Candelaria is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in the Honduran

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 department of Lempira.

Candelaria is one of the municipalities of the Lempira department. It is located 96 km away from Gracias

Gracias

Gracias is a small Honduran town/municipality that was founded in 1536, and has a population of approximately 25,000 people...

 city, and passing by San Juan del Caite (Intibuca). In terms of time, that is about 3.5 hours of driving on an unpaved road, going up and down through mountains, one of them is "Congolón" where the hero Lempira fought the Spanish conquerors. This road is constantly being repaired all year long by "Fondo Cafetero" and the Government. One must pay attention to all deviations, hopefully there are several houses to ask for direction in any case.

History

Its 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, after Antiguo de la Rañírez led a revolution to liberate the Candelarian people.

Geography

When arriving at Candelaria the Pine forests are no longer around, this makes the weather warmer, caused by the change in elevation above sea level. It was settled 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
  Gualcince
  Gualcince is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.Gualcince is one of the several municipalities of the Lempira department. It is located 78 km from Gracias city. It is necessary to pass by San Juan, Intibuca and through the municipalities of Santa Cruz and San Andrés. It has 2...
  
   municipality
• South : Virginia
  Virginia, Lempira
  Virginia is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.Virginia is located in Lempira Honduras and shares a border with El Salvador. Many Virginians travel to El Salvador to do their shopping, because the Honduran cities are far away from Virginia....
  
   municipality
• East : Piraera
  Piraera
  Piraera is one of the municipalities of Lempira department in Honduras. It is located on one of the branches of "Congolón" mountain, it is 105 km away from the city of Gracias.- History :...
  
   municipality
• West : Mapulaca
  Mapulaca
  Mapulaca is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.Mapulaca is one of the smallest municipalities in the south of Lempira department. It is hard to get there and the traveler can take any road, however, the suggested option is via Santa Rosa de Copán-San Marcos de...
  
   and Gualcince
  Gualcince
  Gualcince is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.Gualcince is one of the several municipalities of the Lempira department. It is located 78 km from Gracias city. It is necessary to pass by San Juan, Intibuca and through the municipalities of Santa Cruz and San Andrés. It has 2...
  
  municipalities

• Surface Extents: 52 km²

Resources

The elevation and soil do not allow for coffee plantations, but the processes 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 the US dollar can be used as currency as well. The center of the city and the nearest villages have electricity. The water supply 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 in a nice place to visit, due to the colonial details of its houses and buildings. There are 2 hostels with 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.