their monoculture excludes everything else – all ground vegetation disappears and so does any form of biodiversity. I didn’t spot one bird in nearly 100km of the stuff. Meanwhile the only wealthy houses are at the heart of these plantations whilst everyone else ekes out a fairly tough existence.

After a good rest we enjoy a hearty breakfast as hummingbirds fizz in and out over our heads. The lodge has a pool and spa, with a fun viewing deck over the fast-moving Rio Corinto, recently swelled by heavy rains. We declare it a day of leisure, starting with a robust massage to iron out the wrinkles of travelling for two days. After a good relax we retire early listening to torrential rain hammer down for most of the night. The next day has more of a nature feel as the sun gradually emerges. The Violet Sabre Wing hummingbirds are out in force arguing vociferously. Various other brightly coloured birds such as motmots flit about in the immaculately manicured grounds. We take an enjoyable and highly informative stroll down to the serpentarium and butterfly house. Understanding the difference between a lethal viper and a non-venomous coral snake could be a useful skill, and it’s fun to handle them. The butterflies are happy to land on your head and the variety of colours is lovely. Enormous squirrels and an agouti say hello on the way.

We bid goodbye to the Pico Bonito Lodge which is lovely but overpriced. The catering is average and unluckily it rained heavily most of the time. We head to Copan, which is billed as 5-hour journey but takes eight and a half. The scenery on the way is a distinctly mixed bag – plenty of agricultural landscape backed by rugged mountains, a huge preponderance of massive US-style juggernauts, grinding poverty, rubbish and endless auto mechanics and scarp metal yards full of cars. By the time we eventually arrive it is mandatory to chug down a bottle of the local Salva Vida beer – literal meaning ‘lifesaver.’

The Hacienda San Lucas in Copan is fantastic – set high on a hill overlooking the valley and the Mayan ruins. A pair of Scarlet Macaws (recently reintroduced to the valley) give us a screeching welcome and bats fly around as the sun sets. We visit the ruins the next day and they are charming, adding extra texture to Teotihuacan, Tikal and Chichen Itza that we have visited before. There are exquisitely detailed carvings here that are not present elsewhere.

Honduras is an interesting place. With a population of 10 million and an Atlantic positioning, it has been battered from many sides. Old school politicians are prone to corruption, Cuban influence and generally backward thinking. Its history is riddled with American intervention, constant squabbling with El Salvador and Nicaragua, being dubbed the first Banana Republic, Spanish colonialism, slavery legacy and much more. They even fought the so-called Football War with El Salvador in 1969 when the two countries were drawn together in a World Cup qualifying match. After El Salvador fans attacked those from Honduras, defiled the flag and disrespected the national anthem, a six-day war broke out. Honduras means depths, named by Columbus on his fourth and final visit here when he found deep water to moor his ship.

 

EL SALVADOR (VIA GUATEMALA)

Next we are off to El Salvador, a much-maligned country with a range of dodgy reputations – drugs gangs, civil war and frequent assassinations. The best way in from Copan is via Guatemala, which was an unexpected, but faster, diversion. We last visited 20 years ago in 2004. Border formalities were fast and easy and the Guatemalan side took us through scenic agricultural country against a near-permanent mountain backdrop. From this direction El Salvador is less attractive when met with the busy city of Santa Ana and significant construction on the Pan-American Highway (funded by Korea), but it soon opens up to the classic volcano-packed views one would expect. In the capital San Salvador, we check in for two nights at the Barcelo Hotel, which used to be the Hilton Princess. It’s okay but not great, and the Executive Lounge on the 10th floor isn’t worth the price.

