Honda day 1

 It was pretty warm last night so I had to have a noisy floor fan running all night. The fan also helped to keep the mosquitos at bay.

I woke up at 6 to thunder, I found the latch for the window in the bedroom, and opened it letting in some refreshing cooler air.

I am staying in the back bedroom and didn't realize until this morning that Rossy, the owner of the house, and her mother slept in front area, separated by a curtain from the living room.

I arrived after dark last night so I could see much of the surroundings.

This morning however with it still raining, I got my first views. Were I am staying in Honda, is not so much a hostel as it is a private room in the owners house. This first picture is standing outside the house looking towards the mountains. The river is just down the street  about  2 blocks away.

The second picture also taken from the front of  the house, is  looking in the opposite direction towards the street with all  the shops for this area.

You can see in the picture it was raining. That helped  to ward off  the heat of the day for a little while anyway.

After  my morning coffee and before breakfast, I walked down to the river. It was medium steep downhill mostly on cobblestone. My legs were grumbling. It was just the river, nice but it didn't inspire me to take a picture. 

There is a kitchen for me to use at the house, but I had not yet purchased any groceries or fruit,  so I had breakfast at the corner restaurant. That is the blue building in the picture.

They are really big on soup  in Colombia. Even breakfast came with a bowl  of  soup. I'm not exactly sure what everything was. Eggs, rice, a fried something,  and the white thing... Not sure what they are. 

While at breakfast a truck pulled up to deliver a freshly slaughtered pig to the butcher shop next door.

Because this place is not in the city center, I had to take a taxi into town.

My first planned stop was at the River Museum. It was still early when I arrived. That gave me a chance to walk around the neighborhood.

Honda is known as the City of Bridges. It is a small city of about 35,000 people, but has about 40 bridges. One of the bridges I walked to waiting for the museum to open was the Puente Navarro.

The plaque on the bridge states it is the oldest anchored stell bridge in the western hemisphere.

During my walk, I also saw an interesting shrine and wall murals.

My favorite however is this picture of a couple kids standing in the window of their house.

At 10 am I went back to museum. 

It was only about $2.50 usd entry fee. It was a pretty small collection. Old pictures, boat parts and implements. Looking on my phone, I didn't find any pictures. I'm glad I visited but it wasn't  my favorite stop.

After the museum I meandered into the central business area. 

Interesting city,  mostly cobblestone streets, colorful houses, lots of murals,  small town feeling.

I found a street vendor making fresh fruit drinks. I ordered a guanabana drink. Kinda like a smoothy, very tasty, very refreshing.

Later I saw a vendor selling what looked like Bogota style salpicon. But I'll have to wait until tomorrow to try one.

Because of the heat and humity,  my energy doesn't last long. I caught a taxi back to the hostel relatively early.

That is the one downside of the place. It is far enough from the city center that I need to take a taxi into and back from town every time I go out. 

Later  in the evening,  I wanted to get  a snack. It was only then that I found that Rossy and her mother set up a stand and sell sausages and quesudas at night. I had a sausage. This is a picture of Rossy and her  mother at their roadside setup.