Trujillo, Honduras

Hola Amigos,

Arrived in San Pedro Airport around noon on the 22nd. Hot... whew! Left the airport with my backpack and walked down the road to the highway into town where the local buses run. It was a longer walk than I remembered. Maybe it was the hot sun and the lack of any shade. A compassionate Honduran, Abel, gave me a lift the last quarter mile.I caught the "publico" into town, a minibus out to the main terminal( think of a bus terminal like an airport, with different companies headed out all over Honduras), and then I was on a 6 hour bus to Trujillo. It was a 6 hour trip that turned into an 8 hour trek. As it got dark it turned out that the brights weren't working, which forced the driver to go really slow until we got into Tecoa where we changed buses. Trujillo is an old colonial town on the North Coast almost as far east as you can go on the bus. Trujillo was where Columbus first set foot on mainland soil. For a short time it was Honduras' capitol. Later a fort was built there to help fight off pirates. It was here too that William Walker, a kind of an American "pirate" who took over Nicaragua for a short time, met his end trying to take Honduras.

I toured the old fort and got some great views of of the bay and the arc of beautiful white sand beach that stretches out to Puerto Castillo, a long-time banana shipping point.

The next day I hiked 10 K.( 6 miles) up into Capiro-Calentura ( Fever in Spanish... I was feeling hot by the end!)National Park. Alfonzo was my guide. He's working with a private group on and anti-litter/pro-recycling program for Trujillo, besides organizing and training a group of guides. I rode on the back of his motorbike up to the Park entrance.I learned all about plants of the forest, especially those you can eat. I became convinced that you could live off the forest, just like a pair of toucans we saw picking fruit in the treetops.I was surprised to hear their almost "wooden" raspy call. One plant with large heart-shaped leaves and edible roots, Malanga, is often sold in the market or planted in the garden. The trail follows an old road the US built for a radar station at the top. Now there are cell-towers there which are serviced by pack-horses. From the cloud-forest heights we gazed through shifting veils of cloud at the sun sparkled seashore below . We got back, tired and muddy, just before Tropical Storm Matthew hit. Whew!

The day after the storm all was quiet and sunny. I swam and beach-combed some of cleanest and nicest beach I've seen in Honduras. I hung out under the palms at a beach restaurant run by a family . The babies and their clothes were being washed at the pila ( an outdoor laundry sink). Later that day I walked out the Rio Negro to find a trail following a water line up to a magical waterfall-cascade.I surprised a mot-mot bird who burst out of his dug-out nest in a dirt bank to keep an eye on me balancing with his long tail from a shady branch. As I trudged home, a pick-up full of workmen , Santos, Mario,and friends ... on their way home stopped to give me a ride into town. I really felt like I came a stranger and left a friend. I got to thinking about how we treat travelers and other strangers and how important a word or an act of kindness can be.

Tomorrow 9/26 I'll be on my way to Tegucigalpa ( a looong trip). I'll keep in touch. Thanks for reading. Gil.