CANATURH: Honduras and its beautiful Western region

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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Aug. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A pair of comfortable shoes and a camera are the minimum requirements for discovering the western region of Honduras, an area full of contrasts where visitors feel and experience step-by-step the history of an entire continent, an area where incredible natural beauty serves as backdrop to communities where contact between the old and new worlds can be touched and felt, where even something as simple as drinking a cup of coffee is a memorable event as you savor the best coffee in the world accompanied by corn delicacies manifesting the very identity of pre-Columbian peoples...

It comes as a surprise for visitors to discover entire communities of people with white skin and blue or green eyes, and not dark-skinned with dark eyes as one would expect, communities where Europeans planted their seed whose offshoots are a living display of the old world's presence, entire towns of Spanish heritage and even one town of Jewish ancestry, contrasting with dozens of communities entirely of indigenous Maya and Lenca stock, where ancient languages are still spoken such as Maya Chorti, a dazzling array of ethnicities and living cultures; yet these contrasts are not restricted to people, they are also discernible when you look upon the architecture of towns where the cobbled streets are lined with adobe houses and venerable churches in vivid combinations of colors typical of Lenca heritage together with the traditional white of the Spaniards; and when it comes to food, the experience is out of this world, corn in countless combinations ranging from a simple tortilla to the more intricate nacatamal, artisanal wines and even edible mushrooms, indeed, the true scope of it all can only be taken in on site at a table by candlelight…

To speak of the western region evokes the dwarf forests of Intibuca, trees hundreds of years old only a few centimeters high, while their brothers tower dozens of meters above them, a natural phenomenon that occurs without human intervention; to speak of the western region is to speak of water, lakes such as Chiligatoro and Madre Vieja, perched in enigmatic high mountains where fog imparts a mystic touch, abounding in rivers and waterfalls, thermal springs where your relaxation is fully guaranteed; to speak of the western region is to speak of the abundant biodiversity in the area's various national parks, it is a source of inexhaustible conversation.   

The western region is easily accessible via a network of highways, as well as by plane at the recently inaugurated Gracias Lempira airport - and also, before 2014 comes to an end, at the new Rio Amarillo airport, just a few kilometers from the ruins of Copán.  

A journey to the western region of Honduras can't be considered complete without a visit to the legendary ruins of Copan, a world-class destination which on August 16th provided the setting for a production of Hamlet by London's Globe Theater in celebration of the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare.

Among pre-Columbian cultures, the most advanced is the Maya culture, a civilization whose achievements scholars have yet to fathom completely, the only culture in the Americas that managed fully to develop writing,  a civilization that was capable of grasping and defining the concept of "zero" 800 years before this mathematical value came to be known in Europe, boasting distinguished masters in a host of sciences, art, engineering and architecture, who left in Honduras the masterpiece of all their cities, Copán, which archeologists have characterized as  "The Paris of the Maya world."

Honduras, it's all here.

Lilian Lagos
Phone: (504) 2232-1927
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.canaturh.org / honduras.travel

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140825/139334
Logo -  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140225/MX66043LOGO-b

SOURCE Honduran National Chamber of Tourism - CANATURH