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The Pechs - Honduras
It is possible
to visit the rainforest and rainforest Indians without going to the Mosquitia.
Honduran
Pech Indians15,
formerly known as Payas, live in four main areas:
• Silin, near Trujillo which is on a mail coast road
• Villages around Culmi—on the unpaved road from Catacamas to Culmi,
Olancho
• Santa Maria El Carbon-on an unpaved road connecting Trujillo to
Juticalpa, Olancho
• Villages around Las Marias in the Mosquitia (accessible only by plane
and canoe trip)
Only the last two still have easily accessible rainforest. Silin and Las
Marias areas are discussed below. Separate pages follow on the Culmi and
Santa Maria El Carbon areas.
Silin
To reach Silin, take any Trujillo-Tocoa bus (they
leave almost every hour) and get off at the ENP shelter in Silin only 4 km from
Trujillo. Ask for directions to the Pech houses. There are no crafts or dances
in these communities and their rainforest, in the buffer zone of the Capiro and
Calentura National Park, has been mostly cut down, picked over, and the wildlife
hunted.
This community, which dates from the 1930’s, is mostly made up of Pech from El
Carbon who come to the Coast to work.
Las Marias
Although the most remote, this is the most visited Pech village. Fly from La
Ceiba to Palacios. There men with canoes with outboard motors will meet you for
a 7-hour canoe trip through the rainforest to Las Marias. There is a wooden
hotel/hospedaje in Las Marias—wooden walls, palm leaf roof of suita,
complete with bucket shower.
They will feed you. The local guides will take you out on the river into the
forest to see archaeological ruins. Crafts are for sale in Las Marias,
particularly tree bark twine bags. Tours are available through Mosquitia
Eco-Adventures.
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