The next day is very much volcano day, beginning with a robust hike up Santa Ana (approximately 7,500 feet). Sadly the authorities decree it is too windy to do the final stretch to the top, which prevents my intended view down into the lake-filled crater. There are however dramatic views in all directions – Lago de Coatepeque inland, Cerro Verde with its smashed out wooded crater, and the perfect black cone of Izalco, plus the bonus of the Pacific Ocean 25 miles away. Walking around the woods was peaceful, and my favourite story was about Izalco, which had been constantly erupting throughout the 20th century and became known as the Lighthouse of the Pacific. In 1965 the dictatorial president decreed that a hotel would be built opposite it. He used prisoners to build it and the road leading to it. A local Mayan shaman objected to the plan and said no good would come of it. The day construction finished the volcano stopped its activity. The president was so furious that he instructed the military to drop explosives into the crater, but that night there was a massive downpour, nothing ignited, and the volcano has been dormant ever since. Karma indeed. There is time on the way to observe the large lava fields of another volcano, El Boqueron.

We then embark on our journey to Nicaragua. After a short walk around a church and a cathedral in the centre of San Salvador, we learn that both have seen shootings. Bishop Romero was shot because of his support for the poor which the ruling party didn’t appreciate, and the crypt shows harrowing photos of the actual event. The Iglesia El Rosario was designed by sculptor Riben Martinez in 1971. It has a nondescript concrete exterior reminiscent of an NCP car park, but inside all is revealed with a dramatic hangar-like arched roof indented by multi-coloured glass panels. Probably the most interesting church you’ll ever see. A 4-hour drive takes us to La Union in the Gulf of Fonseca in readiness for our crossing the next day.

NICARAGUA

A 5am start is recommended so we do the hard thing and go for it. An orange sun is rising dramatically over volcanoes as we head towards the border, which we reach by 6am. Borders are funny things – you think it’s one line, but it’s really two. The first is easy – leave El Salvador – stamp in the passport – drive to another set of booths – stamp – and we are in Honduras. Easy enough, with the process taking about 30 minutes. Getting into Nicaragua has many more steps: guy at a checkpoint, lone man in a booth, queue at another booth for questioning, new room to scan the luggage, more paperwork, more waiting – total time an hour. By 10.30 we are speeding through Nicaragua to Leon, which is broadly surrounded by 12 volcanoes. It is pleasant agricultural country with a medium level of poverty. We arrive in Leon after 7 hours at 12.15, check in to El Convento which, as the name suggests, is a former convent in the middle of town. We have some well-deserved glasses of wine and Victoria beer and take a nanny nap as the strains of a lively grandmother’s birthday bash, complete with enthusiastic live band, fill the air.

Next we are off to Granada, which claims to be the oldest city in the New World, founded in 1524. It is tiny and very attractive with the massive Lake Nicaragua and Mombacho Volcano providing a dramatic backdrop. It takes a while to get there because getting through the capital Managua is a messy business. We check in to the lovely Hotel Plaza Colon for three nights and have an excellent meal at the Garden Café. Everything here is a few minutes’ walk from everywhere else, and we end up having a pleasant nightcap on our balcony overlooking the main square. The next day we get on a small boat to potter about on the lake, observing a number of the hundreds of islands with houses and small hotels on them, along with ospreys, herons and vultures. A walking tour of the town emphasises the brutal nature of Spanish colonization, the messianic zeal of religious conversion, slavery and consistent murder. A guy called William Walker, bizarrely from Tennessee, seems to have murdered almost everyone and burned everything to the ground in a consistent campaign of madness. Eventually someone killed the bastard.

Our next challenge is the mighty Mombacho volcano which towers over Lake Nicaragua. This monster had its top blown off a long time ago and now presents a ragged top when it is not covered in cloud. We ascend to the National Park and, true to its Cloud Forest description, it is indeed engulfed in cloud. It’s not cold, but it is moist and very windy. We take an informative stroll around the crater, being mildly harassed by a grumpy peccary on the way. There are no views to be had with this amount of cloud cover, but we do find a very wet sloth at close quarters which gives us a first viewing in the wild. Down in the holding car park where you transfer to the 4×4 vehicles that get you up to the top, we discover a clutch of Aracari – large birds that look like toucans but with red bodies and dramatic black and white zig zag bills that look similar to shark’s teeth.

