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Published: February 7th 2007
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AMAZING WEEKEND! Yet again... filled with adventure and fun.
Friday after school, Alisa, Meg, and I went to one of the bus stations in town and caught a bus that took us to La Guama. From there we got a bus to Pena Blanca and then from there caught this cute little 3 wheeled taxi thing (kind of like a golf cart but smaller) to the D & D Brewery… Honduras’ ONLY microbrewery. The plan for the weekend was to drink some good beer, eat some good food, go to a nearby waterfall, and visit the lake. What an awesome weekend.
The Bed and Breakfast (D&D B&B) was nice. Our room was kind of funny though. We chose to stay in the cheaper rooms that were kind of in a house together. There was a main room with all the rooms off of it. Alisa and I shared a room and the best past was the “bathroom”. It was a shower
Bus Travels
Alisa on the bus to the lakeand then beside the shower was a toilet with another shower curtain to pull across. The shower curtain was see-through. Let’s just say Alisa and I got to know each other a little better this weekend… lol. Other than that, and the cockroach that crawled across Alisa’s bed, it was good. It was cheap. The B&B also has NICE cabins with real bathrooms, nicer beds, nicer floors, etc. but it’s a little pricier. This is where I will stay when my parents and sister come to visit.
The food and drinks were amazing. The beers I tried included Pale Ale, Porter, Raspberry Ale, Mango Ale, and my favourite; Apricot Ale. Such good beers. The homemade sodas were amazing too. I tried Blueberry, Strawberry, and my favourite; root beer. Mmmm. The food was delicious as well. Dinner on Friday I had chicken fingers. Saturday morning I had a bacon omelette, hash browns, and toast. Saturday night I had a beef burrito and onion rings, and then Sunday afternoon had a BLT sandwich and fries. Ate SOOOO well this weekend.
So Friday night we just relaxed at the B&B. Meg’s boyfriend Mac and his friend Simon volunteer teach in a
D & D Brewery
The name of the hostel/bed and breakfast that we stayed at... the ONLY micro-brewery in Honduras! little town near La Ceiba. They met up with us at the B&B. We ate some dinner, hung around and chatted, and then went to bed.
Saturday morning we got up, got ready, had some breakfast, and then head to Pulhapanzak Falls. We walked down the road from the D&D where a bus came almost immediately (chicken bus aka school bus) which was lucky. About 20 minutes and we were dropped off at the side of a road. We walked for about 10 minutes and were at the park. What a beautiful park! There were so many picnic areas, trees, and shady benches. Beautiful place.
We explored the park a bit on our own, took some pictures, and wandered around. We climbed down a bunch of slippery mud-hills and got completely dirty. We then decided it was time to find the guide and do the journey behind the falls.
Now, I must tell you that this is no Niagara Falls “Journey Behind the Falls” where there is no access to water and only tunnels that look out to the running water. This was truly us journeying THROUGH the waterfall. I was super scared because of what all
D & D - Pool
This was the pool. THe kitchen is the hut you see to the left. There are tables beyond this to the left... and to the right. the other teachers had told us about it… saying that it wouldn’t be legal at home, that you can’t breathe and that they wouldn’t do it again. Although scared, I had to do it to say that I did.
We got the guide. It was Mac, Meg, Simon, myself, and then a couple who work at the military base in Comayagua. They were really nice. The guide took us down to this gate that he unlocked and then we started climbing up rocks and muddy hills. As we got closer to the rocks it definitely got harder to breath. You had to breathe through your mouth very carefully and at times I couldn’t see anything. For the first 5 minutes my adrenaline was going. At times we’d find rocks to take some shelter behind and catch our breath. We walked in a line, one behind the other. When we finally made it under the falls, leaned against the rock, and looked up, it was unbelievable. You could see the falls falling over but it was hard to look up due to the mist. Wow. Was so glad I did it. We then head back and came to a point
D & D - "bathroom"
This is Alisa behind the curtain that closed in front of the toilet. This was our "bathroom". where we could jump off the rocks into a fairly deep area. I went off the little one and then was one of 3 people to jump off the high one. Huge rush. SOOOO glad that I did it. It’s definitely something I’ll be making my sister Ginny do with me when she comes to visit!
When we got back to the D&D, I jumped in the freezing cold pool (eeek!), had showers, wrote some in our journals while waiting for the others, ordered dinner, had a couple drinks and then went to bed early. The plan was to get up super early and take a tour of the lake via rowboat with a guide to point out some birds. Our guide’s name was Malcolm. He’s a crazy man from England… very eccentric. He agreed to take us out for a reduced rate as we told him we were working on Honduran Teacher salaries and were backpackers trying to travel. He asked if we’d like some chicken sandwiches for breakfast the next day with mustard since the kitchen would be closed and he’d get the girls to make it that night. Well, the next morning we woke up at
Pulhapanzak Falls - sign
Mac, Simon, Meg, and Alisa in front of the sign to the falls. 5am, were down at the kitchen at 5:30 and discovered that our “chicken and mustard” was actually a paste to spread on our bread. It kinda looked like hummus. It tasted like chicken and mustard too. Interesting.
So we walked down to the lake (Oh! Forgot to mention that Simon went home the previous night after the lake, to pick up his friend from the airport who was flying in to visit). Malcolm’s regular boat rower had a soccer game to play in (which is what he told Mac in Spanish, although told Malcolm he had a death in the family… lol) so he wasn’t able to take us out but he sent us one of his friends. This kid was 14 years old. He was tiny and we were afraid that 5 gringos might break him in a little rowboat but he agreed. He was fine too. Cute kid. His name was Miguel.
The lake was beautiful. We saw lots of cool birds although Malcolm and Mac were the real bird enthusiasts, pointing them all out. I just enjoyed the view. Malcolm showed us a cool spot where an owl was too. It was beautiful. There were
Pulhapanzak Falls - Park
Beautiful park with picnic areas, a restaurant, fields, and LOTS of trees and water. also these TINY bats that blended into the rocks so well that you couldn’t see them until they flew over our heads. Definitely cool to see.
After about 3.5 hours we head back to shore and went to have lunch at the D&D. Lunch, drinks, and a few buses later we were home. What an awesome weekend away.
We went to Morgan’s that night for his “Superbowl Party” but it was just the regular crowd playing poker and watching it on TV. Alisa, Nadia, Julie, Jeff, and I sat outside chatting and played a bit of “Catch Phrase”.
Yesterday was report card day (the students don’t come to school and the teachers work on grades all day) and so today was the first day of partial 3. I can’t believe school is half over too. It gives me some hope too though that my kids don’t have to be perfect yet. I have 2 more partials to try and shape them into functioning members of society. They’ve been bad again lately. It gets super discouraging when everything you try is not good enough. I do have 4 on the honour roll this time though… better than my
Pulhapanzak Falls - Rainbow
Rainbow coming off the waterfall... 2 last term. I almost had 6 even! 2 of them were super close and will hopefully work really hard to be on it next partial. They need an average of 91% or higher and no class grade can be below 80%
Well, I’m off to watch a cheesy movie (Keeping the Faith… never seen it but heard it’s perfect for cheesy losers like me) then head to bed. NIGHT! Enjoy all the pictures! There are TONS!
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Mom
non-member comment
Wow - can't wait now
This area looks awesome - can't wait to go. We are counting the days.It is going to be an amazing trip and we especially can't wait to see you - it's been too long since our tearful goodbye in August! Love Mom