La Esperanza

 I knew I was off the tourist path when I signed into the hotel. The two open pages of the ledger were almost full. I was guest 98. Under the column ¨Pais,¨ the first person had written Honduras. From guest 2 to guest 97, there were ditto marks. I wrote, EE.UU.

I took a bus from LaGuama to Taulabé to see the caves. The caves are reportedly at least 12 km long. Visitors get to see the first 400 to 600 meters. They are very impressive with large chambers.

From Taulabé, I took a bus to La Esperanza, the highest town in Honduras (about 5,000 feet) and our beginning of the Ruta de los Lenca. This is a marketplace for Lenca people. On Saturday morning the town was flooded with people buying and selling all manner of foods and goods. Everyone returned to the bus station with burlap bags and boxes. The tops of the buses were piled high with mattresses, metal drums, crates of chickens and you name it.

The town reminded me of small towns in China. The main street had a little bit of asphalt and the rest of the streets were dirt. The people were simple and stared at me as I walked down the street. Many of them didn´t speak Spanish or English, but only the native Lenca language. Their houses, markets and bartering process reminded me of China. And, oddly, there were several Chinese restaurants.

Lodging--We stayed at the Hotel Alexandra. The room was small but clean and secure. At night, it was dark, quiet and cool.