I spent a day on the mainland – the city of La Ceiba, and the gated community/charter city of Morazán, in 2024. Otherwise, the three months I spend here were on the island of Roatán, and Próspera in particular; see Network Societies.

I cannot say I was thrilled with Honduras – mainland Honduras proper, as opposed to the ascending concentric circles represented by Roatán, Próspera, and Vitalia (Próspera in particular being a gated community, although one populated mostly by richer Hondurans). Ultimately, this is a Third World country with an average IQ that leaves much to be desired, with most of its typical concomitants (e.g. see Rindermann on this).

This includes corrupt bureaucrats and extensive regulatory red tape. Próspera might route around much of this, but to the extent you have to deal with Honduran state institutions, even my otherwise very limited experience and exposure to anecdotes make it obvious it is not a pleasant experience. Politics is nepotistic and personalistic, and captured by a heavily intermarried oligarchy of influential families; to the very limited extent issues play any role, it’s a contest between resentful capitalism-hating leftists and dumb fundie Christian rightoids. Incidentally, the incompetence and dysfunction of the Honduran state is good PR for the ZEDE special economic zones, not just the higher end Próspera – which is designed not just for foreign entrepreneurs, but moneyed or ambitious locals – but also Morazán on the mainland, a gated community for local workers who want a safe place away from crime.

On the mundane level, it’s impossible not to be struck by low average competence levels. 10% of Hondurans are Gastarbeiters in the US, but English language knowledge outside Roatán is startlingly low (in contrast, Moroccans struck me as genuine polyglots, despite similar average IQs). Tap water is obviously undrinkable, hygiene standard are dubious, noise is everywhere. Poverty translates into a paucity of amenities. It is a bad idea to go to the beach without slathering on a gallon of insect repellent because of the infernal sand fleas. Most notably, it has extreme problems with violent crime. Houses and establishments are surrounded by barbed wire, and grocery outlets and gas stations are protected by armed guards. There were also armed patrols guarding Morazán, the sister ZEDE to Próspera on the mainland. We were strongly advised not to venture out into La Ceiba past sunset.

It’s hard to write a positive travel review when you literally can’t go out at night. Morocco is almost as poor as Honduras, but it is very safe, and infrastructure is much better. However, in defense of Honduras, it is cleaner than Morocco (everything is relative in life). I think Latino cities, wealth/function-adjusted, are far cleaner than Arab ones.

I did not bother flying down to San Pedro Sula for an ETH conference, but I don’t think I missed much; expensive local hotel with armed guards and the usual jetset crypto crowd, with scant opportunities to explore the nooks and crannies of the city as you could in countries without 50/100,000 homicide rates. I am usually quite bold about venturing into the remote and quirky places, but I know that in Central America – with the exception of Costa Rica and Bukele’s El Salvador – this is just an objectively bad idea. In the sense that, OK you can do it and 9 times out of 10 nothing bad will happen, but it’s literally safer doing that in war-torn Syria – and you’d get cooler stories out of it as well! Consequently, my interest in the Central America region – or Venezuela, for that matter – is extremely low. Though I hear Colombia has stepped up its game and is now much safer than in  previous decades.