1. Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond: Honduras, the Land of Great Depths.

Written by: Harry A. Franck, in 1916

Food was not to be had when I folded my hammock and pushed on at
daylight. One of a cluster of huts farther up was given over to a squad
of "soldiers," garrisoning the frontier, and an officer who would have
ranked as a vagabond in another country sold me three tortillas and a
shellful of coffee saved from his rations. Another cluster of huts
marked the beginning of a stiff rocky climb, beyond which I passed
somewhere in a swampy stretch of uninhabited ground the invisible
boundary and entered Honduras, the Land of Great Depths.

It was indeed. Soon a vast mountain covered with pine forest rose into
the sky ahead and two hours of unbroken climbing brought me only to the
rim of another great wooded valley scolloped out of the earth and down
into which I went all but headfirst into the town of Copán. Here, as I
sat in a fairly easy chair in the shaded corner of a barnyard among
pigs, chickens, and turkeys while my tortillas were preparing, I got the
first definite information as to the tramp before me. Tegucigalpa, the
capital, was said to be fifteen days distant by mule. On foot it might
prove a trifle less. But if transportation in the flesh was laborious
and slow, the ease of verbal communication partly made up for it. A
telegram to the capital cost me the sum total of one real*. It should
have been a real and a quarter, but the telegraph operator had no
change!

Beyond the town I found with some difficulty the gate through which one
must pass to visit the ancient ruins of Copán. Once inside it, a path
led through jungle and tobacco fields and came at length to a great
artificial mound, originally built of cut-stone, but now covered with
deep grass and a splendid grove of immense trees, until in appearance
only a natural hill remained. About the foot of this, throttled by
vegetation, lay scattered a score or more of carved stones, only one or
two of which were particularly striking. Summer solitude hovered over
all the scene.

Back again on the "camino real" I found the going for once ideal. The
way lay almost level along a fairly wide strip of lush-green grass with
only a soft-footed, eight-inch path marking the route, and heavy jungle
giving unbroken shade. Then came a hard climb, just when I had begun to
hear the river and was laying plans for a drink and a swim, and the
trail led me far up on the grassy brow of a mountain, from which spread
a vast panorama of pine-clad world. But the trails of Honduras are like
spendthrift adventurers, struggling with might and main to gain an
advantage, only wantonly to throw it away again a moment later. This one
pitched headlong down again, then climbed, then descended over and
again, as if setting itself some useless task for the mere pleasure of
showing its powers of endurance. It subsided at last in the town of
Santa Rita, the comandante of which, otherwise a pleasant enough fellow,
took me for a German. It served me right for not having taken the time
to shave my upper lip. He had me write my name on a slip of paper and
bade me adiós with the information that if "my legs were well oiled" I
could make the hacienda Jarral by nightfall.

*“coquimbas”
In 1831, Honduras creates its own coin mint (Creates its own coins). The coins where called "Reales", in honor of the original colonial silver "Real". Reales came in 1/4th,1/2, 1 and 2 Reales. In 1868 Reales where also produced in 4 and 8 "Reales", popularly called "Coquimbas". Reales where replaced by Honduras's present coin, "Lempiras" which makes reference to a historical hero and tribal leader of the "Lenca" people, known for his tragic but courageous and surprising battles against Spaniards. The first Lempiras were ordered and produced in a US mint. The mint was asked to produce bills that had an Indian figure to represent Lempira; the mint figured that putting a North American Indian with feathers on his head worked just as well (not at all what a Lenca would call normal head gear). So, in sum, our first real Lempira, showed a North American Indian!. :). (Footnote Added by Paco Aguitta, based on this article published by Diario El Heraldo 2006, and written by someone that is not specified by the newspaper. (My apologies to that author, will be happy to add author's credentials to this reference).

More excerpts from Harry A. Franck's:

Tramping Through Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras
Being the Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond
Honduras, by Harry A. Franck 1916

Will be published soon!. :)