Biking from San Pedro Sula (Honduras’ northwest corner) to El Salvador I was struck by two things. 1) The road was uphill the entire time and 2) most of Honduras is poor.

   More so than in the other places I have biked, with perhaps the exception of parts of Chiapas, this region felt poor (see statistics). It is not just the people walking the sides of the road – convenience stores were poorly stocked, and it was tough to eat well. Many houses are made out of mud bricks (adobe), and the house on the left is on day 4 of 7 of construction. People were friendly, though, and I felt safe and comfortable.

   I spent one night with a family who lived in a house half made of these bricks. They had no electricity or candles, although they did watch an hour of television every night using a car battery. They were extremely generous, and fed me tortillas that they made from their field of corn (they had a good amount of land, and enough food). I gave them my headlamp, which I hope they are enjoying because it is now much more difficult for me to camp.

   I visited a primary school, El Progreso. I set this visit up by biking by the school and having all the children, who were at recess, run out and stop me, asking what I was doing.

   Thanks to the bomberos (firemen) of San Pedro Sula, who let me stay at their station. They were out fighting fires all night while I slept, and they also gave me a free ‘Bomberos de Honduras’ t-shirt and decal. Also, thanks to the the bomberos of Santa Rosa de Copan (on the right), where I stayed two nights later.

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