Roatan’s Beauty, Truth & Wisdom

The Mainland Part of Honduras Engine

Roatan is thriving economically, but most people fail to consider just how much the mainland in Honduras is thriving alongside it. The economic boom in Honduras is having a direct impact on the island, and the all-in-all economic future is looking bright. Roatan, the goose that lays the golden eggs, now has a few sisters on the mainland.

Roatan is not Honduras, and if someone really wants to see this Central American country, they need to leave the comfort of the English-speaking island and venture to the mainland. There you can appreciate the full beauty of Honduras, and the entrepreneurship of its people that are the engine of the country’s economy.

Honduras is filled with bountiful natural beauty. Its northern part is framed by 400 miles of stunning coastline, with virgin forests of the mountains touching the often uninhabited white sand beaches.

The country’s northern coast has been blessed with three agricultural valleys that are its breadbasket. The biggest valley is the Sula Valley, then comes Bajo Aguán Valley, with 100,000 acres in size, and then Ulúa Valley near the Guatemalan border. The main agriculture driver is the cultivation of African Palm oil from farms belonging to Honduran Dinant Corporation, founded by Miguel Facussé Barjum.

Hondurans are still firmly rooted in land, as 40 percent of the 11 million citizens live in rural areas. There are also between 1-2 million living abroad. By most projections, Honduras is projected to have 15 million inhabitants by 2050. This will be a huge jump for a country that counted only 1.5 million people in 1950 a 1,000 percent increase in a century.

Honduras is important not only for its growing population and central geostrategic location in Central America and the Western Caribbean but also for its emergence as an economic power. The country is like a little tiger quietly rising to rival its neighbor Guatemala, surpassing the struggling Nicaragua, and outpacing the smaller economies of Costa Rica and Belize, as well as Bitcoin-booming El Salvador.

The country has a thriving, organically growing economy in several economy sectors: retail, manufacturing, forestry, and agriculture. The retail sector of the country is doing well and serves as a barometer for overall economic growth. There are indoor malls popping up not only in big cities, but medium size cities. There are malls in Siguatepeque, Catacamas, Juticalpa, El Progreso, Tocoa – many towns with barely 40,000 people.

Life in cities and towns around Honduras is becoming easier and more fun to live in. Tocoa is about the same as Catacamas with 63,000 people and both cities are home to Division I football teams and corresponding stadiums that fill to the brim every two weeks. Tocoa’s Real Sociedad has been Division I since 2012.

Newly paved roads connect Honduras’ two million-plus inhabitant cities, as well as numerous other cities of 100,000-200,000 people like La Ceiba, El Progreso, Comayagua and Choluteca. You can spot trucks moving pine and hardwood from Olancho to Tegucigalpa, cement from San Pedro Sula to Puerto Cortés, and coffee from Santa Bárbara to San Pedro Sula.

Traveling on the new roads that cross the country is a civilized experience. There are smart rest areas for travelers on Honduras’ main roads. There are tasty restaurants next to coffee shops, gas stations, and pharmacies.

As a signal of economic growth, new shopping malls are springing up all over Honduras, even in medium sized cities. Mega Mall, City Mall, Megaplaza, and Metro Mall at the biggest mall developers, but there are others as well. There are dozens of private mall companies constructing retail spaces all over.

Every mall has a children’s playground next to the food court. Every large highway stop with a couple of restaurants also has a children’s playground. The entrepreneurial Honduras that didn’t leave their country, tempted by the American nightmare of working construction and McJobs without the ability to visit their families, are the engine that drives the country.

Honduras has several home grown supermarket chains, like the Tegucigalpa based and 50 year old La Colonia, with 69 stores, Colonial, Juniors, Supermercados Extra, and Del Corral. Filling the shelves of these Honduran-owned supermarkets are several national lactose companies making cheese and milk products: Sula, Leyde, Zamorano, and Lácteos Boquerón. All of these companies grew in geographically different parts of the country, and became nationally distributed as supply chains and clients’ desire for bigger selection grew.

In another impressive feat, Honduran meat companies are feeding practically all of the country. The country has reputable and growing companies such as Pro Carne, del Corral, Delicia and Pollo Norteño. Honduras, outside of Bay Islands, has no need to go to US for hormone and steroids-filled meats. While the European Union banned this type of unhealthy meat in 1989, the US has focused on Latin America, where no such bans are in place, as a dumping ground.

Honduras grows while the government is either on holiday.

Pizza Hut and Burger King have had a foothold in Honduras since the 1990s, but in the last 10 years the multinational giant’s dominance was replaced by a regional start up. The fast food internationals got replaced by Guatemala-based Pollolandia Express, with hundreds of stands in town and villages across Honduras.

Honduras has a dynamic banking sector, with most of the banks being in domestic hands. There it is the oldest Banco Atlántida, dating back to 1913; Banco del País, with 75 branches and growing fast; Banco del Occidente, with 170 branches; FICOHSA and BANHCAFE.

There have been a few efforts by foreigners to take advantage of Honduras’ resources and economic marketplace. In San Pedro Sula, the Chinese are displacing Americans. The building that used to be a San Pedro Sula KeyMart is now hosting a Chinese trinkets goliath – Great Wall of China. Most Honduran family businesses are not willing to sell easily to Americans, and now Chinese bidders are appearing on the horizon.

Hondurans are not relying on foreigners to determine their economic future. The country has its fair share of innovation, entrepreneurship, a reasonably priced labor force, and the resources needed for the country to boom. All that is taking place despite the corruption and misguidance of the Honduran central government.

Honduras is also exceptional in Central America for being an air transportation hub, now with five international airports. Palmerola airport was added to that mix in 2021 and now not only is the airport thriving, but the nearby historical Comayagua is booming.

New, private mall in La Ceiba — Plaza Tecknos with its children’s play area.

There are also, of course places that time forgot. Trujillo and La Lima are quaint, picturesque towns with great history that are now sitting on the sidelines as nearby municipalities boom. In both population and economy, Trujillo has been eclipsed by its valley neighbor Tocoa. La Lima’s energy has been sucked up by nearby San Pedro Sula. La Lima was given a blow of double hurricanes in 2021 that destroyed its Canal Maya and displaced tens of thousands of its residents. The so-far neglected role of rebuilding and improving the Maya Canal rests in the hands of the central government.

All in all, Honduras grows while the government is either on holiday or strike. The country grows economically not because of its governmental policies and cartel corrupting its presidents, but in spite of these things. It’s a bit like Florida in the 1980s: growing thanks to the energy of young Floridians, as well as cocaine smuggled from South America.