Monday 25th January 1988
It was pissing with rain when we woke up at 07:00 hrs. but we decided to brave it and head for the El Rey Bus Station. Here we bought tickets to Tegucigalpa for 8 Lempiras on a first-come, first-served basis. There were no advanced sales for bus tickets.
Tegucigalpa, formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District (Spanish: Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.), and colloquially referred to as Tegus or Teguz, is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its twin sister, Comayagüela.
Tegucigalpa’s first mention in records is in the 1560s, when silver deposits (“tegucigalpa” means “silver mountain” in the Nahuatl language) were found in the hills to the east. It was given town status in 1768, and named a city in 1807. With wealth from the country’s mines pouring in, the city’s location at the centre of key trade routes became highly advantageous, and Tegucigalpa soon rivalled the then capital, Comayagüela.
In 1880, the Liberal President Soto officially shifted power to Tegucigalpa, and in 1932 Comayagüela became a part of the capital. Since then, the nation’s economic focus has shifted to San Pedro Sula, but Tegucigalpa continues to function as the nation’s political and governmental centre.
After the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1841, Honduras became an individual sovereign nation with Comayagua as its capital. The capital was moved to Tegucigalpa in 1880. On January 30, 1937, Article 179 of the 1936 Honduran Constitution was changed under Decree 53 to establish Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, being sister cities physically separated by the Choluteca River, as a Central District.
Tegucigalpa is located in the southern-central highland region known as the department of Francisco Morazán of which it is also the departmental capital. It is situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains.
We boarded the comfortable bus for the four-and-a-half-hour trip to Tegucigalpa. The road was smooth tarmac but narrow enough to make overtaking perilous. The countryside was verdant, dank and green below the low grey clouds, and every accessible inch seemed to be cultivated.
At each stop a swarm of pedlars surrounded the bus with their wares displayed on poles so that they could reach the upper windows. A lot of the road was cut through rock and the steep embankment sides were painted with political emblems and graffiti. We passed several army camps and soldiers joined and left the bus along the way.
We pulled into the city at 12:30 hrs. and booked into the Hotel San Pedro by the Bus Station for 15 Lempira for a double room on an upper balcony. We then went out to explore the modern looking city of Tegucigalpa. It took a while to orientate ourselves to the map but after a frustrating start we relaxed with a Chinese meal in a ubiquitous Chinese Restaurant and set off refreshed.
None of the roads were numbered but we managed to find the Tourist Information Office and from there we took a very long walk to the “Book Village”, a shop in a very modern, clean shopping precinct which sold new and second-hand English paperbacks.
On our return we had a couple of Salva Vida beers in a cheap restaurant by the hotel for 1.30 Lempiras a bottle and got a free saucer of chicken soup. The city is full of fast-food hamburger and pizza places, and I even spotted some VDU computer terminals! The traffic is a bit chaotic, but the women are pleasantly distracting.
At 18:30 we went out and followed Avenida 6 through the street market and across the bridge that smells of sewage. A strong wind swirled around the street throwing dust about. We found the “Todo Rico” vegetarian restaurant and had a good meal and some nice coffee in paper cups!
Our latest search of the town revealed that the Ticamaya Hotel, despite what the South American Handbook said, didn’t have American cable TV and that there were no decent bars in town. “They all seem to get pissed in shit holes”! said Declan in disgust.
The streets were dark and quiet as we made our way back to the hotel, with only rubbish blowing along the sidewalks and the odd drunk shouting from doorways.
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