San Juan, Honduras is a small town on Sunday when the market is open and bustling. On Monday morning, it´s a really small town. We arrived in San Juan after 3 hours of bumpy windy dirt roads North along the old Lenca Route, peers of the Mayas. Amongst the natural attractions of forests and waterfalls, we can say there are two very interesting people here that make the commute worth the trouble.
Doña Soledad is an 84 year old cheese-making, plantain-selling great-grandmother who rents two rooms for tourists. She also dries, roasts, and brews a mean cup of coffee at any hour of the day. She limits herself to six cups. In this land of broken families and fatherless children, we´ve learned not to ask about husbands. But Doña Soledad waits every night to have dinner with hers. She´s the kind of woman that makes you realize 84 isn´t so old.
We have no idea how old Don Jesus is but he climbs hills to lookout points, has a 3 year old son, and is as wizened a farmer as you will ever meet. He lives a 45 minute walk towards the mountains from town on an almost self-sufficient farm with his family. Don Jesus reads Spanish National Geographic, milks the cows every morning, and smiles when he shows us newborn kittens and his ¨museum¨ of collected artifacts and kitsch. He also has a secluded, rustic cabaña for tourists and welcomes them with home-made tamarind juice and fresh pine needle carpeting. Proud to share the bounties of his farm, we feasted on his cheese, corn tortillas, coffee, fruit, and chicken while listening to Honduran instrumentals or Italian Catholic choirs on his portable radio. He´s the kind of man who makes it seem enjoyable to live in a house where the only source of electricity is a car battery.
We know the lives of these characters and their families are made easier by tourism, but the influx of tourists at the Mayan ruins a bus-ride away has passed them by. It was difficult leaving San Juan after having had such a pleasant time and knowing that it could be another month before more tourists cross their doorsteps. Visit San Juan.
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