Erandique is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.
Erandique, is one of the several municipalities of the Lempira department. One has to travel 65 km from the city of Gracias passing by San Juan (del Caite). A second road that leads to Erandique is going by the town of "Dolores" in Intibuca. Also this roads leads to the municipality of San Francisco. The main disadvantage of this second road is that is not repaired often.If one enters from San Juan, Erandique has one exit to San Francisco and the other to the rest of the municipalities such as San Andrés and so on.
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It was founded back in 1600 under the name of "Cerquin", due to its location on the west of Cerquin hill. It was registered in 1,733 in the volume II of the Real State book, dated on November 28. According to the tales from elderly citizens the original act was lost and it was replaced on February 14, 1882, in the administration of Dr Marco Aurelio Soto. It is one of the oldest municipalities and it became a city on March 3, 1932.
Erandique is still surrounded by many Pine forests, also one can see groups of Liquidambar in smaller scale. Also there are many steep hills, big and small. The weather is mostly cool all along the year, except in the dry season. The predominant soil is derived from volcanic rocks. During the rainy season, this soil that forms from the degradation of the rocks becomes extremely slippery. And it removes the material from the slopes on the road.
Its boundaries are:
The Coffee plantations have great importance, but they are located in the near villages and mountains at higher elevation from Erandique downtown, such as "Cerquin" hill. There for it is a gathering point of coffee and it also processes the grains. Next main activities are the crops of corn and bean. It is common to find vegetable and cattle in short amounts. Currently there is electricity and telecommunications services from the national company and mobile phone services. It is very important to tell that a small hospital works in Erandique, it has an ambulance service and the serious cases are taken to Gracias. It is worth mentioning that a group of US volunteers runs a small clinic to help the poorest. Daily there is one departure to both cities Gracias and La Esperanza. There is one gas station and several places to fix flat tires. A sad note for the pine forests is that people still use it as firewood to cook food.
In Erandique a great number of descendants from native Indians can be seen, and that represents half of the population. The cross-breed representes the other half, showing white skin. During the holidays and other activities is when the direct descendants are seen, they still prefer to live isolated.
The landscapes in Erandique are very beautiful due to the Pine and Liquidambar forests. People are nice and welcoming. There is a Cable TV company. There are a couple of places for internet access. There are also several places to enjoy the typical food and only one that offers more variety of dishes, such as shrimps and a Seafood soup, since the owner is from La Ceiba city. When it comes down to hotels, there are 3 options, but the only recommended is "Hotel Esteven", with comfortable ruins, hot showers, cable TV, and good prices. Downtown the visitor can see many old adobe houses. Some streets are paved with rocks and there are 2 very old churches to visit.
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