The cover of the newly published “Honduras” book.

By C.F. AGURCIA 

Last week in Tegucigalpa's National Gallery of Art, the second edition of Editorial Transamerica’s "Honduras" was presented to the public.  The book, a mixture of breath-taking pictures and beautiful words that express and show the different facets of a tropical paradise is sure to charm avid Honduras fans.

 “Honduras” boasts over 350 photographs by variety of contributors, including ex-patriate and well-known photographer, Vicente Murphy and Honduras This Week’s Managing Editor, Erick Schwimmer.

Images captured through photo lenses are complemented by emotions through the writings of some of Honduras’ most outstanding minds.  The work of acclaimed authors Julio Escoto and Leticia de Oyuela are found within as well as a more colorful depiction of part of Honduras’s history and culture by scientists Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle and Mario Ardon Mejia.

“Honduras” depicts the beauty of the country, from wonderful vistas to the charming Copan Ruins.

As readers flip through the pages of this book they will undergo a journey through this country like no other.  The first chapter contains images of such magnitude that they are simply titled: Without Words. A series of landscape portraits and articles follow flowing through the Honduran territory from North to South, East to West and from islands to mainland mountains. 

The breathtaking journey continues with a description of the roots of the nation. It contains pictures and articles relating to Honduras’ Maya past, the country’s different ethnic groups and their origins, and a black and white photo collection of the early twentieth century. The section ends with a chapter on hurricane Mitch, briefly describing the natural disaster and its destructive after-effects. Wrapping up this work of art, the last section, titled Living Arts, features Honduran cuisine and handicrafts enjoyed today.

During the presention at the Art Gallery, former OAS Ambassador Leon Paredes, with kind and illuminating speeches, introduced the book. Later, Dr. David Beyl, editor and artistic maestro of “Honduras”, gave a heartwarming speech thanking all the organizations and people that helped complete the work.  Dr. Beyl is an ex-patriate that moved to Honduras a few years ago. He currently holds the position of Executive Director in Omega Computadoras as well as that of Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Transamerica. In his spare time he works as the Rotary Club’s Secretary and makes stained-glass windows. The ceremony ended with a brief concert by Honduran singer Beatriz Valle, accompanied by musician and composer Tony Sierra.

By JON KOHL

Special to Honduras This Week  

Some people travel to Honduras only riding the waves of the Internet, visiting hot Honduran homes like www.marrder.com/htw (Honduras This Week), www.honduras.com, and www.planeta.com.  Some people travel to Honduras placing all the research and responsibility in the hands of a tour operator.  Fortunately, though, there is another medium for travel to Honduras, and that medium is electronic, GoNOMAD.com.

Actually it is an alternative, the unique alternative to alternative travel, the main travel destination on the World Wide Web for inside, unreported, and the often unseen underside of mass tourism.  And don’t think it has nothing to do with Honduras.  Have you ever wanted to visit the North Coast and hop from park to park with bilingual local guides? This month on GoNOMAD.com you can find just such an article at www.gonomad.com/tours/tours.asp.

Perhaps guiding in Honduras is not your best alternative, after all, you already know Honduras.  But you don’t want to trek down paths that lead to destinations splattered across highway billboards, to food already well chewed by many other travelers, to lodgings worn down by the traipsing of many tourist feet.  You want an experience that will broaden your understanding of a culture and maybe even give you an opportunity to improve the environment in which you visit.

GoNOMAD.com offers numerous avenues written by top travel writers to do just that:  special destinations, lodging, family travel, culture events, alternative travel company listings, practical travel tips, responsible travel, accessories and books, web links, and others.  If you are tired of glossy promotional materials that paint cliché beach paradises and vibrant tropical jungles, you might try this from GoNOMAD.com’s web site:  

According to legend, a Thai Princess wished to thank the water spirits for their bounty and so began the tradition of making krathongs or leaf cups decorated with flowers and holding a candle. Loi means "to float" and after making a wish, the krathongs are lowered into a river or canal to float away.  

