Tegucigalpa – The Silver Hills
Thursday, February 14th, 2008I’ve decided to spend at least a day or so in Tegucigalpa (known in these parts as Tegu). I was surprised how much I liked san jose, CR despite it’s bad reputation so I decided to give tegu a chance. I had heard it was in a really nice valley with lots of topography and it’s true. I rather like it. I also think Honduras seems a little cleaner and more prosperous. I had heard that Nicaragua was the poorest country in CA. I was checked into my sprawling and sparkling $12 room at Nuevo Hotel Bosten by 2:30 and I headed out.
Tegu is a maze of narrow roads and I realized quickly that I needed to pay attention to where I was and choose some landmarks. I made note of which of the surrounding hills were which direction, how they related to the major churches and plazas and the large orange and white cell tower and, finally, how all of these related to my hotel. Getting lost in the jungle doesn’t sound much worse than getting lost here.
I visited the national museum, got Honduran lempiras at the ATM, and visited several of the lovely churches. The cathedral along the central park is undergoing a renovation. Based on the work done so far on the exterior, it is going to be stunning. Inside is already amazing, with an elaborate gold and silver altar.
Then, after eating street food for nearly a week I broke down, got a personal pan pizza at pizza hut, and went to my room to listen to some podcasts of This American Life I had downloaded to my computer a week or so earlier. Let me tell you, that pepperoni pizza tasted pretty darn good. I’m hoping to find a café with wi-fi later today to upload some posts and pics. This has been hard to find since Granada, tho in Leon some of the hostels had wi-fi.
Peggy Rehm