2. Palmerola, HON
Day 72. Finally slept well with the “border cow webs” off me. I woke up early but something wasn’t right. I looked out of the window and I couldn’t see a thing. Fog. Thick fog. Can’t see the other side of the street. No point to rush anywhere then. But I couldn’t help it, I got up anyway and start packing. Not much to pack so I got a coffee and a breakfast and sat on the balcony. Pretty cool.
The fog slowly started to lift and I can’t (read don’t want to) sit here forever. Off I go. GPS is all loaded, not a difficult day. 237 km. The first 100km were nice, good road and even with limited visibility it was an enjoyable ride. I don’t know why, maybe I got into another road district, the road became barely passable. Pothole slalom. REALLY bad. And I was much better off then cars because I had only 2 wheels to worry about. I couldn’t go fast as there were holes literarily everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like it. I need to talk to the local mayor! I take everything back I wrote yesterday about nice roads in Honduras … I rode through bunch of checkpoints with young soldiers with guns bigger then them. I salute them they salute back, standard procedure. I was stopped only at one checkpoint. And it was a police checkpoint. But they only wanted to take a look at my bike. A few minutes to chat and I am sent on my way.
Nothing really too interesting today. Very cloudy day with T-storms all around me. Few times I need to put on my rain gear. When it starts coming down it is really something. Luckily it didn’t last too long. There were no nice towns or spectacular views today. Not every days is a holiday, is it? So I plugged along and start rethinking my plan. I am kinda disappointing with Honduras. It is relatively very expensive for what you are getting. And there is nothing here which is not better and cheaper somewhere else. The consensus is that there is in point to hang around. One more night today and I will head for the border tomorrow. I am hoping to cross to Nicaragua on Sunday.
I got to my destination of Palmerola today and well, it is underwhelming. The website says “nice rooms all on floor level” . Well, they are all under construction and I got a room above the local store. And it has a tin roof and it is raining. It is LOUD here. It just confirms my decision to bolt out of here.
I have an internet here but it is pathetically slow, it makes me cry. I have finally pushed through my blog updates but I am not that hopeful about the pictures. Let’s hope so.
Tomorrow is not a long day, about 200km but I have to go straight through he capital of Honduras. I bet not too many of you know the name. I didn’t … It is Tegucigalpa. I am hoping to get within 20km from the border and cross to Nicaragua early Sunday morning. I have already booked my accommodation there. Nicaragua border crossings have very bad reputation so I need to prepare myself. Few piña coladas would be nice …
And that’s it for a short day from here.