Candelaria, Lempira

Candelaria is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.

Candelaria,is one of the municipalities of the Lempira department. It is located 96 km away from Gracias city, and passing by San Juan del Caite (Intibuca). In terms of time, that is about 3.5 hours driving on an unpaved road, going up and down through mountains, one of then is "Congolón" where the hero Lempira fought the spanish conquerors. This road is constantly being repaired all along the year by "Fondo Cafetero" and the Government. One must pay attention to all deviations, hopefully there are several houses to ask for direction at any case.

History

It origins go back to August 3rd 1607, with the name of "San Francisco de Joconguera" and under statement No 5. It became a village in 1872 and on February 20th 1897 it was given the title of municipality under the administration of president Policarpo Bonilla as "Candelaria de Joconguera". It became a city on February 22nd 1939.

Geography

When arriving at Candelaria the Pine forest are no longer around, so this makes the weather warmer, caused by the change in elevation above sea level. It was setteld in a despression surrounded by steep hills, some of them even craggy. There are some small streams which are helpful for water supply.

Boundaries

Its boundaries are:
*North : Gualcince municipality
*South : Virginia municipality
*East : Piraera municipality
*West : Mapulaca and Gualcince munipalities

*Surface Extents: 52 km²

Resources

The elevation and soil do not allow coffee plantations, but the proccesses of peeling, drying and toasting of coffee grains are done. Corn and bean crops are very important. Commerce activities are very popular since the main road leads to the border with El Salvador, and US dollar can be used as currency as well. The center of the city and nearest villages have electricity. The water suplly is obtained from wells and some streams. There is one local organization and its function is to improve the production of local products.

Population

The typical cross-breed of native indians and spanish settlers is seen in Candelaria, but also are seen individuals with features of each race separately.

*Population: The figure was 6,141, in 2001. This was used to elaborate an estimate by the INE Honduras (NSI National Statistics Institute), so in 2008 the population might be 6,746.
*Villages: 5
*Settlements: 48

Tourism

The City of Candelaria is very quaint and may result a nice place to visit, due to the colonial details of its houses and buildings. There are 2 hostels with the good facilities. Also the visitor can find 3 places with internet access, one of them in the Mayor's office. There is coverage for mobile phones. There many groceries and supplies stores that can make life easier.

*Local Holidays: "Virgen de la Candelaria" on February 1st through 8th.