5 DAY ROADTRIP AROUND HONDURAS
Honduras gets a bad rep for being dangerous, and it can be if you go to the wrong places. That is why I am here to tell you the safe places to go. You are going to be blown away by all the hidden pockets of beauty. I moved to Honduras on August 1, 2016 and have since checked out some must-see spots.
D&D Brewery
The only way to find this place (if you don’t know the area) is if you type in “D&D Brewery” in Google maps because there are absolutely no signs to lead you there.
It will seem as if you are going through a residential area to the middle of nowhere. But will appear all of a sudden just around the corner. The lodge in Peña Blanca is about a 10-minute drive to the nearest town. I tried to get some slippers in the market, but the biggest size anyone sold was an American shoe size 7.5 and I am an 8.5. The rooms in the lodge are quite nice, depending on how much you want to spend. We got the couple’s deluxe suite for $39 bucks a night. You can get a room for as little as $6.50! This is if you are willing to share with 3 other people.
Panacam
This National Park is known for bird watching! We ate lunch at the restaurant the first day we were there. We had a full view of all shapes, sizes, and colors of hummingbirds right outside the window. It was quite a spectacle seeing them so close! Here we paid $50 a night. This is a more well-known lodge so their prices are higher. Breakfast is included, which is nice. The next day we went on the 3-hour hike up the mountain. The hike is quite treacherous so you should be careful. Sometimes the trail tapers off so much that you need to lean against the mountain to stay on it! We also hiked it after it had just rained so it was also quite slippery. We ended up at the waterfall at the end of the hike which made it all worth it!
Talgua Caves
The town of Talube is home to these natural caves. Talube is right off highway CA5. You may need a tour guide to help you find the place because if you pass it, you will never find it! Known as “The Cave of the Glowing Skulls” because of the way that light reflects off of the calcite deposits found on the skeletal remains found there. It is considered one of the world’s Natural Wonders. I found it kind of hard to breathe in there, which is natural since it is a cave, but if you are claustrophobic, don’t go in! Thankfully it was only $3 for me because I looked like a local if you are a foreigner it’s $6 for you!
President Hot Springs
Located in Gracias, Honduras, this was one of my favorite spots. The hot water felt amazing on my skin and we just soaked here for a good few hours after a long drive getting there, which was perfect because the sun was setting so we didn’t get both the heat from the pool in addition to the sun. Maybe I just imaged this, but I felt the minerals in the water made my skin baby soft and I was glowing for hours after I got out! It was only $2 and you can literally chill there all day. It is also super clean and well kept, unlike some other hot springs.
Mayan Ruins
We stayed at Cuna Maya Hotel in Copan Ruins for the night before we drove over to the Mayan Ruins in the morning, which took us like 15 minutes to get there. We got ourselves a tour guide for this place since there was so much to see and we didn’t want to miss a thing! The ruins are MASSIVE! And there is still tons of unexcavated stuff there. They were actually uncovering something else they had just found beside the old Mayan library, which is what we are standing in front of in the picture, while we were there! We learned so much (most of which I have forgotten by now) but what I do remember our guide telling us is that the Mayans were wiped out because of famine and disease. The public rebelled against the ruling class by cutting off the noses of their statues. Having a large nose symbolized that you had noble blood, so that was how they showed their defiance.
Overall, Honduras has some amazing sites to visit and I am constantly discovering more each day. The next road trip we will be taking will be to Guatemala and El Salvador in April… stay tuned for more Central American travels!
Elaine Rau is an international blogger who started ladybossblogger.com when she moved to Honduras. She blogs about female entrepreneurs and their businesses, recently she had the pleasure to interview The Jax Blogger – Jacqui Cooks herself!
Click here to read Jacqui’s interview.
