Machine-Gun Armed Police
The capital city of Honduras is dirty, dangerous, and expensive. Just the type of place most people try to avoid. So naturally I decided to go urban exploring for a bit.
When I began this little travel adventure of mine, I told myself I wanted to see everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Curiosity is part of my DNA. Happy places are only one part of the whole story.
After hearing rumors that Tegucigalpa was a dangerous place, of course I want to learn a little more about it. In my experience most “dangerous” rumors are exaggerated quite a bit. But that doesn’t mean one should completely forgo basic common sense.
City of Tegucigalpa
Urban Jungle of Honduras
Tegucigalpa is a sprawling city of about 1 million people surrounded by mountains in the heart of Honduras. There is no infrastructure set up for budget travelers. It’s possible to find a few cheap roach-filled hotels; but good luck locating a clean, friendly, low-cost backpacking hostel.
This is probably because most travelers don’t have good reasons to stay here for any length of time.
My first view of the city was through the window of a local chicken bus as we wound our way down through the mountains. A 200 yard swath of garbage was strewn along the side of a steep hill, burning away with thick black smoke. Not exactly the prettiest view I’ve ever seen. 
Protecting the Flowers from Intruders
Rich Gringo Syndrome
White skin doesn’t always help you travel cheaply in big Latin American cities. The taxi I found wanted $120 Lempiras ($6 US) which is 6 times the price of a cab ride in the nearby town of Comayagua.
The driver naturally assumed I was a Millionaire like all gringos are, and adjusted his prices accordingly. Eventually I talked him down to $90 Lempiras ($4.50 US) though, and off we went. I can already tell I don’t want to stay here very long…
Secret Embassy Meetup
My first order of business was to rendezvous with a Dr. Juan Almendares, founder of the Honduran charity Movimiento Madre Tierra. I chose to give his anti-mining organization the donations you guys made through my site last month.
I phoned the good doctor from my razor-wire protected hotel balcony to schedule an appointment the next day. “Meet me in front of the Brazilian Embassy” he says.
The Brazilian Embassy? Isn’t that where the ex-Honduran President, Manuel Zelaya, sought asylum after he was ousted by a military coupe in 2009? It all seemed a bit James Bond like…
Cheap & Delicious Fruit
Operation Don’t-Get-Robbed
After meeting with the friendly staff at the charity (sadly no offers to become a secret agent), I had a few hours to kill before my bus ride out of the city and across the border into Nicaragua. So I decided to “gear up” for a covert photography session in the streets of Tegucigalpa.
To prepare for the mission I wore my dirtiest-looking clothes, stashed my police-strength pepper spray into an easy access pocket, and wrapped my fancy DSLR camera in a Keffiyah scarf. You can never be too careful! 
Unfortunately despite my preparations, I still stood out like a sore thumb in this city. Everyone was staring at the bald-headed gringo wandering around alone through the streets on foot.
Cabs started pulling over even though I hadn’t flagged them down. The drivers couldn’t possibly understand why I would want to walk when they had a perfectly good taxi ready to go!
River of Trash
12 Angry Men
While I was roaming the area, a group of young men started yelling at me from a distance. They were visibly drunk and looking to pick a fight at 11:00 in the morning.
Many poor Hondurans living in the countryside migrate to Tegucigalpa searching for work. Often there is none available for them. This is a big reason why crime is so bad – people are desperate here.
But it was easy for me to keep clear of this angry group of drunks. Guatemala City was starting to feel safer to me than this place!
Luckily I wasn’t sticking around for much longer. Sight-seeing in Tegucigalpa consists of men armed with automatic weapons, razor wire, out-of-work drunks, and urban sprawl.
The whole experience was eye-opening – but it was time for me to continue my journey South.
Specific Details
Location: Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Place to Stay: Casa del Viajero Hotel – $64 US
Notes: Exploring the city on your own is possible, just be careful and be smart. Going with a group is probably safer.
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I like that gun, I need that. Just the ticket for taking care of bambi’s, small fuzzy squirrels, cute Blue Jays and well maybe in the future when I send more newsletters out too.
