Honduran Escapades


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Published: May 6th 2011
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Having been away for three months Rachel decided it was high time she came to check up on me & for the past two weeks we have been travelling through Honduras together.

After a quick exit from San Pedro Sula (the lonely planet lists leaving SPS as one of the highlights of the country) we headed inland to the vast Lago de Yojoa. The lake is famed for it's bird life and is reputed to have around 440 different species, binoculars at the ready Rach and I set off early on our first morning for a rowing boat tour of the lake, the quantity and variety of birds was impressive, especially the raptors which are such a rarity in the UK. The water was shrouded in mist and lining the rocky lake shore were some truly massive trees, a very tranquil boat trip.

A short bus ride from the lake is the wonderfully named Pulhapanzak Waterfall, 43m high and sourced from the Yojoa upstream the falls were impressive. We visited during Semana Santa (Easter week) & the swimming holes above the falls were packed with Honduran day-trippers, Rachel being very tall, very slim and very white felt like a
Pulhapanzak WaterfallPulhapanzak WaterfallPulhapanzak Waterfall

View from the viewpoint
bit of an exhibit on display, understandable as the locals were generally her polar opposite on all three counts (the staring continued throughout her stay, one woman even started stroking her arm for some reason). I'd heard that one could take a tour beyond the viewpoints and get behind the falls, Rach wasn't very keen & having been placed under strict instruction by both our mothers not to bully her into doing things I offered some "gentle persuasion" instead.

Our guides - who were both about ten - led us along a muddy path toward the base of the waterfall where we had to jump into pools and clamber over rocks in order to get close to the base, as we approached the falls we all linked arms and waded into the waist high pool which had been carved out by the falling water, the mass of liquid raining down on us was both invigorating and slightly painful, like a very intense power shower. It was quite a sensory onslaught, the volume of water falling on us was such that we could barely blink fast enough to keep our vision clear and the roar of the water was deafening.
Pulhapanzak WaterfallPulhapanzak WaterfallPulhapanzak Waterfall

Under the falls, it really got very chilly.
Once through the waterfall we shimmied on a ledge behind the main flow and were guided into a narrow rock chimney that led to a small cave hidden behind the waterfall, we all crouched in the small dark space for a couple of minutes enjoying the relative peace before making the return trip. The falls must have increased in power whilst we were in the cave as heading back Rach was literally pummelled to her knees by the falling water, inspite of this we made it back in one piece and despite some initial reservations Rach had a massive grin on her face by the end of the tour.

Our next stop was Copan Ruinas, the town adjacent to and named after Honduras' only Mayan ruin. We arrived here at the height of the Easter celebrations and were lucky enough to see alfombras being laid out in the street the evening before Good Friday; these intricately designed pictures are made by layering various colours of dyed sawdust on the ground using stencils, being Easter the designs depicted mainly biblical scenes. The alfombras were set out around the central park and formed the walkway for the church procession on Good Friday which, through the trampling of hundreds of feet would reduce them to a psychedelic mess. We did ask some locals when the procession might be so we could go and watch and were told firmly by various Hondurans that it was at either 8am, 9am, 10am, 12am or possibly at 6 or 7 in the evening, Central American time keeping is always fun.

Dotted around a large area of parkland the ruins lack the imposing temples of Tikal but are still impressive and contain many superior carvings and sculptures which have been preserved with much of the original detail in tact (see panorama for ruins). My favourite was a huge boulder carved into an old man's head, he was wonderfully positioned high on the edge of a temple to survey the whole site below. One vista of the ruins features on the 1 limpera bank note so we obviously had to match up the view, got shouted at by a guard in the process but it was worth it. At the park entrance a flock of Scarlet Macaws lined the trees and fences, with vivid red, yellow and blue plumages they are very striking birds. The ones we
Copán RuinasCopán RuinasCopán Ruinas

Scarlet Macaws at the entrance
saw were permanent residents of the site, presumably because the macaw (known locally as Guaras) are the national bird of Honduras, many were tame enough to feed peanuts which was fun. I like the fact that every country in Central America seems to have a national bird, tree and flower & that all the locals seem to know what they are.

