9th February
Tegucigalpa is the capital of Honduras. I mention this, because if you teleported into the place you probably wouldn't guess that it was a capital. It's somewhat ramshackle, even by the relatively broad standards that apply to Central American capitals. Still, it's a safe and friendly place, and a lot of fun to wander around even if it isn't full of stunning Sydney Opera House-like attractions.

Our first day in Tegus (as we members of the cognoscenti refer to the place) was spent doing jobs. Every so often we end up with various administrative tasks, and whilst not an interesting part of the touristic travelogue, the above link does give some idea of the minutiae of our existence.

Back to touristic Tegus. The locals are plainly less affluent than their Guatemalan neighbours. This is visible in their cars, their shops and most of all in their public works. Nothing in Tegus seems to get maintained, and there are numerous unfinished public works about the place. And there are a lot of guns about. The owner of an internet cafe we patronised was packing a shoulder holster, and this seems pretty standard. All the banks have four or five shotgun toting guards who ensure that no other guns enter the bank.

The cathedral is the usual Central American affair: huge stone creation with a baroque gold and silver altar and lots of statues of Jesus suffering and various mournful looking saints and other heroes. One nice thing about churches in this part of the world is that they're usually open, and seem to be patronised by anyone that fancies a nice quiet sitdown out of the sun for ten minutes as well as people praying or just thinking.

Various other buildings such as the National Theatre and the Palacio Nacional are somewhat decrepit. We also encountered the Parque Concordia, which features scale model replicas of various buildings from Copan. It was a shame that this is once again a nice civic idea that is crumbling through lack of maintenance.

Next stop the Museo Nacional de Historia and Anthropologia, or perhaps we should say, the Museo Nacional de tutt. Various pieces of junk, as well as portraits of various dead Honduran presidents without information. Lovely views over the city though.