Honduras - Thank You, Gracias

March 29-30

Hello everyone!

What’s in the name of a town? If you dig a bit into the history of where you live, you may find some interesting reasons for the names we use in our day-to-day lives. 

Hiking in Celaque National Park

Not even these trees would stop me on my hike!

This thought struck me when in the Honduran town of Gracias. That’s right, the town is called ‘thank you’. Its name derives from the story that a Spanish conquistador had been traversing the mountains in the area. Weary and exhausted, he happened upon a slightly flatter area of land. ‘Gracias a Dios’, he may have said. Thanks to God. So the town of thanks - Gracias - had its name decreed.

Without stopping, the drive to Gracias is about 3h30 from Copan

The city has a population of about 60,000

There may be a semblance of truth in this as Gracias was a town - an important one - in the early days of Spanish exploration and conquest in Central America. The town was founded in 1536, and in 1544 was established as the seat of the Royal Audiencia and Chancery - essentially, ensuring laws decreed by the Spanish Crown were upheld - for the area between modern-day Guatemala and Nicaragua. This only lasted 5 years, but reflects its importance as a central staging post for the Spanish. 

Fuente de San Cristobal - St Christopher's Fort - sits above Gracias,
but was built in 1850, long after the town's original heyday

The fort was built to defend against Salvadoreans and Guatemalans

Little obviously remains from that time - wars and earthquakes will do that, as they have to so much of this region. One of the town’s churches, La Merced, dates back from 1611. It has an impressive frontal facade. The rest of the town is quite sleepy, with visitor numbers seemingly low in comparison to places like Copán Ruinas and Comayagua. Noise comes from tuktuks: there are many of them.

The shield above the door is that of the Maltese Cross

Central Park in Gracias is flanked with stalls

The department or state that Gracias sits in is called Lempira. This reflects the traditional national hero of Honduras, who fought against the Spanish until dying in 1537. In the Lenca language, it means ‘Lord of the Mountains’. There are quite a few surrounding Gracias, helping to explain why the conquistador was so thankful to find a flat area.

The Spaniards told Lempira they wanted peace...then
captured and dismembered him, before scattering him in
undisclosed locations. Standard colonial behaviour.

This graffiti depicts the arrival of a Spaniard,
possibly called Juan de Chavez, in 1536 

The steep range that looms large to the west of Gracias is in a protected area called Celaque National Park. This is the reason we were here. A bit of cloud forest and a useful stopping point between Copán Ruinas and Lake Yojoa. 

The mountain range is very visible from Gracias

The park was established in 1987

It hosts Honduras’ highest mountain: Cerro de las Minas, which is 2849 metres above sea level. This wasn’t happening; scaling this particular peak involves an overnight camping trip with a lot of gear. There are plenty of other hikes to undertake in the park, one of which became our plan for Monday morning.

A particularly striking tree in Celaque National Park

The foliage changes with elevation - this fern
was about 1800 metres above sea level

The map at the visitor’s centre shows all the routes, each designated a colour. We had been told that our chosen hike - heading to a viewpoint (mirador) for a waterfall - would involve crossing the main river twice. It, and the man at the entrance, didn’t suggest when this would happen, meaning that we initially didn’t find it. Instead, we accidentally completed the first hike, returning to the visitor’s centre to see a look of bemusement on his face.

Celaque translates as 'water box' in the old Lenca language, and the
park's rivers provide fresh water for the surrounding communities

Completing loop 1 of the 5 options in the park

We were taken to the river crossing, which turned out to be a rickety log with a speck of yellow paint to indicate the trail. The second log was at least flat on top. 

Celaque National Park has 9 rivers

They provide water for 120 settlements, including Gracias

Parque Nacional Celaque is covered with verdant forest. Tall, twiglike trees stretch high to the sky, with their pine needles creating a carpet path upwards. The plants were interesting and became a welcome chance to pause to catch breath as I ascended.

Pine-oak forest dominates the lower sections of thee park

This fern had interesting studs, almost like Braille, on its leaves

The path up towards the mirador was also pockmarked by inspirational quotes about the importance of the environment. It is stressed throughout the park that visitors need to look after it: leave only footprints, take only photos and so on.

Greta's contribution. They have quotes from people from
throughout history, such as Dante Alighieri.

A fuschia arborescens, an evergreen shrub

As I continued to climb, on my own at this point, I ventured into the cloud forest. I’d been told that higher up is where greater biodiversity lies in the park, with animals such as ocelot and pumas hanging out higher up. I didn’t see either. Probably for the best. I saw a butterfly, and not much else, as I trudged increasingly slowly up the steep hill.

Photos don't show how steep this was - Strava tells me that in this
kilometre, I went up 260 metres, so an average gradient of 26%

Butterly in Spanish is 'mariposa'

Eventually, after a brief fuelling stop with a Pinguino, I found a fork that told me the waterfall lookout would be found on a trail going to the right. The board suggested that it would be 1 hour and 45 minutes there and back. I was therefore surprised about 25 minutes later when I reached a platform, next to a sign that clearly stated this to be the end of the trail.

That brown smudge on the tree was my marker for this route

I was a tiny bit tempted...

So that waterfall! I’ll admit, at first glance I didn’t actually see it. I could hear it, sure, but couldn’t spot it. Turns out I wasn’t looking high enough. I needed to look into the clouds. With a zoomed-in camera, I could see that it was an impressive cascade. I did expect to be a little bit closer, mind!

Santa Lucia waterfall

Very little information about this - it looks powerful
and high, even from a great distance

Coming down was a breeze. I had been told that it would be one-and-a-half hours down. It was less than an hour. A descent of almost 600 metres, having tipped 2000 metres when getting to the waterfall viewpoint.

Mossy near the top

7.78 km with 636 m of elevation

We enjoyed our time in Celaque National Park. We enjoyed the food, coffee and beer in Gracias. It’s a cute place that, whilst a bit rough around the edges, arguably gave us a more authentic Honduran experience than Copán. So ‘gracias’, Gracias!

Plenty of coffee, though none this big!

The town of Gracias - the main plaza is about 5 blocks in

Lovely walk in nature!

Love you all,

Matt