Directions to The Leadership Center. From Tegucigalpa To Zambrano

Transcription

1 Directions to The Leadership Center From Tegucigalpa To Zambrano From the airport to the campus is only about 30 miles. That is, 22 miles from the airport to Zambrano and about 8 miles from Zambrano to the campus. At the airport, get a taxi to the bus station going to either Contreras Express bus station which is next door to Hotel Palace or Transportes Flores which is one block away or Siguatepeque Trans Argueta s bus station which is only two blocks away and in front of Electra. There is another bus station named Cathracho but in a bad part of town and the taxi there is costs more. Don t let the taxi recommend it. All of the above listed buses are about the same so just take the one that leaves when you want to leave. The price for the taxi should be about 100 Lemperias. Contreras Express leaves every two hours and Trans Flores and Trans Argueta s leave every hour. The price for the bus will be about 20 lemperias. Flores is only 16 lemperias. Flores goes to La Paz. Contreras goes to Comayagua and Agueta s goes to Siguatepeque but all of them will stop in Zambrano to let you off. With the bus, your destination is Zambrano. Once you arrive in Zambrano, you will follow those directions which you will see further down this page. The bus ride from Tegucigalpa, depending on traffic, will take about 45 minutes. The bus will probably stop in front of the police station and restaurant/hotel in Zambrano. Ask if the driver if he will take you 200 more yards to the road to San Francisco. It will be the next dirt road on the right side. Most likely he will. From that point, follow the directions below. If you are driving rather than using public transportation, as you leave the airport, head towards San Pedro Sula. Zambrano is about 20 miles out of Tegucigalpa on the way towards San Pedro Sula. If you are renting a car be sure it is either a SUV or pickup because they have tougher tires and Honduras has big bad potholes. If you are coming to the campus in the rainy season, a 4x4 would be good but not normally necessary. This is the sign in Zambrano pointing towards San Francisco Soroguara... with half of it missing. Arriving in Zambrano as you come from Tegucigalpa, this is the sign pointing towards San Francisco. You will pass through San Francisco on the way to the farm. It will be about half way to the farm. 1

2 Sign on main highway in Zambrano pointing to San Francisco. From San Pedro Sula To Zambrano From the airport to the LC campus is about 140 miles. Get a taxi from the airport to the main bus terminal. There is only one bus terminal. Ask for the price before entering the taxi. The price should be about 200 lemperias ($11). At the bus terminal, find the gate going to Tegucigalpa. There will be many choices. Normally, the older buses and school type of buses stop at hundreds of places along the way. That is cheaper but much slower. Pick a nice looking Greyhound type of bus. That will cut your commute time considerably. Important. Tell the ticket agent you are going to Zambrano. The cost will be about 150 lemperias ($8) and will take about 3 to 4 hours. It is about 132 miles. There will be a brief rest stop midway in Siguatepeque. In the terminal, when you arrive at the bus, tell the driver you want to exit at Zambrano...and that the ticket agent told you he would stop there for you. If he is reluctant, give him a 20 lemperias tip discreetly. Sitting near the front makes it easier to get out and be sure your luggage is either with you or near the cargo door so as to make the exit quick and easy. If it is quick and easy to get out, the driver will be more agreeable to discharge you. Some buses stop at each major town but not at each crossroads. With those, you can get off easily without tipping the driver. Other buses are Direct. That is, they make no stops between destinations. That is the quickest bus to travel on but you may have to give the driver a tip to stop. Be sure the bus will stop for you in Zambrano before the bus leaves. Most of the time they will (especially for a tip) but occasionally they won t. If they won t, then catch a direct bus to Comayagua. From Comayagua most all buses going to Tegucigalpa will stop in Zambrano with no problem and no tip You will likely exit the bus in front of the hotel and police station. If it is late in the day, you may want to spend the night in the hotel and continue to the campus in the morning. The hotel will be about 300 lemperias ($16) for one person and 400 for two. 2

