Honduras: Comayagua to Gracias and the Lenca Highlands (weekend trip)
 

Hey all. As my time in Honduras is coming to an end, I have been trying to get out on the bike as much as I can.

I had toured western Honduras last year in a pickup truck with my ex and we passed through the area, but we didn't have enough time to go into the mountain villages. My lady didn't like to roll out of bed until 10am.

Total trip was 466 km with mostly pavement. Once I left Gracias for the highlands, it was all washboard dirt roads, some deeply rutted by the rainy season which began last month. Overall, not a problem for the bike. Anyway, here it is.

June 7
Saturday

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Gassed up and on the road by 8:30am. It was a long week and I didn't get to packing until Saturday. After breakfast and gas, I was finally on my way north, before cutting west. The road from Comayagua to Siguatepeque is freshly laid asphalt that crosses a mountain range. I've done this route a number of times, as there is a brewery and lake about 2 hours north of where I live. It's a fantastic road and my tires are great on grip. Once I hit Sigua, I turned west towards La Esperanza, the highest elevation city in Honduras.

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Halfway there I got a craving for what the city is known for: strawberries. I had a big breakfast earlier, so I stopped in a restaurant for a glass of strawberry juice and a rest.

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30 minutes later I was on my way to Gracias. From what I remembered from last year, the road was mostly terrible between La Esperanza and Yamaranguila, and then it turns back to fairly decent slab after that. Sure enough, the road was pretty rough. They were doing construction when I passed through, so the mud was slick and there were large sections of gravel being prepped for a new road. Fortunately, all went smoothly and I arrived in Gracias by 1pm.

Plenty of this:

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I got into Gracias about 1pm. I sat in the park for a bit and looked at my tour book for my next move. I could either spend the night in Gracias at a hotel, or I could push on 16km south into the first Lenca village, La Campa. I decided to have lunch and head into the mountains.

Quick stop in the park in Gracias:

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My map. Let's hit some trails.

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The Lenca villages near Gracias skirt Celaque National Park, which is home to the highest point in Honduras, Celaque Mountain. On my way to La Campa, the first village on the route, I came up a crest and saw Celaque. Gorgeous.

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(Saturday continued...)

30 minutes later I was descending into the valley of La Campa. The road was dirt, with large channels from the heavy rains, and washboards the rest of the way into the pueblo.

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I descended a tight corner and suddenly I'm on concrete, entering a well organized town of about 400 inhabitants. It was breathtaking. They live literally in the middle of nowhere. I had a good laugh to myself and had to stop to take better look at this beautifully clean village surrounded by vertical cliffs. I was glad to have made the trip that afternoon.

In Honduras, they have "Canopy" which is zip-lining. This country is working on increasing tourism, so this is one of their selling points. If you look at the two mountains in the background here, there is actually a cable that goes across that valley that you can zip-line across. More on that to come

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The hotel:
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My guide book noted the two hotels in town, both similarly priced, but one had a small terrace overlooking the town where you can ”sit and enjoy a cold beer." Sounds good to me! I took a walk around town and asked the few shops if they had beer. No one! How funny. I still sat out for a bit and drank in the view.

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The room was clean and the owners were super friendly. I inquired about dinner and the owner pointed me in the direction of the only comedor (restaurant) in town. I set out on foot and checked out a few churches, the park, and some of the shops where they make traditional Lencan pottery.


The park:

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Sitting in the park looking at the church:

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Another church in town.

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At 5 pm I stopped in at the comedor and asked to have a fried fish dinner ready for 7pm. Had a rest at the hotel for a few hours and when I sat down at 7pm for dinner, wow, I wasn’t expecting this.

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I left the comedor with a 7am breakfast on order for the next morning.


June 10 Sunday

Breakfast turned out to be equally gigantic. The eggs were fried, deep fried, and then fried some more.

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The morning was looking good. I packed up at the hotel, left my bag in their office and headed for a "mirador" at the top of one of the mountains that overlooks La Campa. The guide book said that it was a 30 minute hike, but that book is geared towards hikers. I asked around found out that I could take the bike up the trail. Awesome. 10 minutes later I was up to.

At the mirador I found a commemorative cross and some carved stones.

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And an amazing view of La Campa:

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This is the canopy/zip line that I mentioned earlier. I was alone and could have done it, but, honestly, I was scared out of my mind. If I had gone with a friend I probably could have been talked into it. So, some other day...

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With La Campa throughly explored by 9am, I had about 3 hours to head further into the mountains to see the other villages noted in my book. I needed to be back in Gracias by noon and headed back to my home by 12:30-1pm latest because it's too dangerous to ride in this country at night.

There were 4 villages noted, and I wanted to see 2 of them at least. I descended the mirador and headed south some more:

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On the way:

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Some village I didn't know the name of.

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And then I found San Manuel. It was perched right on top of a mountain and there were panoramic views 360 degrees. I wanted to stop every 10 seconds and take a picture, but it's impossible to capture the feeling of being in a village in the mountains.

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Found this cut into the mountain:

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On my way back I took a look at this sign. 6 Kms to San Marcos. I had enough time for one more village.

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One of the uglier villages in the mountains. I stopped for a Coca-Cola and sat in the church for a few minutes.

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One of the funny things I found was this posting on the municipal building in San Marcos. It listed the recent marriages. How many Marias? Haha!

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After that it was a straight shot home. That breakfast kept me going all day and dark clouds were looming. I was hoping to get past the road construction near Yamaranguila before it started raining, but no such luck. It was sunny up until about 3 miles from the roadwork, and then poured the whole time I was crossing the roadwork. Once I got through that section, the sun came out and I dried off in 20 minutes. Figure.

I got back at around 4pm and had enough time to wash the bike.

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The end.

Looks like a nice ride. A couple weeks back I did gracias to la Esperanza,but took the other road to Marcala y la paz. Somewhere along the road I got lost and ended up in some incredible mountain roads around Marcala (some may not even call them roads).
Oh well, that's Honduras for ya

Cheke leke