Our final volcano challenge is Masaya (meaning deer). This is more akin to the scale of Yellowstone, with a vast caldera spread out over miles, and variously containing dormant and active peaks, former lava flows and Lake Masaya itself. It’s a dramatic landscape supported by all the usual fables of gods living inside and eruptions being halted by the Virgin Mary. Religious zealotry is the norm here and exceeds that of European Catholicism by at least a factor of ten. The highest active crater is closed to the public so we take a pleasant stroll through woodlands, past smoking fumaroles, and up to a central point where all the above can be viewed. Various birds fizz around and provide entertainment on the way.

Back in Granada, pootling on Lake Nicaragua is charming, with a full range of herons and cormorants on view, ospreys, and a couple of re-habituated monkeys on their own islands. We spend a night at the fantastic Isleta de Espina, where an otter pops round to visit, a strange bird called an oropendola (a pointy beaked blackbird) makes a funny gurgling call, and the ever-changing view of Mombacho volcano is a source of constant delight.

Next up we are off on the last leg of our trip – to the tiny Corn Islands on the Caribbean Sea. We go to Managua airport where a light aircraft takes us up between Lakes Managua and Nicaragua, following the Rio Escondido over Bluefields to arrive at Big Corn, population 8,000. Then it’s into a powerful speedboat to navigate fairly choppy seas for just under an hour before arriving on the other side of Little Corn at our destination – Yemaya Reefs, where the wreck of a tanker is the only blot on the horizon. After an initial disappointment where they appear to have sold our room to someone else, we spend the first night in somewhat lower grade accommodation than we had booked, before being moved in the morning to the real deal – a private cabin with its own plunge pool and a heart-warming view straight out to sea fringed by palm trees.
The onshore breeze is vigorous and consistent but for the first two days the sun is mostly out, allowing for a lively swim or two in the surf, but it’s too murky for snorkelling. Some heavy rain overnight becomes more intense on day three which is mainly overcast, so we take a stroll through the forest into the local town, which is unremarkable and mainly punctuated by extreme poverty and an absence of wildlife. The boat trip on the final day is smoother, heading back to Big Corn with the captain surfing the waves intelligently. We take off from the airport in the rain but soon rise above the cloud line to sunny skies to return to Managua flanked by its two dramatic lakes and background volcanoes. A pitstop stay at the Intercontinental tides us over for the flight back to Miami where we are staying at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables. Despite being a busy holiday weekend Immigration takes a very tolerable 30 minutes, and 15 minutes later we are in the hotel bar.

Concluding remarks on this trip. Honduras was pretty hard work. The scenery has some rugged beauty but the roads are full of trucks and it can be fairly monotonous, with few sights of major interest. The exception is the excellent Copan, which might be better accessed on a day trip from Guatemala which is only 12 miles away. Perfectly nice in many respects but not that exciting: 6 out of 10.

El Salvador appears to be recovering quite well from a range of woes. Service is patchy, particularly in remoter areas and the main attraction is volcanoes. If that’s your thing and you enjoy staring at them, then this would be a good place to investigate. If your preference is to climb them and stare down into craters, then it’s in the lap of the gods – if the weather prevents it, or the authorities close a site, there’s nothing you can do. Other than that, there’s not much apart from pleasant scenery. 7 out of 10.

Nicaragua has more variety. Its history is extraordinary and it is something of a miracle that it functions at all given the fighting in 2018 and Covid. Infrastructure is variable and corruption is rife. Leon is a bit dull and Managua is a mess. Granada is lovely and definitely worth investigating along with the impressive Lake Nicaragua. The volcanoes are equally so, with the same caveats as those in El Salvador – if you want to climb them, you might not be able to. The Corn Islands are double-edged. If you welcome an isolated backpacker culture, then it’s a thumbs up. If you prefer luxury and/or the weather is bad, then the appeal is significantly reduced. Overall score for Nicaragua: 8 out of 10.