Back in the seventies to get out of the town I lived in, there were three possibilities. One was the dirt road which was called La Culebra -the Snake, because of the meandering pattern it took while going up the mountain range it crossed, it was only about 70 Kms to La Ceiba but it was kind of scary because of the huge precipices you had to pass along the way, but it was only about two and a half hours, you had to breathe in a lot of dust though and also during the rainy season it was not passable.
Another way was by airplane, yes we had two landing strips, one in Coyoles Central which was the banana company’s headquarters and one in Olanchito. Two airlines served these two airstrips, twice a week each, of course this was way more expensive and not many could afford it.
The third way was supposed to be the fun way, by railroad. Now these railroad’s passenger cars were extremely uncomfortable, they were always full because the fare was really cheap as it was a service the banana company gave to its workers, but anyone could use the trains as long as they paid the fare. The seats were wooden three person benches and it was very boring listening to the wheels clanking along the track.
Well these trains took a long time to get to La Ceiba, between ten and sixteen hours because the crew depended on getting there late to make over time. This route was only 120 kms in length so that train moved real slow and it stopped at dozens of villages along the way.
This is were the supposedly fun part came in, because in every village children would come on board selling all kinds of food, like meat patties (mostly rice), baleadas (flour tortillas with fried beans and grated hard cheese), chicharron con tajadas (fried pork rinds with green banana chips, sold on almond tree leaves), all kinds of homemade bread, orange, tamarind, lemon juice, topo gigios(mostly frozen Kool aid sold in plastic bags, sometimes they were milk or real fruit juice), fruits, and also sodas, beer, and even some hard liquor.
Just to make things clear I was very picky with my food back then and I bought nothing but sodas, this pickiness stopped when I left for college and would spend most of the money my mom sent me on booze and had to eat from what was left over which wasn't much so I had to learn to eat anything.
Along the way we passed a tunnel that was about 200 meters long, today this tunnel is abandoned. Some people get a kick out of walking through it, not me, it is dark, damp, and has all sorts of places were snakes can hide, especially fer de lances, the snake I am particularly afraid of.
Soon after the tunnel the train would start climbing as the terrain slowly became hilly, there was a bridge called Puente Alto -high bridge- which was built to cross a gorge, it was only about 100 meters long and maybe 30 meters high, but looking through a train window it was 30 meters straight down and it was scary, I don’t know what I would do somewhere like the Grand Canyon, I am also afraid of heights.
After this we gradually would go down until we were on the Caribbean coast and here we would again take on loads of vendors, especially in the Garifuna villages, these Garifunas are black people descended from people who got here during a storm and their vessel capsized, two centuries ago. Now we would have a lot of black Ladies come aboard selling sea grapes, hicacos (coco plum) and nances (Byrsonima crassifolia), now nances are a small yellow berry which has a particular odor, I hate this odor and had a hard time while they were on board and they were selling a lot, dozens of plastic tubs brimming with this fruit. They also sold fried fish.
Once we had passed the Garifuna villages we were close to La Ceiba, if we were lucky it would be around 3:00 pm by this time but mostly when we got to La Ceiba it would be past 7:00 pm. So when we got to the station we would have to hurry to find a room at one of the sleazy hotels that abounded near the waterfront, if you had money you could stay at one of the better hotels that boasted private baths, restaurant and were in the better parts of town, of course if you had that kind of money you probably wouldn’t use the train.
Once in La Ceiba things turned for the better, the town was actually a small city and it had all kinds of attractions, like electricity 24 hours a day, bars, brothels, discos, movies, restaurants, and these were opened at all times something we didn’t usually see. So we usually had a great time when we got there.
Nowadays friends I have remember these train rides with fondness and speak with nostalgia about how lucky we are to have been able to live through this. I might be a cynic but I find fondly remembering losing a whole day on an uncomfortable train for something that today takes two hours on mostly comfortable buses as kind of lame.
