Weather in Honduras

Santa Rosa de Copan
Tegucigalpa
San Pedro Sula

Packing

Pack light! Everything you need should fit easily in ONE carry on bag. The airplane luggage guidelines are not our constraint! We will be traveling in (2) 15 passenger vans.
What To Pack
If I were going to Honduras, I would bring:

• Hand sanitizer
• Lightweight fabrics to keep your luggage small. Jeans are particularly bulky so consider lightweight pants and shirts that will dry quickly and can be washed in hotel sinks.
• Comfortable clothes for hot to cool weather:
• Sweater or sweatshirt, Light jacket or windbreaker
• Temperature at higher elevations can be chilly especially at night. Long pants and modest clothing are culturally appropriate and provide some protection against mosquitoes carrying malaria and dengue fever.
• How many changes of clothes? Maybe 4-6?
• Raincoat
• Bathing suit
• Towel
• A hat of sorts for sun protection
• Hiking/or good walking shoes - consider taking sandals as a backup pair of shoes
• Pocket knife (these are wonderfully useful things in Honduras) -pack in the team checked luggage!
• Insect repellant---the ones containing DEET are the most effective, but are also very toxic.
• Sunscreen, sunscreen lip balm
• A small amount of laundry detergent (for quick laundering of individual articles of clothing, you will be able to buy soap in Honduras, and cannot bring liquids on carry on.)
• Camera + lots of batteries/memory
• Journal
• Watch---everyone is required to carry a watch and use it to respect everyone's time. We will be traveling in groups and thus it is essential that everyone keep to the established schedule.
• Alarm clock
• A book or two (planes, beaches, van rides...)
• Spanish-English dictionary
• Pen and pad of paper/small notebook
• Day pack---used for the field, the beach, the city
• $250. ATM are not available most places we will be staying, this should cover your food expenses, easily.
• Passport
• Passport pouch
• Some extra space in your pack for gifts/coffee/etc. that you may bring back
• any prescription medication
• anti-diarrheal tablets
• motion sickness meds

If I were going to Honduras, I would consider bringing...

• Simple gifts for little Honduran kids and/or your host families---they may also be interested in seeing pictures of your family, your home, beautiful Ithaca.
• Gift Ideas:
  • Unique foods
    • Chocolate (it doesn't really exist in the country.  It can also melt in our travels, but it tastes just as good.)
    • Maple syrup
  • Tools: screwdrivers, wrenches, hammers, etc.  Quality tools are expensive if not hard to come by and in most communities the men of the house will be the handy man that will find tools like this very helpful.
  • Cooking utensils: heat resistant rubber scrappers, paring knives, kitchen spoons, etc.
  • For kids:
    • Soccer ball(s): you will have to bring them deflated, so make sure to bring a hand pump, like a bicycle pump
    • Coloring books and markers/crayons/pencils
    • Bubbles
    • Play Dough

Any of the following may come in handy (but do know that the pharmacies there are pretty good):

• Broad spectrum antiobiotic
• Bandaids
• Tylenol/Advil (any of those fever, headache, pain meds)
• Allergy medicine
• Hydrocortisone cream (for skin irritations)
• Benadryl (anti-itch)
• Pepto (any stomach stuff) -tablets not liquid
• Alcohol wipes (also called "cleansing towelettes")
• Music for the van rides — if you have an iPod, you're a lucky duck
• Bring comfort food---you may find yourself with the same plate of food several times a day (see Honduran Culture Notes
• GORP or granola bars - to fill in the gaps between sometimes irregularly spaced meals.
• A water bottle with a cap that seals dust out of the place where you touch the bottle with your lips. The roads are very dusty. We will purchase 20L bottles of water and then share to reduce plastic waste.
• Small flashlight
• Sunglasses

If I were going to Honduras, I would not bring...

• Lots of heavy books
• Clothing that looks worn (holes, stains).
• Super nice clothes

They use the same electrical outlets that are standard in the US.

Pack your prescription meds in your carry on bag. We will take a direct flight but problems can always come up.

Pack meds in plastic bags.

One methodology is "When in doubt, go without." We will be a big group so chances are, if you forgot something, someone else can help you out.