New to Honduras

Hi and welcome on board Itala & Stefan!

Your message was moved to a new thread on the Honduras forum for better visibility!

Regards
Armand

Hi there IŽm English and IŽm writing here from San Pedro Sula. This city is recognised as more dangerous than places like Omoa. But nowhere is safe in Honduras.

The highest risk I think is traffic accidents, then crime. Both are extremely high.

Crime here knows no restraint in terms of violence. Extortion, kidnapping, home invasion, carjacking and robberies are done in a way that would make most modernised countries criminals turn pale. People think nothing of killing here, or torture.

People do not trust the police much and now thereŽs a new law: no need to stop for police at night unless they are in the new uniform and with a marked car and more than two of them. This is because of fake poice robbing people.

I think itŽs tempting to believe people who tell you comforting things but the reality is anything can happen here and you should use caution and conservative judgment always.

You need to be aware of things. And not like in USA or Europe. An then it is possible to live here with a reasonable level of saftey because you are not walking along the street, or when you are out youŽre not looking like a big target with your watch, bag and earrings and shades, you are not daydreaming to the radio stopped at the lights with the door unlocked and no space between you and the car in front, you donŽt automatically open the front door for police, you only use taxis you have ordered by phone, you have razor wire and/or electric cable around the perimiter and a door that opens outwards, not inwards, you do not attract lots of attention and have a type of car that can easily be blocked and trapped.

I suggest you look at La Prensa Honduras newspaper website to see whatŽs happening over here in general and that crime happens outside of San Pedro and thatŽs a fact.

Another false beleif is that orgnised crime only affects those people involved. A whole bus can be shot up to kill one person.
But I would never use a bus anyway. Once my wife was at the traffic lights and the car in front was shot up in an assasination.

On the less negative side, Fort Omoa is a nice place to look around and has a tiny museum, the guide is worth the money too. ItŽs like being in Pirates of the Caribbean!

The beach at Omoa is disliked by some people including myself as narrow, crowded and dirty. It gets crowded on public holidays. When I was there at a restaurant overlooking the beach two girls came to the table selling pirate dvds and they tried to steal our camera off the table. We reported them to the restaurant owner but when we saw them not far away outside with an armed man who was obviously their controller, we left the beach area pretty quickly.

The best beaches are at Tela (google telamar a great resort with pools and beach and nice restaurant) and they are safer, although no beach is worth stepping on after dark. But you may find some less used beaches near to where you live.

I just stayed in Omoa for the weekend.  I met several nice gringo families that could probably help you out there.  Several of them run hotels on the main road.