GoNOMAD.com described this November celebration in Thailand and how to get there and experience it.  Or maybe you would like an insider’s look at Bangkok, or a Laotian eco-resort, or watch women’s kickboxing in Thailand.  In this month’s issue similar alternatives will be covered in Latin America rather than Asia (with the possible exception of kickboxing).

And this kind of detail and alternatives to traditional mass tourism and even traditional ecotourism, is why GoNOMAD.com was founded.  Frustrated by a lack of exciting, unusual and unique lodgings information, tours, transportation options, learning and volunteer programs and other alternative travel opportunities on the Internet, the GoNOMAD.com founders attempted to fill a niche for the 15 million hungry alternative travelers around the world.

But it is not just a preachy information warehouse.  It also practices. “GoNOMAD believes strongly that as more and more travelers get off the beaten path, there is an increased need for the development and support of local, sustainable and responsible tourism,” explains GoNOMAD founder, Lauryn Axelrod.  GoNOMAD.COM has a free member information network, and for each member the company contributes to a variety of conservation and cultural preservation projects around the world.  Just by joining you support protection of endangered Asian elephants, environmental education in Nepal, helping the Maasai retain their land in Kenya, or the Mountain Institute’s efforts to preserve mountain cultures around the globe.

GoNOMAD.COM makes no pretensions about where it stands ethically.  It stands right behind the World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics that includes:

• mutual understanding and respect between peoples and societies

• individual and collective fulfillment for tourists and communities

• sustainable development

• enhancement of cultural and natural heritage

• economic and political rights of workers and business owners in tourism related activities

Just as Honduras discovers GoNOMAD.com, hopefully they will discover Honduras and its many alternative opportunities that might include a trip to the cold heights of La Esperanza, volunteering at the AMARAS wild animal rehab center in La Ceiba, the undeveloped archeological ruins of Los Naranjos at Lake Yajoa, the train trip between Puerto Cortes and Tela, the indigenous-run Las Marias ecotourist site in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, the only endemic bird (Honduran Emerald) near Olanchito, the Utila swamper conservation project (iguana), the annual fish rain of Yoro, Garifuna making casabe bread on the beach, and many others.  The very underdevelopment Honduras now suffers in the tourism sector preserves a rich array of alternative possibilities, as of yet undiscovered and for many still unprotected from Guajiquirro to Guanaja, Belen Gualcho to Catarrasca, Ocotepeque to Patuca, or Honduras.com to GoNOMAD.com.  

By JON KOHL

Special to Honduras This Week

The clouds break apart and a mountain peek stares through.  From the central park of La Ceiba, Pico Bonito seems like a giant Gulliver looking down into our Lilliputian house.  I have just been diving in Honduras’s Bay Islands with friends from the States, and with only one day left, the cloudburst is a call to arms.  We drool at the prospect.  But everything about Pico Bonito is so big.

The mountain commands the landscape, only a mere five miles from the beach in some places, the mountainside rockets up.  Forty-six rivers course down the second largest national park in Honduras.  Even though Pico Bonito is the fourth highest, Celaque -- the first -- is a stroll in the park by comparison, taking only seven hours to reach the summit.  In turn, Pico Bonito demands five days up, four days down; and only eight teams have ever reached the top.  Even the inhabitants are huge.  According to legend, a race of men living at the top stand 12 to 15 feet tall.

Determined to take our best shot, we march to the park office.  There we meet guide German Martinez, the only known human to have conquered Pico Bonito three times.  German convinces us of a better option for one-day thrill seekers.  “We make in four hours,” he says using an English he learned a couple of years ago in a bilingual nature guide training program run by an Arlington, Virginia-based conservation group, RARE Center for Tropical Conservation.

