Trans World Expedition

As promised, here is an account of the few days before our small incident. We are now in Las Minas, Honduras, at a friend house, thanks to my brother Sergio from New York. We were able to find a mechanic in San Pedro who is taking care of the car, and who seemed optimistic when we delivered it. Now, we can just wait and wait for his word.

So back a little bit, after a last night in Guatemala, where a nice family let us sleep in front of their house, we woke up early morning, and took the direction of the Honduras border crossing.

We were there few hours later, and it took us two hours and US$ 40 to do the immigration process and the temporary import of the vehicle. We were excited to let one more country behind, and at the prospect of a country where gasoline would be cheaper than Guatemala.

Few minute after the border lays Copan, the country most amazing Maya archeological site, as well as the cute town of Copan Ruinas. After visiting the town, we decided to wait for the following day to visit the ruins, and went to find a place we could camp and cook diner.

Cooking tortillas the old way, in the ashes

Going up in the mountain, we found a farm, and asked the owner for a refuge. He did not only let us camp, but also invited us to the family table, teaching us about traditional food from his country. After saying good-bye, we went down to the ruins in the morning. The site is the most significant in Honduras, and marks the most southern point of the Maya dominance. The northern border of influence being the ruins of Palenque, one of our previous stop.

When the ruins were first examined, in 1839, they were under heavy vegetation. And still today, major discoveries are being done. It takes four hours to visit the site, and there is also a museum and some tunnels we skipped.

Copan with the mountains in the background

Also of interest, a 45 minutes path in the jungle where if you are lucky, you can catch a glimpse of the local animals. Bring insect repellent, unlike us.

There are still many years of work ahead

I should be able to give an update tomorrow on our situation, and give more details on what happened in the infamous mountains.

river_crossing — Crossing river in the mountain

Friends,
I wish I would write today to speak about the marvelous Copan Ruinas we visited few days ago when we entered Honduras, and I will go back to the few past days in later posts, but unfortunately, the reason for the long time spent without posting is because we were stuck in the mountains after a series of unfortunate events let us in a difficult situation.

After crossing the Honduras border and visiting Copan, we took the direction of the Caribbean coast to take some rest and enjoy the beach.

Our map was showing that it was possible to cross through the mountains, via a small village called Tomala. It was confirmed to us that it was indeed possible, but difficult. Well, to make a long story short, the road didn’t exist after Tomala. When we arrived there, it was night, and had no choice but sleep there.

We left the village before 6 in the morning, and after hours of drive through really difficult roads, our steering gear broke, forcing us into the pit on the side of the road, damaging several other elements of the car. Eventually, it turned out that the faulty part was not an original part.

From there, everything was really difficult, and we are still trying to get the car back on road and working correctly. As soon as it will be done, I will update you on everything, including all the great things we saw here, in Honduras.

We are OK, and need you guys to cross your fingers for us. It is very difficult to get straight answers on the things that seem to be damaged, but the transmission took a blow, as well as the suspension and steering elements. Our first worry right now is the financial aspect of the incident.

But don’t worry, nothing can stop the expedition, and I will go on all round. Word.

Visited Countries

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Few days back, crossing the Honduras border

Mountain 1 – Trans World 0