Honduras This Week Travel and Tourism May 1999

In Santa Lucia Mirador del Cielo aspires to become spirited gathering place

By ERLING DUUS CHRISTENSEN

The literal translation of Mirador del Cielo is "mirror of the sky." A more poetic translation might be "mirror of paradise." The later is probably the translation favored by Lourdes Trejo and her daughter Anna Lucia Funes, who opened this unique and beautiful estate to the public Oct. 21, little more than a week before the advent of Hurricane Mitch. And therein lies a tale.

Lourdes Trejo has Honduran ancestry exceeded in distinction only by the direct descendants of the great Lenca chief, Lempira. She is a great-great granddaughter of Francisco Morazan. She has inherited some of the qualities of her famous forefather, as she displays a fierce, individualistic, and visionary spirit. And like him, she has a vast energy.

For a long time now, even when living in the swamps of far away Houston, she has aspired to opening a place in the mountain freshness of Santa Lucia that could become a gathering place and focus for the creative and spiritual energies of Honduras.

She looked at a variety of properties, but the place that really caught her fancy had been built three years earlier into the side of the mountain and looks directly down upon Tegucigalpa, over 2,000 feet below. The estate, designed and built by Gustavo and Nelly Ochoa -- he an engineer and she an architect -- has touches of the ambience of a Roman temple, with the Classical love for high places. Mrs Trejo made inquiries, but the place was not available.

However, one day last September, as the lady and her daughter were motoring about in Santa Lucia, they suddenly saw a man walking, a humble looking man, or at least "somewhat humble." A sudden powerful prompting of a mysterious nature caused Mrs. Trejo to declare, "I have to talk to that man."

He turned out to be the carpenter of the Ochoas, and he revealed in the conversation which followed that the place was now available to be rented by the right person. She wasted little time after that. Negotiations were conducted, and the grand opening was held with friends and family in attendance. The Mirador del Cielo was born. Then came Mitch, and for three months the Mirador was closed.

In February, Mrs. Trejo and her daughter re-opened and are now on track toward giving embodiment to her long dream. Already, two wedding receptions have been held there. The bar and restaurant are presently open on week-ends, on Saturdays from 12 to 10 p.m., and on Sundays from 12 to 7 p.m. Next Sunday, May 23, the Garden Club of Tegucigalpa will be sponsoring its annual exhibit of flowers and floral arrangement, and the Mirador in conjunction with this event will have an exhibit of Honduran art and handicrafts.

But these are only the beginning. Mrs. Trejo's visionary sense will not be satisfied so readily. The plan and the hope is that the Mirador will become an important gathering place, a place where artists, poets, composers, philosophers and civic leaders from all branches of society as well as ordinary decent and intelligent folk will meet and engage in a meaningful conversation, and whence the old Morazanian dream of the Republic of nobility and freedom will be re-ignited. Every people needs places of transcendence where the ancient trinity of truth, goodness, and beauty can be contemplated, and the far horizon can be glimpsed.

At a simpler, but not necessarily less profound level, Mrs. Trejo envisions the Mirador as a place for happiness and romance. "Everybody falls in love here," she asserts.

Copan Update

By HOWARD ROSENZWEIG

Lots of interesting tidbits related to tourism have popped up recently in the local press. Here are a sampling:

A couple of new airlines will soon include Honduras as a regularly scheduled stop. Mexican airline, Mexicana, Aero Caribbean from Cuba and an as of yet unnamed European carrier will initiate flights shortly. The European carrier reportedly will run charter flights out of Milan to Roatan and Cancun. Hopefully, these flights will actually pan out. I don't know how many times we have heard the same song in the press about this or another European carrier that will initiate service to Honduras. Isn't it strange that the name of the carriers are never mentioned! And isn't it even stranger that the flights never materialize!

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In other flight news, by June the nations four international airports (Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Roatan and La Ceiba) will be ready for privatization. The government is now finalizing the necessary paperwork in order to seek an international airport management company to take on the job. Copan Update wishes good luck and god speed to whichever international concern takes on the monumental task of putting some semblance of order in the nation's airports. First on the "to do list" is put the wrecking ball to Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa and start from scratch someplace (anyplace) else. For those who think I exaggerate, landing at Toncontin has been likened to using 5th Avenue in NYC for a 747 landing strip!

