"Top of the Lenca Trail" La Esperanza by atufft

Gracias is well known among tourists as the Lenca capital, having historic ties to the legendary tribal leader Lempira, for whom the Honduran currency is named. However, La Esperanza ("The Hope") more properly deserves this honor today as the remote mountain town is actually an amalgamation of an older Lenca town called Intibucá, which is also the name of the department, and the larger Ladiño town La Esperanza. Rio Intibucá bisects the twin cities, and now upstream La Esperanza Hydro Project produces electricity for the region. La Esperanza is also geographically central to the Ruta Lenca, and ethnic group of some 100,000 members, which spans from the departments of Copan to Chuloteca, although historically, Departmento Intibucá was originally part of the Honduran Departmento Lempira.

Located in a mountain valley at an altitude of 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) this town claims the coolest weather in Honduras, which is really quite a good thing as most of Honduras is generally hot and sweaty. This region also claims the best high altitude coffee, and there's a pigmy forest nearby, which we didn't have time to visit. Unfortunately, short on time, we were just passing through toward the Golfo de Fonseca. Even so, I did stop and spent more than an hour walking around this city of just 6,000.

Mountains of Ruta Lenca Honduras

Guidebooks normally warn drivers about the rough unpaved road conditions and infrequent bus traffic that exist past Gracias when in route to La Esperanza, so it is no surprise that few tourists make it there. We had a rental car facing terrific abuse, but it must be a very long hard ride by chicken bus. Having survived this trek, it is with great pride that I introduce for the first time on VT the mythical city of La Esperanza. Thus, by way of introduction, the route getting to and from La Esperanza is worth many photos, as is the route between La Esperanza and La Paz.