Rach & I travelled about mainly by local bus which is an exhausting mode of transport. The bus operators always try to make as much money as possible on each journey, unfortunately this usually involves stopping every 2 minutes to pick up passengers that then have to cram into a bus already at near double capacity, at one point I saw the attendant hanging out the side door so one more person could squeeze in. Rach found the whole experience quite trying and I had my moments, on one journey a lad who was using my knee for balance looked at me, removed his hand to pick his nose then promptly wiped the produce on my shorts with a grin, little bugger.

I wanted Rach to see some cloud forest while she was here so after Copán we headed south into the highlands of Honduras and to the old colonial town of Gracias. The town was small and did not cater very well to tourists but nearby was the Montaña de Celeque, a huge national park that contains both the countries highest peak and the sources of eleven rivers. We thought ourselves well prepared for a trek having taken ample supplies and a map from the hotel for our trip, unfortunately the map was not really to scale and we rather bit off more than we could chew in our planned route. We hiked for more than nine hours over the course of the day, up a river valley then through a layer of pine forest and on into the cloud forests which topped the mountains. It was quite slow going on the way up as the trails were both steep and technical, I think we climbed from about 1400-2400m in altitude. All the effort was worth it, the summit gave spectacular views of the forests either side and over the valley below, our decent followed a narrow ridge that remained open much of the way down. The forest itself was very lush, from every tree hung
Montaña de CelaqueMontaña de CelaqueMontaña de Celaque

Rachel feeling strong at the start of the hike
vines and mosses and every crook between branches housed huge bromeliads. We were utterly exhausted by the end of the day, Rach had fallen badly bruising her leg, I was limping with a sore knee and between us we had over 100 mosquito bites, we must have looked a sorry sight limping into the hostel covered in blotches, on the plus side Rach hoped her general look of plague would stop people touching her on the buses...

Our last whistle stop was on the Río Cangrejal near the coastal town of La Ceiba, flanked by steep tree clad cliffs and with a vast watershed the water level can rise in the valley by as much as 9m in the rainy season, we unfortunately arrived at the depths of the rainy season. Most of the river bed was exposed and covered in vast boulders, some as big as a house, these monoliths dwarfed everything around them. Staying in a lodge set safely away from the river we went on a couple of excursions to finish Rach's trip with a bang. The first was a zip lining tour of the surrounding jungle, great fun, especially the final 200m line which whizzed us right across the river skimming the tops of the trees either side. The second trip was white water rafting down the Cangrejal, reputed to be the best in Central America I think the water may have been a bit low for that acolade as we kept getting stuck, there were a couple of great rapids and we still had fun. There was one hairy moment when the raft swung sideways on a submerged rock and left me hanging over the side of a steep a quite rocky rapid, in trying to help me back into the raft both the guide and I fell out and bumped our way downstream rapidly leaving a rather bemused Rachel stuck on a rock, in a raft, by herself and at the top of a rapid. I may have slightly overdone the gentle persuasion on that one

It was lovely having Rachel over here & to share part of my adventures with her, I´m not sure she was convinced by Honduras as a holiday destination, she said on the last day she needed another week to recover. Next stop Nicuragua....


Additional photos below
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Montaña de CelaqueMontaña de Celaque
Montaña de Celaque

Living life on the edge!
Río CangrejalRío Cangrejal
Río Cangrejal

Zip lining by the river
Río CangrejalRío Cangrejal
Río Cangrejal

View upriver at dusk
Río CangrejalRío Cangrejal
Río Cangrejal

Rafting fun


6th May 2011

Gentle persuasion?!
Very well summed up Will, though I think you need to look up the words "gentle" and "persuasion" in the dictionary. I have to say I'm disappointed a photo of the bruise didn't make it on here, it was a pretty spectacular sight! Buenos viajes en Nicaragua...

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