The Ruta Lenca

Christian looking dapper in the main square of Comayagua
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Having set off early for the Honduran border we found ourselves at El Espino, a border town, at 8.30am only to discover that we had managed to pick the wrong border crossing, which explained why we were the only gringos around and were being pointed at endlessly. We sat down, planned an alternative route and ate some conrnflakes, which caused much amusement to those around (there was literally a bus station full of people laughing at us) though they didn´t hesitate to take up Christian´s offer of some spare milk!

The Lenca market in La Esperanza
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Half an hour later a 17 seater mini bus pulled up to take us to the nearest village. By the time we had bent down to pick up our bags the bus was already so full that the last person we saw get on had to run and launch himself at the bus to squeeze in. We decided to pass on that bus and sat back down for the two hour wait for the next one.

Over the next eight hours we took four buses and two taxis and finally arrived at La Esperanza, the start of the Ruta Lenca, a series of Lenca villages running along the Western side of Honduras. The famous fruit and veg market was incredible with the locally grown produce of all shapes and sizes, women carrying baskets of rosquillas on their heads and cooking tortillas in the street. As the only gringos around we seemed to have a hundred pairs of eyes following us and one little kid was even brave enough to come and touch Christian on the back.

La Esperanza
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The next day we continued up the Ruta Lenca through San Juan and Gracias. The only way to access these villages is to take chicken buses or to hitch lifts with  passing pick up trucks. With the help of a lovely old couple, who were travelling a similar route, we managed to chicken bus it all the way to Santa Rosa de Copan. One of the most memorable journeys we took was in a 12 seater transit van.... we set off with all the seats taken and half an hour later there were around thirty of us squeezed inside and one guy on the roof. The van was so old and battered that the driver needed a swiss army knife to open and close the doors!

What you can´t see in this is the other 20 passengers and the guy on the roof!
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Somehow we made it to Santa Rosa de Copan in one piece and decided to head to one of the local coffee production factories. We arrrived at the factory and asked at reception if we could take a look around. One of the opperators offered to give us a tour and took us through the process. Every stage from the roasting of the beans to the printing of the hessian bags was carried out in that one factory.  Before we left we bought a bag of recently roasted beans to enjoy on our return.

That evening we found ourselves watching the Honduras v Panama football match, dancing to some local music and wearing sombreros!

Santa Rosa de Copan
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The next day we set off to Copan to see the Copan Ruins and visit a coffee plantation just as the picking season began.