Catching up

I hope this isn’t too confusing, but I’m going to go back and talk more about Honduras even though I’m currently in Nicaragua.

We crossed the border and entered Copan Ruinas on March 5th. The narrow streets of the city center proved to be a formidable challenge for the LT so Dad waited near the entrance while James, Scott and I attempted to find a suitable establishment. We did find an enterprising young man who tried to help us find a camp site, but the one he showed us was a public campground which did leave a lot to be desired. Luckily, we passed a hotel on the way which offered secure parking and proved to be a nice joint. After getting settled, we headed into town for a few hours.

One of the highlights of Copan Ruinas was a restaurant called Lola’s. It straddled the fine line between having some native authenticity and catering strictly to tourists. When you enter, it does sort of resemble a chain restaurant - goofy stuff on the walls, lots of license plates from the USA - but once you realize you are actually eating in Honduras, that feeling quickly disappears. Don’t take my word at this, but Mexico was the last country we visited with a strong culinary that seemed to have a strong culinary tradition. In hindsight, I kind of viewed these countries as sort of being similar - when in fact they all have their own cultural distinctions. It only makes sense that they wouldn’t have a lot of the same cuisine. A lot of Central America seems to revolve around beans and rice - which is absolutely delicious by the way.

Since we had eaten in quite some time, Lola’s ended up being an extended lunch/dinner combination meal. The crew wandered around for an hour or two and then headed back to the hotel. John had purchased some very good rum in Guatemala which we enjoyed before bed.

After a solid night of rest, we explored the Mayan ruins of Copan. We hired an English speaking guide named Saul. He proved to be an excellent guide and it was a very enjoyable way to see the ruins. We needed a little variety after seeing so many.

After spending the morning at Copan, we loaded up the trucks and attempted to find the first microbrew established in Honduras. That didn’t work. We ended up camping next door after the microbrew/b&b was full. The next day, we crossed the border into NIcaragua.

Today (3-9-09) we drove from the town of Esteli to Leon. Our campsite last night turned out to be a private country-club. A fellow overlander had recommended the site and when we pulled in, it was being used for a private party. After negotiating with the guard and spending a couple hours in town, we managed to worm our way in and actually set up camp on the tennis courts. Our vehicles attract attention everywhere we go, and this was no exception. Several of us spent an hour talking with the Minister of Ecology for the country of Nicaragua, who happened to be attending the party.

Today we drove the second biggest city in Nicaragua - Leon. I’ve never encountered roads like this before. They were practically off-road trails. I’m talking about potholes so big they could swallow my Jeep whole. Luckily, the potholes didn’t last the entire drive and we made it to Leon by 1. The group spent the day lounging and taking care of business.

We have all of tomorrow in Leon and then it’s off to Masaya.

Chuck