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According to the president of the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce, the fact that Hondurans are prohibited from entering the nation's casinos is shameful. According to Honduran law, only foreigners can consider themselves lucky enough to enjoy the right to loose their hard earned dough at the gaming tables.

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We have all heard of ecotourism, cultural tourism, etc, but have you ever heard of viagra tourism? A San Pedro Sula restaurant ran a 1/4 page ad during the big Easter week vacation period. Among the specialties of the house that were listed in the ad were the usual fish and shrimp plates, but the plate which really caught my eye was the Ceviche Viagra. For those landlubbers who are new to Central America, ceviche is kind of a shrimp cocktail using a variety of seafoods (all raw). According to Central American folklore, ceviche contains miraculous aphrodisiacal and restorative properties...hence the moniker, Ceviche Viagra. By the way the ceviche at Restaurant La Tejana in SPS will set you back Lps. 85, which is a bargain if the dish delivers the promised results.

Howard Rosenzweig, a U.S. expatriate living in the Village of Copan Ruinas, is the owner of the Casa de Cafe Bed and Breakfast.

Copan Update

By HOWARD ROSENZWEIG

After a couple of weeks of stateside R&R, I'm back in the saddle again and Copan Update is up and running once more. Following are a few observations regarding my trip and on returning to the United States after seven years in Honduras.

First off, a lot of people asked me, "What's it like to go back to the States after not visiting for seven long years." Well, I must admit that seven years of living in Honduras without returning to one's home country could be interpreted as "crazy" by many or in the least "slightly odd" by some, and I would probably tend to agree with them.

Returning to your home country gives one the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. Life in the States is go go, rush rush and the latest computer technology and the trappings of wealth are everywhere. From the ever present cell phones that are carried by everyone (including high school students) to the ever extending, far reaching and all knowing Internet that has taken the country by storm, to the shiny new BMWs and Mercedes zipping through the suburban sprawl of metro Phoenix -- after seven years in the developing world I was more than once inclined to intone that catch all phrase "we sure as heck ain't in Kansas any more!"

But the innate ability of human beings to adapt to their new surroundings is powerful. After the first full day of exercising and lounging beside the pool at the country club, doing lunch at the local Taco Bell, and some serious shop-till-you-drop action at the local suburban mall, it was almost as if I never left the States to live in Honduras.

It's the little things, though, that bring you back to reality and conjure up visions of life "back home" in Honduras. In the States, you can't call any type of company without receiving a computerized, standardized, generic voice that intones a seemingly never ending list of choices: "Press one for Spanish, press two for store hours, press three for movie schedules, press four hear this message again", by the time the computerized voice got to number 15, I was daydreaming about my last trip to Roatan a few months back...press 16 to speak to a live person....puchica! (Whew!)

Dining in restaurants in the States is almost a religious experience. Diners are whisked to their tables by attentive, young and cheery hosts, waiters are ever smiling, all knowing and quick on their feet. Food arrives on the table in humongous proportions fit for a king (and it's pretty tasty as well!) Patrons are dressed to the nines, lots of young Gen Xer's in black. And prices are actually quite moderate, depending on ones' restaurant choice. In Honduras, though, we confront another reality. One must be very careful to choose restaurants wisely lest one leave disappointed by the quality of the food, cleanliness and service.

In closing, a note on airlines. I flew with Continental and was pleasantly surprised to find that all my luggage actually arrived in San Pedro Sula on the same flight. Flights into San Pedro Sula were formerly notorious for leaving bags behind. What a pleasant surprise to find out upon landing in San Pedro Sula that I would not have to travel back to my hometown of Copan Ruinas empty handed (and then be forced to return to San Pedro Sula -- a six-hour round-trip drive the next day to retrieve luggage). Bien hecho guys!

Howard Rosenzweig, a U.S. expatriate living in the Village of Copan Ruinas, is the owner of the Casa de Cafe Bed and Breakfast.