We agree that our best chance is to bubble off some nitrogen at one of Honduras’s most photographed waterfalls.  So we grab German and hop into our rented Toyota and head for the mountains.

As we drive along the highway running parallel between the coast and Pico Bonito, we pass through massive pineapple fields on one side and grapefruit on the other.  The pineapple fields stretch from highway’s edge for a mile until bumping up against Pico Bonito’s fast rising forest frontier.

We turn down a dirt road traversing one field until we reach the trailhead.  In perfect Pico Bonito form, our first step is up a forested hill.  About 10 minutes into the hike, the Zacate River starts to tease us with a couple of small waterfalls.  As the dense, damp forest air mixes with a robust sweat, we daydream of cool island breezes.

The trail snakes left and then right, each time a massive tree standing in its way. After a 20-minute jaunt, we climb down a natural rock staircase to a gravelly stream. "This waterfall, you see swiffs fly," says German, pointing to the fast flying swifts that nest in a cave under the lip of the waterfall. Over the top, water rushes around a beach ball-sized boulder, pouring 15 feet into a water hole.

We make our way back to the trail and continue under the thick canopy, light sprinkling through the branches. We traipse for 45 minutes more before spying Morpho cipris, the big blue butterfly with a metallic iridescence unmatched by any other insect in the world.

Eventually, we turn a bend and light surges through a giant hole in the treetops. "Bienvenidos a Waterfall Zacate!" proclaims German.

The water cascades off a precipice, five stories high, into a deep pool. The light catches the mist and scatters over a rock prominence that juts out of the water, beckoning us to climb up and dive in.  This is why the Ministry of Tourism plasters images of this waterfall over its promo materials.  But it strikes me as odd.  Why would this mountain allow us such a prize only a couple of hours from the road?  Maybe it’s pity.  No, it must be an act of generosity I conclude while joining my group on the prominence.

Pico Bonito calls, and with a splash, we disappear into the dark water.

By JON KOHL

Special to Honduras This Week 

When Hurricane Mitch busted a prison in the city of La Ceiba in 1998, several prisoners scrambled up the Cangrejal River and spent the night in the newly inaugurated visitor center on the river boundary of Pico Bonito National Park.  It was never the purpose of the center to lodge prisoners, then again, the purpose was never clear anyway.

"We were unable to show what tourists could do there," admits Fito Steiner, president of the non-governmental organization that manages the park.  Today the visitor center sits idly watching whitewater tourists rush by.

Visitor centers are commonly built in parks across the United States and around the world.  In general, these edifices as small as a kiosk to as large as a mansion offer additional visitor services, augmenting a visit to a national park, historical monument, or any other natural or cultural attraction.  They often contain exhibits, park maps, souvenir shops, information desks and small restaurants.

BIG CENTERS, BIG FLOPS

Senescence, nevertheless, sets in early for many visitor centers in Central American parks.  It stems from misunderstandings about the function of this popular player in the ecotourism development game.  Take the three parks with the biggest centers: Poas Volcano National Park in Costa Rica, Masaya National Park in Nicaragua, and Tikal National Park in Guatemala.

Poas, built more than 20 years ago, showcases volcano exhibits in disrepair and an historical epoch in visitor center design predating interactive, user-friendly exhibits.  Masaya has cracked under acid rain and was even used as a disco by the Sandinista government.  The most famous of all, Tikal, owes its fame to its towering Mayan temples.  Tikal enjoys a heavily visited location painted with a culture and biodiversity even richer than any chocolate sipped by Mayan kings.  But despite the potential and a concerted attempt by a Bronx Zoo exhibit design team, the park has done little to resuscitate its center which now offers only a scattering of artifacts and panels that fail to capture passing throngs.

If the biggest centers succumb to mediocrity, imagine the smaller scores peppering the Central American landscape.  Without a strong understanding of visitor center limitations, park directors see centers as big thingamajigs that serve more as prestigious trophies than key elements in an ecotourism plan.  When they don't attract more tourists, don't raise more money, and begin to rot, the glory dissipates in the wind.

