i thought i'd come here, at the mouth of the jungle, and find passage upriver.puerto lempira
i did find passage, but this ain't no upriver jungle town. it's a weird crossroadsoutpost out in the middle about as far away from activity in honduras/nicaragua, almost at the border with the latter.
there's a big healthclinic, so miskitos from as far as the rio patuca come to have their children vaccinated, or check out that big thing growing on their hip. tom sez the city is normally populated by 5000 people, but swells daily over 10,000. other people think he's wrong. anyways, there's a lot of visitors, and not many of them are white.
it's positioned on the laguna caratasca, where the captain rinel ran aground.besides health, people come here to buy stuff - beer, batteries, movies (dante's peak while i was there - i didn't watch it), ice cream, country music.so this is a port city, where boats can deliver beverages and tools, and the fruit of the sea.
while i was there the dock collapsed. it wasn't a big deal, people figured out how to walk around it. a shitty dock in a port town! do you see what i mean?
you can make photocopies here, but only on the third Tuesday of every odd numbered month, if it's a full moon and the wind is from the west.
after witnessing miskito mud, i decided to comprar some botas, one store had american big feet rubber strong boots for only ochenta (80) lempiras - cheaper than ceiba. rare bargains.
puerto lempira is where mopawi has it's office, and where tom lives. when i was there, i stayed mostly at the santa teresita.
it's more or less a safe city; two things to look out for - drunk people and stray dogs. at night, there's maybe 4 street lights, so both are more hazardous. bring your foco (flashlight).
