Santa Rosa de Copan
A nice colonial town set up on the hillside, with some nicely restored buildings and cobblestoned roads. I visited the Flor de Copan Cigar factory and got a guided tour to myself which was quite amazing - over 1000 employees and nothing automated in sight. The smell was overpowering, and the amount of handling required to air, wash, dry, classify into sizes, pull out veins, roll and compress into cigars, label, package and even make the boxes from scratch. Halls of people doing each task.
Gracias
Another quiet colonial town nestled in the mountains with a definite cowboy feel to it... cowboy hats and horses all over the place. There´s an old castle on the hill with nice views over the valley, and they also have some very nice hot springs about an hours walk out of town.
San JuanWow smaller still. A one street town in the mountains, with nothing much to do, but really friendly locals who are trying to encourage tourism with guided tours in the surrounding area, as an alternative source of income for the locals (this is one of the poorest parts of honduras, and there are several foreign aide organisations in this mountain area). My host was a lovely old lady, only too happy to chat and tell me about the area. I also wandered along the road to some more hot springs and visited a family who make roof tiles.
5 comments:
Hi Karen,
Phil here... nice work on the blog! Good photos, particularly the donkey, por supuesto! Did you buy any cigars?? All's going okay in Utila, except for a REALLY messy room mate, and occasional lapses in the town's water supply. More lectures today, then giving presentations and back in the water tomorrow!
Looking forward to more installations from you to keep me sane while on the island! What is the kid doing in the photo, looks like a scuba tank?
Talk to you soon
Phil
No I didn´t buy any cigars, but I thought seriously about buying one of their beautiful boxes...an empty one. Unfortunately no photos of there as no cameras allowed inside.
The kid is making a roof tile from mud...shaping and smoothing it. (you have scuba on your mind!!) Fire it and it goes that orangey brown colour you see on roofs everywhere.
I´ll have to take some photos of round here for you too...
Karen
I had a chat to Andy (my instructor) about getting photos from the course... he's been taking photos along the way each day. He's going to burn a CD for me when the course is over, so there'll be a few good pics from Utila thankfully. I've obviously been slack on the sightseeing on the island. You've still seen more than I have of this place and I've been here two weeks!
Phil
Hey Karen, if you want to pick up some cigars I know someone who'll happily take them off your hands! He still can't believe his luck over the last ones! Keep up the blogging, it's almost like being there (well, more like being there than being chained to my desk).
Love Ania
"What is the kid doing in the photo, looks like a scuba tank?"
Phil, you've been breathing too many weird mixes and have scuba on the brain! I guess a clay cylinder would be cheaper, but you wouldn't want to drop it.
Ania, sorry to hear you're still chained to your desk. Is it more fun there yet?
Nick
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