That river of trash looks like your sissy’s room when she was a teenager.
The flowers and razor wire are a nice touch. I’ll plan that for the garden this summer. You never know when relatives will pick your flowers for table bouquets. No respect.
I was in Teguc for less than 24 hours in transit to Nicaragua, and I was thrilled to get out of there. I felt the danger of the city immediately as well. I also had to talk down the taxi driver from 100 lemps to 50 lemps. But you can get some great cheap food from the comedores. The highlight of my stay in Teguc as a huge and delicious “tipico” breakfast for 40 lemps.
Nice! You did better than me with the taxi.
Tegucigalpa is not one of my favourite places. I spent one day there and remember almost nothing except a dunkin donuts that stood out like a sore thumb from the mess all around.
One thing I do recall about Honduras was the belt of forest that bordered Guatemala – as though Honduras wanted to create the impression in the mind of its neighbour that it was rich in natural beauty. But that forest ran out pretty quickly not far from the border.
Is the forest still there?
Honduran mahogany was once one of the most prized of woods – I wonder if there is any left.
I also recall that there was a great swathe of forest in Panama either side of the canal. I wondered why. Who makes these decisions to keep or destroy forests – the lungs, the rain inducers, and beauty of the planet?
‘Pearls Of Wisdom’ In Buddhist Sacred Relics
Not sure about the forrest, I entered Honduras on the North coast near Omoa.
The Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Huts, and Burger Kings sure stood out in Tegucigalpa though.
Wow. Clearly those of us who don’t have the opportunity to visit every Central American country will steer clear of this one. Yikes!
Don’t let this one city deter you from the whole country. Much of Honduras is beautiful and safer that this.
Glad you got out safe, lets keep that streak going!
I start my RTW trip on March 1st and plan to spend about 4 months in Central America. One of the pieces of advice it seems every one has given me is to try to avoid the capital cities. It’s sad that that seems to be what everyone agrees with but in the end I guess safety is everyones main goal. Even with that though it will not deter me from visiting Central America. Hopefully at some point we will bump into each other down there.
ShitMyCustomersSay
How did you sneak the photo of the guard? hehe
One Year Anniversary
I walked up and asked him. You’d be surprised how often that works.
The key is to call it a “portrait” (retrato in Spanish) rather than a “photo”. Makes it sound more professional.
I lived in Tegucigalpa for eight years. Yes, it is dangerous. You have to know where to go and where not to go, and how to relate to people there. But this has to be true of many, many cities all across the world, especially in the third world.
One minor correction – the photo of the guard with the machine gun is not a private guard. He is a policeman. Private guards are not allowed to carry machine guns and you only ever see them with revolvers or shotguns.
Thanks for the correction Javier!
Hi Matt,
I’ve been in Tegucigalpa back in ’99 for 2 days and, by the sound of it, it hasn’t changed a bit (not that I expected it would…)!
Many trips went by since Honduras and I still recall Tegucigalpa like the city where I’ve seen the biggest concentration of guns on the streets in my life.
I’ll try to go trough my photos as son as I can (not easy, I was still shooting slides back than…), but I’m curious to see if I managed to take some photos of people.
Happy travels,
Stefano
We were there for a night. The city had a really intense air. I was so tempted to walk around the neighbourhood. You know, when you don’t see anybody (or see a few) on the road, sometimes you think no danger around. Ryan really had to tie my down. Awesome photo of the hill, I only saw it through the cab’s window. Talking about cab, I don’t remember how much we paid. maybe 100 lemps. I only remember the man only had 4 fingers in his left hand.
Kyoto: the Golden Temple, the Cockroach Kingdom, and the Seeds of Adventure
was there in June, it’s rough… http://bit.ly/p6kSIH
but we were only there for a couple of days before going to Roatan… they definitely think of themselves as a different country.
you came in through the north near Omoa– did you pass through San Pedro Sula? it’s worse (dangerous$), if you can believe it.