FALSE ASSUMPTIONS

Most parks start with the assumption that if you build centers, tourists will come.  As Brett Jenks, president of RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, a conservation NGO that promotes ecotourism in Central America, observes, however, "No one comes half way across the world just to see a visitor center."

With proper planning, nonetheless, visitor centers can be effective.  U.S. National Park Service guidelines state that a visitor center should serve as a central contact point that complements an educational program by providing interpretive services and human needs.  A visitor center must be accessible and serve an already existing audience.

Some Honduran examples of successful visitor centers might include the one in the Copan Archaeological Park, the center in Cusuco National Park, and Aldea Global's newly constructed center on the shore of Lake Yojoa.  Although it has not yet opened, it has promise of actually making money.

Sometimes centers may not even be necessary.  RARE Center argues instead for quality bilingual nature guides and interpretive nature trails.  A recent nationwide tourist survey in Costa Rica also supports the beauty of small things.  Visitors most want decent restrooms, bilingual directional signs, simple interpretive exhibits and literature, security, trained naturalist guides, access roads, and other simple infrastructure.

If there is a better trail to building visitor centers, why do not more Central American parks take it?  Because big money often determines visitor center design.  Pico Bonito's Cangrejal construction was born with $50,000 from an international donor in 1994, before being cut way back.  The World Bank has until recently hunted for a site to build a major "five star" visitor center in Honduras.

DIFFERENT FOCUS

Jim Barborak of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who has worked with parks throughout Central America for more than 20 years, tried to dissuade design consultants from recommending large visitor centers in Honduras and instead to focus on elements mentioned in the study and marketing until visitation increases.

Deirdre Hyde, Central America's most accomplished conservation museographer, who helped to design both Poas and Masaya, has seen time and again big chunks of money from donor countries wire transferred to parks.  Donors need to move large sums of money and thus build high-profile monuments they can underline in project reports and press releases.  What park could refuse such a gift?

In the last six months, critics of big visitor centers seemed to have had an effect, now that the World Bank consultants are proposing smaller visitor centers for Pico Bonito and Jeannette Kawas.  And this time the folks at Pico Bonito are prepared.  The old visitor center is now a "training center" in repose.  They created an ecotourism plan that identifies a couple of strategic locations, and even have mustered community support.

But there are still few tourists.  And despite being buffeted about by funding forces bigger than they, Steiner and company hope this time they might build a visitor center they can actually use.

By WENDY GRIFFIN 

Cafe Vamos a Ver in Copan Ruinas offers many reasons to visit.  First, for people who have been spending a significant amount of time in Central America, they offer homemade bread.  Lots of it.  A basket full of bread with creamy garlic sauce at night and marmalade in the morning -- a treat in the land where they have eaten tortillas for more than 1,500 years.

A second reason would be cheese.  A Dutch breakfast with three kinds of Dutch cheese, cheese sandwiches with gouda or other cheeses and spinach pasta with Dutch cheese sauce are just some of the treats available.  The restaurant has a Dutch owner who knows how much European and American tourists might miss cheese that is not crumbly and salty.

The cafe has a pleasant outdoor environment with a burning fire at night where you can just sit around, talk and enjoy a Dutch or Honduran beer.  It tries to offer foods foreigners might by hungry for, such as Muesli for breakfast or peanut butter for your bread.  This is probably not the place to take your Honduran guide to lunch, as there are no refried beans or tortillas.

The coffee is good.  If you enjoy it, they also sell it by the pound, a locally grown brand -- Coffee San Rafael from Copan Ruinas at Lps. 40 per pound.

Prices are on par with other restaurants in Copan.  A dinner of quiche, a salad and homemade bread runs Lps. 70.  A breakfast of coffee, orange juice, bread, cheese, eggs and fruit was Lps. 35.  The sandwiches served at lunch were so big, we ended up eating the other half for dinner.

