From the Caribbean to the Pacific.
It is only 300km, in a straight
line, from the northern Caribbean coast of Honduras to the southern Pacific
coast (the Golfo de Fonseca).
If you have a very good road map of Honduras you will see there are two, possibly three, roads you could take from Truijillo to Cedeno. After consulting several books we opted for the route thru La Union and Valle de Angeles. Our map shows a "main road (2 lane)" thru La Union and a very minor "other road or track" thru Valle de Angeles. In practice the road thru La Union was unmade and the the road thru Valle de Angeles was a very fine two lane blacktop.
Not only did our map (from ITMB in Canada) get the type of road wrong it also got the road in the wrong place by 15km (the pink line is our actual track from GPS, the red road is the one we were "on"). However before you say "get a better map", the consensus seems to be that the ITMB map is the best currently available!
Even though the road to La Union was unmade, it was very beautiful with wonderful views round each corner. We had originally intended to stay in La Union. On arrival we talked to the police who said we could park on the town square. However the large band of children chanting "male puppy" made us feel very unwelcome and after 10 minutes we drove a little out of town and parked at a fuel station.
In the morning some of us drove back thru La Union to the
village of Los Encuentros (in K-Nine because of low wires) to see one of the
old wooden trapiches (ox-driven sugar mills) in use (this being
the sugar cane season, as I expect you know).
Note that the man, with the blue shirt on the right, has a revolver tucked down the back of his trousers.
Our second
night was spent at the Tourist Park just outside Valle de Angeles
(N 14.139942 W 87.039495).
This town is a popular day trip from the capital city of Honduras (Tegucigalpa) and the park caters to thousands of visitors during the day (and just us a night).
As well as a swimming pool, a tiny zoo, and a number of football pitches, the main attraction are about hundred picnic sites, each with its own table, seats, tiled roof and barbecue hearth. About a quarter of the picnic sites also had a three metre high metal "gallows", these sites were naturally favored by parties with young children!
We arrived at Cedeno as it was starting to get dark. The road running along the beach was narrow, crowded and dirty with low wires. Every inch of the beach front was occupied by shacks (homes), shops, bars or restaurants. Only one plot looked like a possible camping place and that was surrounded by a barbed wire fence with a firmly locked gate and no sign of life.
After a few hundred metres
the road turned to soft sand and K-Nine had a lucky (skillful) escape. On our
return, as we passed "the plot", a man appeared by the gate, unlocked it and
invited us in like long lost friends! It was "no problem", yes we could stay
two nights, and no there was no charge (we gave him $10 USA anyway!). We are
still not sure if "the plot" is an unused private home or a potential hotel.
Our benefactor seems to be the watchman rather than the owner.
(N 13.166743 W 87.431982).
The photograph was taken a few seconds ago from Mog's door, it is too hot to go outside.
Where, I hear you ask, is Bodo? We don't know. We last saw them just outside Truijillo about five days ago and rather expected them to be here when we arrived.