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NUEVA OCOTEPEQUE |
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 From Santa Rosa de Copán, highway CA-4 heads southwest through low
valleys before climbing through the eastern flanks of the Cordillera de
Merendón. El Portillo , a small, shabby roadside hamlet, marks the
highest stretch of paved road in the country, at 2010m. Fifteen
kilometres beyond the pass is NUEVA OCOTEPEQUE , the last town in
Honduras before the border with both El Salvador and Guatemala and
served by several buses a day from Santa Rosa. Modern and unremarkable -
it was founded after a flood destroyed the colonial village of
Ocotepeque in 1934 - the town is redeemed by its setting at the base of
the towering Cerro el Sillón (2310m). Most visitors pass straight
through en route to El Salvador or Guatemala, but if you need to stay
the best budget option is Mini Hotel Turista (up to US$10), next to the
main square, while the Hotel Maya Chortí (tel 653 3377; US$15-25), two
blocks from the bus station, has very pleasant and good-value rooms, all
with TV and a/c. The Banco de Occidente, just up from the hotel, changes
dollars cash and travellers' cheques, but you'll get better rates for
Guatemalan quetzales and Salvadorean colones at the borders.
Southeast of town lies the Reserve Biológica la Fraternidad , or the
Bosque Montecristo . Cerro Montecristo, at the centre of the reserve, is
where the borders of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras meet. Access
from the Honduran side is extremely difficult; the visitor centre and
few tourist facilities that exist are reached through Metapán in El
Salvador.
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