We took a travel bus called Tica Bus from El Salvador to Honduras because it was an easy, direct route with no stops. The travel buses are said to be ¨land planes¨ and they really are.. there is more room to lean back, air conditioning on most, bathrooms, no stops or people selling chicle or chicken, movies, you get the idea. Anyway, we got into the capital, Tegucigalpa, at about 8 at night on a Saturday. Tegucigalpa is a huge city and we had no Limperas (teh national currency) so we had to ask our taxi driver to take us to an ATM. After we visited number 3, it finally worked and we found our hotel. We were STARVING when we got there as we had not eaten all day. We looked for somewhere to eat and everywhere was closed except for Wendy´s... so we ate our first North American fast food of the trip, a spicy chicken sandwhich. All and all, this was the worst day of our trip so far because we had to travel for so long, without eating, we got in after dark, had to eat at Wendy´s, etc. But it wasn´t THAT bad, so we have been very lucky!
The next day we took a bus to Lake Yojoa, the biggest lake in Honduras. We read in our guide book that there is a microbrewery owned by someone from Oregon and you can camp there for $2 a night so we were all in. We took a bus from Tegus to Peña Blanca, a small town and then proceded to walk 2 km to Los Naranjos where the brewery is located. Luckily, someone picked us up about 2 minutes into our trek and it turned out to be the owner of the brewery so he took us right to where we were going! D&D Brewery is a small microbrewery inside a beautiful garden right by Lake Yojoa. We set up our tent, drank some cerveza, and hit the sack.
The next day, we rented a paddle boat and rowed upstream to the lake. It wasn´t as easy as the sea kayaks that we have been used to on this trip where we both paddle, Darren was the one doing all of the work- facing backwards! I suppose that is the way you are supposed to use a paddle boat...It was absolutely incredible how many different types of birds there were; a birders paradise!! After about an hour of enjoying the lake, we (Darren) paddled back to shore. On our walk back to D&D, we saw a local billard bar and decided to go in for a game of pool because there was nobody in there. I guess that gringos in the local billard is a big deal because withing 2 minutes, the place was PACKED with local teenage boys! We stayed for 3 games of pool, Darren won-but barely... and then we went back for dinner and some sleep.
We woke up for the 6:30am bus back to Tegusigalpa and suffered through the ride; 4 hours without air conditioning, in the back of the bus right above the scorching hot engine with the fumes making us sick... But when we got back to Tegus, we hopped right on another bus to Valle de Angeles, a spot recommended by Rachel´s family; her uncle was a Peace Corps member stationed in Honduras, so Uncle Bob, Aunt Barbie, and cousin George (thanks guys!!) knew where to go and what to do! Valle de Angels is an absolutely gorgoes mountian town an hour away from the capital. We weren´t there on a weekend, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves! It was very a very beautiful town with fresh mountian air and sweet as can be locals. We strolled around, looked at the shops and handmade goods for sale, ate dinner, tried some local rum in a drink called ¨Por que no¨(as in, ¨do you want another drink?¨¨¿Por que no?¨ -why not?!)and then headed back to Tegus for the night to rest up for our long bus ride to Nicaragua the next day.
We took a travel bus called Tica Bus from El Salvador to Honduras because it was an easy, direct route with no stops. The travel buses are said to be ¨land planes¨ and they really are.. there is more room to lean back, air conditioning on most, bathrooms, no stops or people selling chicle or chicken, movies, you get the idea. Anyway, we got into the capital, Tegucigalpa, at about 8 at night on a Saturday. Tegucigalpa is a huge city and we had no Limperas (teh national currency) so we had to ask our taxi driver to take us to an ATM. After we visited number 3, it finally worked and we found our hotel. We were STARVING when we got there as we had not eaten all day. We looked for somewhere to eat and everywhere was closed except for Wendy´s... so we ate our first North American fast food of the trip, a spicy chicken sandwhich. All and all, this was the worst day of our trip so far because we had to travel for so long, without eating, we got in after dark, had to eat at Wendy´s, etc. But it wasn´t THAT bad, so we have been very lucky! 
The next day we took a bus to Lake Yojoa, the biggest lake in Honduras. We read in our guide book that there is a microbrewery owned by someone from Oregon and you can camp there for $2 a night so we were all in. We took a bus from Tegus to Peña Blanca, a small town and then proceded to walk 2 km to Los Naranjos where the brewery is located. Luckily, someone picked us up about 2 minutes into our trek and it turned out to be the owner of the brewery so he took us right to where we were going! D&D Brewery is a small microbrewery inside a beautiful garden right by Lake Yojoa. We set up our tent, drank some cerveza, and hit the sack. 
The next day, we rented a paddle boat and rowed upstream to the lake. It wasn´t as easy as the sea kayaks that we have been used to on this trip where we both paddle, Darren was the one doing all of the work- facing backwards! I suppose that is the way you are supposed to use a paddle boat...It was absolutely incredible how many different types of birds there were; a birders paradise!! After about an hour of enjoying the lake, we (Darren) paddled back to shore. On our walk back to D&D, we saw a local billard bar and decided to go in for a game of pool because there was nobody in there. I guess that gringos in the local billard is a big deal because withing 2 minutes, the place was PACKED with local teenage boys! We stayed for 3 games of pool, Darren won-but barely... and then we went back for dinner and some sleep. 
We woke up for the 6:30am bus back to Tegusigalpa and suffered through the ride; 4 hours without air conditioning, in the back of the bus right above the scorching hot engine with the fumes making us sick... But when we got back to Tegus, we hopped right on another bus to Valle de Angeles, a spot recommended by Rachel´s family; her uncle was a Peace Corps member stationed in Honduras, so Uncle Bob, Aunt Barbie, and cousin George (thanks guys!!) knew where to go and what to do! Valle de Angels is an absolutely gorgoes mountian town an hour away from the capital. We weren´t there on a weekend, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves! It was very a very beautiful town with fresh mountian air and sweet as can be locals. We strolled around, looked at the shops and handmade goods for sale, ate dinner, tried some local rum in a drink called ¨Por que no¨(as in, ¨do you want another drink?¨¨¿Por que no?¨ -why not?!)and then headed back to Tegus for the night to rest up for our long bus ride to Nicaragua the next day.
As I post this comment, it is overcast, windy, chilly...just plain ugly. Notice Darren is still partial to the dark. Be safe. Love you and miss you. Dad and Kathy
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