Killing time on the Caribbean

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My fourth night in Honduras and I am STILL sick. I had originally planned on going right to the Bay Islands to take my PADI diving course, but since I have been coughing and congested I thought I would rest on the coast a couple days prior to leaving for Utila. However, I seem more congested now than ever --- a big no no for diving, I am told --- so I am off to Trujillo tomorrow for a couple days of lazing on the beaches. I know, Ì'm sure that all of you stuck in the throes of midwestern winters are really feeling sorry for me right now, but it has actually thrown a big crimp in my plans to be in and out of Honduras in 10 days.

Unfortunately as well, I can't seem to find any internet places to really upload my pictures. Not that I have been too trigger happy since I fell ill, anyway, but I would love to share the little slice of beauty I was privileged to partake in yesterday with you. Upon feeling partially recovered on Tuesday, I made the trip to Jungle River Tours to find out about their rafting trips. So yesterday they came by and picked me up at 8 and off we went to the Rio Cangrejal. Their jungle lodge (which I got free accommodation at for booking a tour with them) sits right on the river and is so quiet and serene...exactly what a gal recovering from a little virus needs, right? Except I was feeling quite good and took the morning on quite headstrong, as our rafting tour involved 2 hours first of "training", which was basically bouldering, rock climbing, and jumping off cliffs into the whitewater. The guide told us that if any of us wanted, we could rock climb up to a really high point to make a jump into the water. Suddenly I heard myself saying, "Yeah, I'll do it!" and then looked at myself in shock. But it was too late, for after I agreed to do it, 2 more chaps in the group decided to do it too. I was shaking as we were climbing up because I could never find good toeholds, only slightly comforted by the fact that, if I fell, it would be into deep water. But what a rush! It was one of the most adrenaline filled experiences of my life jumping off the cliff!

When we finally did make it back to the rafts for actual rafting, the adrenaline experience kept on going. The rapids weren't as big as those in Panama, nor as continuous, but we did get to do one class 5 rapid, and because I was in a small raft, I got tossed out a couple times, which is always fun. But the river scenery itself was truly amazing. The boulders there are enormous heightened by the fact that this is the time of year where the river is low. The rapids had names like Titanic and Moby Dick for the big rocks around them; the Titanic ones really looked like you were going through icebergs and when you peer back, you see this giant rock that looks like the bow of a ship. It was overall a terrific time and I highly recommend it to anyone in La Ceiba to take a daytrip out there instead of just jetting off to the Bay Islands.

I spent the afternoon swimming and hiking around the river and climbing rocks with this middle aged group of friends from Colorado and we spent the night admiring all the stars to be seen out in the quiet of the nature. My bed was in an 8-bed dorm, but I was the only one in there so I had this giant place to myself, lit by candles on the balcony and, with screens making up fully 50 percent of the walls on three sides, fell asleep to the sound of the rushing river. The nature is really beautiful around there. If I had been feeling better, I definitely would have stayed and done some of their other tours. It was an interesting change of pace in company as well, since all of the people I encountered there on the tour and at the lodge were more of the resort guests and 2 week vacationers, as opposed to the backpacker crowd. I was thinking that I wouldn't care for that so much, but I should have learned by now never to judge a book by its cover, shouldn't I? Because Glen, Abbey, and Sherry were some of the most interesting people I have met on my trip, and they all gave me great travel tips, having been to many places I want to go in the future.

So much more to write, but they are kicking me out of this internet place. Hopefully I can update this with pictures from Trujillo in a couple days....

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