Monday, October 31, 2005

The Best Name for a Capital City, not the Best Capital City

Here I am in Tegucigalpa, passing through waiting for my bus connection. It is indeed a great name, although here they mostly call it Tegu. (Well, can you blame them?...Yeah!) It´s a pretty ugly city, lots of smog and honking, trucks and dirty streets and buildings. It also has a reputation for being dangerous, which is why I didn´t spend the night here last night, and haven´t done any wandering around here today. It wasn´t the most confidence-inspiring experience to have a man with both a nightstick and a machete "guarding" the diner where I had breakfast. (Although he actually spent most of the time I was there inside eating and chatting with the waitresses). On the way through the city from one bus terminal to the other (don´t ask) we drove past a used (perhaps "used" might be the better term) electronics store and a fried chicken restaurant called Pollomundo, Chickenworld, right next to each other. The electronics store was security-free but the Pollomundo had four armed guards standing outside it, two wearing army fatigues. Does that make sense? Not to me, but my taxi driver didn´t seem to find it odd. Just another normal day for a Tegucigalpan.

Also, I added some more photos of Leon. Click here to see them.