2019-04-08 Mon

Honduras is a Central American country with Caribbean Sea coastlines to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. In the tropical rainforest near Guatemala, the ancient Mayan ceremonial site Copán has stone-carved hieroglyphics and stelae, tall stone monuments. In the Caribbean Sea are the Bay Islands, a diving destination that's part of the 1,000km-long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.

The lempira is the currency of Honduras and it is subdivided into 100 centavos. The lempira was named after the 16th-century cacique Lempira, a ruler of the indigenous Lenca people, who is renowned in Honduran folklore for leading the (ultimately unsuccessful) local native resistance against the Spanish conquistador forces. He is a national hero and is honoured on both the 1 lempira note and the 20 and 50 centavos coins.

Today we are looking at a 1 Lempira banknote of 1997. The obverse has the effigy of Indio Lempira, the national hero of Maya-Lenca origin, to right; National Coat of Arms - Escudo Nacional to left. The reverse depicts the Mayan ball game(pelota) and steps in the ruins of Copan; One of Copan stelae - Estela "A" depicting Waxaklajuun Ub'aah K'awiil (732 A.D.).

Image Courtesy: nvmvs.com