Lepaera is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira. It has tropical climate all year round. Lepaera is one of the oldest municipalities of the Lempira department. It is also the departmental capital of the municipality. The distance to Lepaera from

Gracias Gracias () is a small Honduran town/municipality that was founded in 1536, and is the capital of Lempira Department. The municipality has a population of 61,421 and the town a population of 18,550 (2023 calculation). It is located in the moun ...

is 15 km on the road that leads to

Santa Rosa de Copán Santa Rosa de Copán () is a municipality in Honduras. The city of Santa Rosa de Copán is the municipal seat and the departmental capital of the Honduran department of Copán. It is located approximately above mean sea level. Santa Rosa de ...

Access is paved but dangerous curves necessitate caution.

History

It is considered an "

autochthonous Autochthon, autochthons or autochthonous may refer to: Nature * Autochthon (geology), a sediment or rock that can be found at its site of formation or deposition * Autochthon (nature), or landrace, an indigenous animal or plant * Autochthonou ...

" settlement since 1538 with inhabitants such as Lencas, Toltecas or Chorties Indians, it is believed that these people came from the region of "Cuscatlán" in

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. Between 1536 and 1538, when the Spanish colonist founded the city of

, there was Lepaera already, as well as other municipalities. The title of City was granted under decree No 81 on 8 October 1956.

Geography

It was established at the toe of "Puca" mountain, and it is surrounded by several other hills. Downtown of the departmental capital has steep streets. The elevation from sea level is proper for coffee plantations. It has sub tropical and pine forests on the highest parts, but the weather in the departmental capital is warm due to deforesting.

Boundaries

Its boundaries are: *North : Santa Barbara department. *South :

and Las Flores municipalities. *East :

La Iguala La Iguala () is a Municipalities of Honduras, municipality in the Honduras, Honduran Departments of Honduras, department of Lempira department, Lempira. La Iguala is one of the oldest municipalities of the Lempira Department, Lempira department. ...

municipality and "Santa Barbara" department. *West :

Copán Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It is one of the most important sites of the Maya civilization, which was not excavated until the ...

department. *Surface Extents: 312 km²

Resources

Planting, gathering, and processing of coffee grains represents the most important commercial activity of this municipality. The 2nd most important activity is commerce. The coffee production makes the city grow faster each year. It has several hardware stores, groceries stores, and a gas station at the entrance of the city. Also it has electricity and mobile communications services. The water is obtained from wells and some streams coming from "Puca" mountain.

Population

The native Indians descendants have been displaced a long time by the cross-breed of Spanish and Indians. *Population: The figure was 3,866 people in 2001. Based on this, an estimate was elaborated for 2015, resulting in 37,876. *Villages: 45 *Settlements: 135

Demographics

At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, Lepaera municipality had a population of 36,720. Of these, 96.15% were

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

, 2.72%

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

(2.42%

Lenca The Lenca,are an Indigenous people from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They historically spoke various dialects of the Lencan languages such as Chilanga, Putun (Potón), and Kotik, but today are nat ...

), 0.78%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.32% Black or Afro-Honduran and 0.03% others.Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), bases de datos en línea
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Tourism

The city of Lepaera is a welcoming, picturesque, nice place to visit. The streets are narrow and distinctive. The old Catholic church in downtown of the city has the following inscription: JVLYO 28 1640 (28 July 1640), and it is perhaps of the oldest in Lempira department. People are warm and friendly. There is a very nice and comfortable hotel. Also there are several locations where the tourist can buy homemade ground coffee, known as "Café de Palo", which is very aromatic and has a great taste. *Local Holidays: "Santiago" day on 25 July and also "Señor de Esquipulas" day on 25 January.

Sports

The local football team,

Lepaera San Isidro Lepaera Football Club is a Honduran football club based in Lepaera, Honduras. The club currently plays in Honduran Liga Nacional de Ascenso Liga de Ascenso (Promotion League) is the Honduran football league system, second division of Honduran ...

, play in the Honduran second division.

Gallery

Image:Iglesia de Lepaera.JPG, "28 July 1640" Image:Lepaera,Lempira 5.JPG, The Mayor's office Image:Lepaera,Lempira 4.JPG, The main entrance Image:Lepaera,Lempira 6.JPG, Puca Mountain

References

External links

{{coord, 14, 47, N, 88, 35, W, display=title, region:HN_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Municipalities of the Lempira Department