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On the Road to Choluteca
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| Even before the bridges were swept away, before landslides and the sheer force of rushing water cracked and destroyed the roads and washed away farm fields and crops, Honduras was among the poorest countries in the hemisphere. |
Nestled into a bowl-shaped valley, Honduras' capital of Tegucigalpa is densely populated with 1 million people. Referring to its mining origins during colonial times, the name Tegucigalpa means "silver hill" in the local dialect. The locals call the city Tegus for short.
Following an abrupt landing onto one of the shortest runways in the Western Hemisphere, we arrived in Tegus and soon after began the trip to Honduras' Pacific state of Choluteca.
The Bee Gee's "Staying Alive" played on the radio, setting the stage for our trip as we wound our way through the mountains on the three hour drive, carefully steering around parts of the road that had given way under Mitch's weight and avoiding underfed beasts of burden. Because of the steep up-and-down slopes, there's a lot of gear-shifting and ear-popping driving cross-country in Honduras.
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| Children in Honduras, many wearing only shorts or an oversized T-shirt, smile and play, seemingly oblivious to their bleak surroundings. |
On this trip, the countryside looked a lot different than it did after the storm. Nature is slowly working to mend its wounds as green grass grows over the gutted remains of homes. The river that overflowed its banks with such violence a year ago has receded. High water stains on the sides of houses and stores have, for the most part, been painted over. And scattered toys and other belongings that survived the tumult have been reclaimed, except for the occasional car or truck, which still lie drunkenly on their sides. We drove past families that have recently built tin and wood shacks close to the riverbed. It's a sad reality, yet, for a whole set of reasons, it is difficult for Hondurans to gain access to secure land and so many of the poor are forced to build on land that isn't really safe or even their own. Off in the distance, I could see children playing in the river, oblivious to their surroundings.
Continue to Day 2
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