PowerCycle

08/22 Honduras is shaping up to be my favorite country for the simple fact that they don’t use coins anymore. Makes for a much lighter load in the handlebar bag. Crossing over was a breeze. The normal gang of money changers were on me pretty fast to convert my Guatemalan quetzals to Honduran lempira. The exchange rate is 1 US dollar to almost 19 lempiras so I have these lemp bills in denominations of 500 that I’m finding hard to get change for and that’s in a big touristy town.

The road so far in Honduras has been in perfect shape. A couple landslides here and there but they only made it a little way into the lane. Great views, especially just before and then past the border. I even saw a flock of wild parrots next to the road. My picture taking has been hampered by the horrible lighting though. The near constant cloud cover and haze are washing out all my pictures. Even the ones at the Copan ruins were terrible.

The ruins weren’t my favorite but it’s hard to write anything bad about an archeological site. It’s impressive enough that they even managed to pull the jungle back over the last 100 years so people can visit it. About 20 buildings were destroyed by the river before they diverted it in the 1930’s and they are still working hard to keep mother nature at bay; tarp and siding cover nearly all the intricate pieces outside, even the very elaborate stairs on the main temple. I did get to see some Scarlet Macaws up in the trees and a huge rodent thing that I didn’t get a picture of.

I didn’t write anything for the last couple nights because nothing exciting happened. A nasty downpour hit when I was a few miles outside Jocotan. My clothes are still drying out from that one.

Based on my un-scientific calculations I’m going to be 2 days over the 90 day limit on my passport by the time I get to Costa Rica. It’s possible to get an extension but that sounds like a hassle so I’m going to try and make it in 28 days. That’s with almost no rest days and no time for mental, physical or bike breakdowns. I also have to catch up to Karen and Marten before they lose me.

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