3 Arriving in Zambrano as you come from San Pedro Sula, this is the sign pointing towards San Francisco. You will pass through San Francisco on the way to the farm. It will be about half way to the farm. From Zambrano To Campus The name of the community where the LC campus is located is called El Salto. Translated it mean "the jump". It is the place where many come to jump off the cliffs and swim in the river during Semana Santa, Holy Week. Most everyone in Zambrano knows of El Salto and how to get there. From Zambrano, there is a dirt road coming off of the main highway from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula. At that intersection there will be a sign pointing to San Francisco with the left side missing. At this corner a bus is available each Monday, Thursday and Saturday at about 1 pm. That bus will get you to within a 45 min walk to campus following the directions below. Use the dirt road to San Francisco and continue about 5 more miles. At the intersection with a sign pointing to El Socorro and Las Botijas, go left towards El Socorro. If you ride the local bus in, this is where you will exit the bus. Juncture in the road 3

4 From that corner, about a 1/4 mile down the road you will cross the river. Coming up out of the river will be a steep climb. Another 1/4 mile and will cross a small stream, another 3/4 mile will cross a smaller stream and then you will see a gate made of pipes directly in front of you. Pipe gate A few feet before you get to that gate, the road curves sharp to the right and goes up a short steep hill. Go up that hill and our lane is the first lane on the left. Lane entering El Salto. Turn left and enter that lane. Follow it till you cross the river again and then another 300 yards will be the house of Elias, our manager, on the right side of the road. Ignore the houses on the left side of the road. Ours is the only house on the right side of the road. It is easy to see. As you pass Elias house, go another 300 yards and you will see the campus on the right side back in the woods. There will be a gate with Private Property signs in Spanish on each side of the gate. That is the entrance to the campus. Open the gate and come in. Welcome to LC. Local Transportation Notes 4

5 If you are backpacking from Zambrano to the campus, it is fairly easy to catch a ride to near the campus. With a little luck, very near the campus. Just let it be known that you are going to El Salto. Everyone knows where that is while no one knows where the LC is. In Zambrano, at the corner with the broken sign pointing to San Francisco, people wait for a pickup truck to come by and all will get in. It is easy to get a ride from that point. A local bus also goes to San Francisco several times a day as well as motor taxis. But they only go as far a San Francisco which is only about half way. On Monday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon at about 1:00 a bus coming from Tegucigalpa goes all the way to Las Botijas. If you take that bus, get off at the sign for El Socorro (photo above). From there it is only about a 45 min. walk to the campus. If it is late in the day, stop and spend the night with one of our workers, Marcos and then come with him to the campus in the morning. His family will welcome you warmly. His house, pictured below, is about a 1/4 mile after you see this sign welcoming you to Los Valles. The sign is painted on a tire hanging up in a pine tree. After this sign, his house is the fist one on the right side of the road a few hundred yards before the church which is on the left. His house is distinctive in that it will have a solar panel on the roof...the only solar panels in that village. He is related to everyone in the Los Valles community. If you are riding with someone, tell them you want to get off at Los Valles at Marco s house. If you go to the juncture in the road, you will have gone too far and you ll need to walk back uphill about a 1/4 of a mile to go back to Marcos home. 5

6 This sign is directly in front of Marcos house. Marco s House with solar panel on top left side of roof. Misc Notes If you don t speak spanish, print these notes. By showing the pictures to local people, they can show you the way or tell you when to exit the vehicle. If you are renting a car be sure it is either a SUV or pickup because they have tougher tires and Honduras has big bad potholes. If you are coming to the campus in the rainy season, a 4x4 would be good but not normally necessary. 6

7 Before leaving the airport, get Lemperias from the money machine. Because counterfeiting is prevalent, I don t deal with the money changers on the street or in the airport. If you use the money changers be sure you know the exchange rate or you will be cheated. I only use the cash machines. To use the machine, you will need a checking card from your home bank. On the LU link, there is all the info you need regarding traveling and money. As with all currency exchanges, the rates fluctuate. For calculating quickly in your head, 20 is a good number. So if the taxi is 100 lemperias, the dollar cost would be about $5. Agree on the price before you enter the taxi. 7