Generally, service is a weak point in Honduras restaurants.  Entering a restaurant with almost every table full is the kiss of death, because the staff is overwhelmed and it will take forever to get your order.  But service here is fairly fast and the staff reasonably attentive.

The location is convenient.  From the newly designed Central Park, the restaurant is only one block from the corner where the museum is located.  Look for a gate opening into a courtyard, next to a mural of soccer players.  It has a sign, but I walked past it four times before I noticed it.  The restaurant is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., good hours for those trying to get to the ruins before it gets too hot in the Central Plaza.

Hondurans say, Barriga llena, corazon contento (literally, "Full stomach, contented heart" and equivalent to the English proverb, "When the belly is full, the bones would be at rest").  I left here with a happy heart, ready to take on seeing the ruins in the heat, or grab a truck ride to the border to see the Maya-Chorti.  Buen Provecho (I hope you enjoy your food, too). 

By HOWARD ROSENZWEIG 

More good news from our perennial tourism powerhouse to the south.  Costa Rica, which currently hosts some 1 million tourists and pulls in $1 billion per year in tourism revenues, is slated to up that figure next year with the arrival of additional international airlines.  The German airline LTU will run two weekly flights direct from Germany to Costa Rica with a stopover in Miami.

Additionally, the Dutch airline Martinair will increase its flights to San Jose.  Costa Rican authorities are also negotiating similar deals with Iberia and British Airways.  The first part of 2000 saw an increase in tourism of 6 percent despite being the low or "green season" as it is known in Costa Rica.  For the end of 2000, tourism authorities are expecting to see 10 percent growth in the tourism sector. 

*  *  * 

Catch a flight while you can.  Cayman Airways is currently offering up a $350 round trip fare for their La Ceiba - Cayman Islands flight.  Flights depart La Ceiba Mondays and Fridays at 2:30 p.m.  Info: Tel 440-0863.  Tip: Word has it that this service will be terminated shortly so catch it while you still can. 

*  *  * 

Bike patrols by police in tourist areas -- what a concept. Bike patrols have long been a staple in many U.S. cities, especially those which have a strong tourism vocation.  Now closer to home, La Ceiba has brought this decidedly U.S.-policing concept to Honduran shores.  The La Ceiba police received a load of bikes and all the necessary equipment donated by the Miami Police and the Honduran Banking Association.  Sombreros off to the Honduran National Police who have made great strides in recent months in their struggle to professionalize and modernize their long neglected corps.  Way to go guys.

*  *  * 

Ever wonder where the jobs are in Honduras.  Tourism?  Nope. The financial sector?  Guess again.  Banana plantations?  Not even close.  How about the maquila sector?  Maquilas are factories that produce clothing for export almost exclusively to U.S. markets.  Most factories are located in the Choloma - San Pedro Sula - El Progreso - Villanueva corridor.  In 1992, the sector employed 27,217; by the year 2000 the number of workers had boomed to 130,000 and projections show that by 2002 the sector will employ some 200,000.

The recent increase in benefits of the U.S.-sponsored Caribbean Basin Initiative will be the main spark in the short term to boost production in this sector.  Honduras is currently one of the world's top suppliers of fine woman's underwear to the U.S. market.  Now that's really something to be proud of.  Now where would all those beautiful North American women be without all those lovely, delicate, lacy and frilly panties, brasseries and other assorted unmentionables?  Think about that one next time you wander into that local mall in search of that perfect undergarment. 

*  *  * 

Ya'll heard it first here.  Copan Ruinas will be the host of a major international archaeology Congress that is slated to take place in July 2001.  According to organizers, conference speakers will include some of the most renowned Maya experts in the world.  The congress will be open to the public and organizers are predicting an important turnout of some 400 participants.  Stay tuned for further information as conference organizers have more specifics available on registration, costs and a schedule of activities.

Getting connected news.  For any tourism sector business who is still sitting on the fence and watching the clouds cruise by as opposed to logging on the Internet to help to market and promote your tourism business, check out this stat: In three years there will be 36.7 million persons in Latin America using the Internet.  Makes ya' go, hmmmmmmmm. 

*  *  *

Trying to put a stop to the wrong kind of tourism news.  Costa Rica, better known for its commitment to sustainable ecotourism and golf courses by the sea, is now fighting the good fight to stamp out the sexual exploitation of children by tourists.  Yes, you heard right, tourists.  For the uninformed among us, there is a subculture of tourists who travel to exotic foreign locales to engage in the sexual exploitation of minors.  Activities that would draw severe and harsh prison time in the United States, Canada and Europe are for the most part ignored by a good chunk of the populace in a multitude of nations in the developing world.

Costa Rica has recently undertaken a high profile publicity campaign with roadside billboards near principal tourist destinations.  The campaign, sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and other interested government agencies, invites citizens to denounce the sexual exploitation of minors and warns tourists that they could receive harsh prison terms if found guilty.  Costa Rica is the tourism leader of Central America, pulling in $1.2 billion in tourism revenues and hosting over 1 million visitors last year.

Closer to home, Honduras has also been the target of vacationing pedophiles out for a little fun in the sun and engaging in behavior that would get them geriatric prison terms in most any Western nation.  A lax attitude by police, the courts, and the population at large make Honduras, as well as the rest of Central America, fertile stomping grounds for these criminals.  In addition, an easy going, laissez faire, macho attitude toward young or underage women hooking up with older men, both Honduran and foreign, leads many to believe that virtually "anything goes" in the tropics.

*  *  * 

Selling tourism to the locals like a tube of toothpaste.  The Honduran Ministry of Tourism has just completed a big (at least by Honduran standards) full color ad campaign in the national press.  The campaign used the slogan, "El Turismo es Empresa de Todos" (Tourism is Everyone's Business).  The ad seeks to show to a nation that for the most part has little experience with foreign tourists,  the trickle down and multiplier effect that tourism brings to the nation's economy.

One full page ad titled, "Turismo. Una Cadena de beneficios para Honduras" (Tourism. A chain of benefits for Honduras) featured a series of photos showing a pineapple growing, followed by a farmworker harvesting the pineapple, then the transport of the fruit, the selling of the fruit and then the processing of the pineapple into a tropical punch for a tourist who is featured in the largest photo, lounging in a hammock and handing a Lps. 50 bill (approximately $3) to the bartender (who is wearing a totally cool Hawaiian shirt).  The tourist who is all decked out in bathing trunks takes possession of his pineapple filled with what I presume to be some sort of tropical rum punch concoction, bulging with flowers sprouting from the opening at the top of the pineapple.  In other words, tourism touches everybody, from the farmer to the truck driver, to the hotel worker to the hammock salesman, everybody gets "a piece of the pineapple."

Hondurans would be well advised to take heed of such ad campaigns since the traditional mentality of many here is that tourism dollars are primarily channeled to the minuscule wealthy private sector (hotel and resort owners, restaurant owners, tour operators, etc.) that, as the ad seeks to point out, is an incorrect notion based on ignorance.  Tourism is one of the most democratic of businesses.  When a tourist spends his or her average of two nights in Copan Ruinas, many people and institutions benefit.  The national government benefits, ticket prices to the ruins support the Institute of Anthropology and History, making up the lion's share of their annual budget.  Taxes are paid, hotel rooms booked, food consumed, bus tickets purchased, guides used, chips and soft drinks sold... the list is endless and touches the entire town.

Howard Rosenzweig, a U.S. expatriate living in the Village of Copan Ruinas, is the owner of the Casa de Cafe Bed and Breakfast.  He can be contacted at e-mail <casadecafe@mayanet.hn>.